Istanbul-born, Aren studied film production and film studies at Bilgi University and completed his master’s at Marmara University. Since his first feature film, Wrong Time Travelers (2007), shot on Super 16mm with a highly stylized directing approach, he has written, directed, and edited Lost Birds (2015) with Ela Alyamac. Lost Birds, a historical fairy tale, is the first film to depict the great tragedy of the 1915 Armenian exile in a film shot in Turkey; the screenplay was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library’s Core Collection.