about

Zaferhan Yumru, or Zaf, is a filmmaker, photographer, and communications professional whose award-winning work has screened at Sundance, SXSW, and Hot Docs, and has been licensed by PBS and TIME, among others. Across film and communications, Zaf focuses on LGBTQ+ experiences of organizing, immigration, displacement, community (re)building, healing, romance, and joy.

Zaf believes in the power of art to heal, educate, entertain, and transform—and to help guide us toward a de-weaponized, de-colonized future.

For over 14 years, Zaf has led marketing, communications, design, and event teams across arts and media organizations—most recently as Director of Marketing, Communications, Design & Events at the International Documentary Association (IDA) from July 2022 to October 2025. Previously, they were the Director of Marketing & Communications at the New Orleans Film Society / New Orleans Film Festival (2018–2022), Programmer and Digital Marketing Manager at !f Istanbul (2011–2018), compliance officer at Discovery Channel Turkey, and they co-founded zu PR & Communications.

Zaf holds a B.Sc. in Engineering from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul and was selected as a 2024 Rockwood Documentary Leaders Fellow, further grounding their practice in documentary storytelling and social impact. They are also a proud member of PATOIS Collective, dedicated to nurturing New Orleans’ human rights community through support for organizers and a forum for artistic expression across local and international issues. Zaf is an alum of the Flaming Flagettes, New Orleans’ only all-drag flag-dancing krewe.

They live in Los Ángeles (Tovaangar) with their cat, Hera. Zaf is bilingual in Turkish and English, conversational in French and Spanish, and currently learning Greek. In their free time, they like biking, hiking, and sailing dinghies ⛵️