MORE ABOUT ME

Storyteller

​I have always been drawn to visual storytelling — to atmosphere, emotion, and the way images can communicate what words often cannot. Growing up in Istanbul, surrounded by layers of history and centuries-old stories, I developed an early fascination with cinema and human connection through film.

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More than 20 years ago I made Utah my home, and I have spent the last decade making films here. I studied Film and Media at the University of Utah, then spent seven years as the in-house video producer at Zions Bank — writing, shooting, and cutting hundreds of videos, among them a ten-film documentary series on Utah small businesses fighting to stay open through the pandemic, and five years of honoree films for the Women's Leadership Celebration at the Sundance Film Festival. That work contributed to Zions Bank's PRSA Golden Spike Awards, including in the video category.

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Most recently I was Lead Video Editor for the Sundance Film Festival, holding editorial standards across dozens of simultaneous productions on deadlines that do not move. Through Munzur Films I direct and edit commercial, branded, and documentary work — currently for the National MS Society and a publicly traded women's-health diagnostics company — alongside AI-native production for brands that need to move faster than a crew allows.

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I shoot, I direct, and I cut, which means the interview I run in the morning is edited by the person who knows why that answer mattered.

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Whether it is a documentary, a commercial campaign, social storytelling, or an AI-enhanced visual narrative, I am most inspired by stories that feel human, immersive, and honest.

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— Işıl Gökgöz Hessick