Enes Kaya (b. September 3, 1987) is a Turkish social entrepreneur and the founder of Sinemasal.

​

He is best known for designing one of recent years' most innovative and interactive festival concepts, bringing the true cinema experience to Turkey's most inaccessible mountain villages. By using the magical world of cinema to contribute to children's futures, he received the Young Social Entrepreneur Award from Istanbul Bilgi University (2013) and was selected as a Changemaker by the Sabancı Foundation (2014).

 

He was recognized by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) as one of the 20 Promising Social Entrepreneursworldwide (2014). Invited to the U.S. in partnership with Harvard University and MIT, he was declared a Generational Ambassador (2015). He was named the Star of Social Entrepreneurship by Istanbul University students (2016) and was included in Onedio’s "Best of 2016" list for his work in culture, arts, and social entrepreneurship. In 2018, he received the "Vocational Service Award" in Ankara for his national and international work in the field.​

​

​

His Life Story

​

Kaya was born in 1987 in Kıyıköy, in the Gümüşova district of Düzce. Following the Düzce earthquake on November 12, 1999, he was placed in a dormitory in Denizli to continue his education, making a sudden transition from village life to city life. He began working at the age of 12 to support himself. During days filled with uncertainty about life, he discovered cinema through a movie poster he encountered. Passionately connecting with cinema, where he discovered many ways to be happy, he embraced the motto: "If I don't let my dreams be stolen, I can achieve anything!"

 

While working and continuing his education simultaneously, he studied Mathematics and Sociology. To carry his dreams to the international arena, he learned English to a proficient level in a short period of 3.5 months. Focusing on intellectual capital by working on alternative finance models, he broke the Turkish Crowdfunding Record in January 2015.

 

A mathematician, sociologist, festival organizer, biennale director, art director, film producer, and line producer; a coworking space, cafe, and hotel operator; a world traveler, professional camper, and amateur swimmer; a cinema, theater, and music enthusiast, and bookworm; an enthusiast of VW T3s, retro bicycles, antiques, recycling, and restoration; a consultant on crowdfunding, intellectual capital, sharing economy, and brand architecture; an association president, advertising agency head, creative director, and social entrepreneur—Kaya has implemented projects in all 81 provinces of Turkey and hundreds of villages.

 

He has taken the stage in 30 different countries*, including platforms like TEDxReset, TurkishWIN, Istanbul Social Innovation Summit, Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Innovation Lab (i-lab), MIT Media Lab, and MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI), sharing his experiences in entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and arts with wide audiences.

 

He believes in the possibility of a sustainable life where social benefit is at the forefront. His biggest dream is to design an extra-curricular education system with all stakeholders by building a culture and arts village where children and youth can bring their ideas to life.

​

​

University Years and Sinemasal

 

Although he dreamed of studying mathematics at Boğaziçi University, a health issue during the entrance exam altered his path, and he began his Mathematics education at Atatürk University (2005), one of Turkey's leading universities in his desired field. He entered professional life through festivals he worked at during his university years. In 2007, after watching a film, he began to feel the happiness, richness, and excitement of new horizons that cinema added to his life more deeply. Finding it unfair that children living in rural areas—a lack he experienced personally in his own childhood—were unaware of the magical world of cinema, he began to dream of carrying this excitement to rural regions. This was his Eureka moment!

​

In 2009, while working on a documentary project, he had the opportunity to observe rural life closely in 426 villages across 41 cities in Turkey. Deciding that the project he wanted to realize should be an extra-curricular educational system offering interactive experiences in a festival concept, he began his research in this field.

 

His passion for cinema led him to film sets. Between 2009 and 2013, he worked in production units for domestic and foreign films, TV series, commercials, documentaries, and music video projects shot in many provinces of Turkey. Among these, the series "Behzat Ç." became one of Turkey's most beloved shows. The feature film "Toprağın Çocukları"received the Jury Special Award at the International Antalya Film Festival, while the Dutch production "Wolf" and the Spanish production "La Novia" received many prestigious awards from Europe and around the world. During this process, he began studying Sociology at Anadolu University to communicate more closely with different segments of society.

​

After a long intellectual preparation period, he founded Sinemasal, Turkey’s first social enterprise in the field of arts, on December 30, 2012. He began explaining his dream to people around him and what they could achieve by working together. He invited every new person he met to become a partner in his dream.

​

Under the slogan "Cinema is in the Villages Now!", the first Sinemasal festival was launched in Southeastern Anatolia in June 2013. The festival was selected as the "Most Comprehensive Youth Project" by the European Union and cited as the "Newest and Most Successful Festival Concept" by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In addition to these, 20 Prestigious Awards given to Sinemasal under various titles such as role model project, changemaker social enterprise, and honorary awards have added value to Turkey in the national and international arena.

​

Following Türkiye, Sinemasal opened offices in Peru, South Africa, and the Philippines. Over the past 13 years, it has introduced 5.5 MILLION children living in socio-culturally disadvantaged regions to the magical world of cinema. Over 10,000 volunteers have taken part in Sinemasal events, brought to life with the participation of youth from 48 different countries. Along with more than 1,000 individual donors, 500+ institutions and organizations have provided financial contributions to the work.

​

With the 13th Sinemasal Film Festival held in 2025, reaching all 81 provinces, Sinemasal's mobile cinema mission was completed.

​

At the center of Sinemasal's plans for 2026 and beyond lies the question "so, what now?" (#pekiyaşimdi). This question also bears the characteristics of a call to action. Under the umbrella of Sinemasal, which says "Now is the time to dare to think about the world from a different perspective!", three new projects are beginning with the IMPACT of ART slogan and the "so, what now?" call: the Cappadocia Biennial, Dream Chasers, and the Anatolia Film Festival.

​

​

Dream Chasers

 

Touching the lives of millions of children with Sinemasal, Kaya founded his second social enterprise, Dream Chasers, in 2016 with the desire to provide social benefit to society by conducting work aimed at youth and those enjoying their "second spring" of life.

​

 

New Saga

 

Wishing to bring new perspectives to the field of social entrepreneurship in our country and the world with the experience gained from Sinemasal and Dream Chasers, Kaya realized his third big dream by founding New Saga in 2018. Under the roof of New Saga, managed as a role-model social company structure for Turkey, new ideas with the potential to provide social benefit to society are developed.

​

​

Cappadocia Biennial

 

Active field studies began in 2024 with the idea of an innovative biennale where artists can bond not only with each other but also with society.

​

​

Other Information

​

Holding the title of the youngest entrepreneur to attend the World Congress of Turkish Entrepreneurs, Kaya serves as an Advisory Board Member in various startups, social enterprises, and social responsibility projects in addition to his own ventures.

​

​​​

* Countries where he has taken the stage and developed projects: USA, Germany, Albania, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Philippines, France, South Korea, Georgia, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Japan, TRNC, Cambodia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Cuba, Macau (China), Macedonia, Malaysia, Egypt, Nepal, Peru, Poland, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Türkiye, Ukraine.​​