Ceyda Torun is an Istanbul-born director who spent her early years among the street cats, while her mother worried she’d get rabies and her sister worried she’d bring home fleas. She co-founded Termite Films with cinematographer Charlie Wuppermann and has since directed her first feature documentary, “Kedi.”

“Kedi” will premiere at the 2017 DOC NYC film festival on November 12.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

CT: “Kedi” explores the complexities of the human condition through insights that can only be gleaned from our relationships with other animals — in this case, cats.

We tend to think about other animals in categories that are defined by how that animal serves us: pets, work animals, food source, or pests. Our fascination with cats comes mainly from the fact that we haven’t quite tamed the wild cat — instead, the cat domesticated itself alongside us as we went from farmland to metropolis.

In Istanbul, the daily lives of street cats and the interaction they have with humans in their world is a glimpse into this ancient and hopefully timeless relationship that can help us recognize our fundamental need to connect with nature and begin a conversation about the way we view others — whether cat or human — with whom we share our world.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

CT: I was lucky enough to grow up in Istanbul in the early ’80s and like most children at that time, spent my days outdoors surrounded by street cats. After we moved out of the country when I was eleven and lived in many other cities around the world, I felt their absence. I wanted to share with the world just how unique this relationship is and how odd it is that we tend to think of ourselves as so separate from cats — and all other animals, for that matter.

Initially, the idea was to omit the humans and present the world of the cats almost in a pure nature documentary way, but when we talked to locals who were engaging with the cats, it became clear that nearly everyone we talked to had a similarly significant emotional attachment to the cats they knew. I came to realize that through the cats I could highlight all the ways we are similar to one another, no matter our gender, socio-economic background, age, or religion.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

CT: I would want the audience to question their own beliefs about every aspect of the movie — whether it’s their pre-existing notions about cats, Turks, Muslims, cat ladies, or cat daddies — and to hopefully come to the conclusion that we have a lot more in common with one another no matter how foreign we may appear.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

CT: Working with animals can be hard but it was surprisingly fun and fluid because we weren’t seeking a performance from the cats. The technicalities of following them across the city and capturing intimate moments was quite challenging, which forced us to rethink our gear and even devise camera rigs that helped achieve the close-to-the-ground tracking shots.

When we began editing, we had 180 hours of footage and even though assembling the individual cat stories was fairly straightforward, arranging them in an order that would tell a visual story and guide the audience though an experiential process, rather than a cerebral one, was very challenging — a task our editor Mo Stoebe surmounted so expertly.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

CT: At the time that my producing partner and cinematographer Charlie Wuppermann and I started our own production company, with the desire to focus on projects we were passionate about, the online cat renaissance was in full bloom and we knew we could use that to find funding for a project about cats.

We put together a presentation film after our research visit to Istanbul and used that to approach investors as well as people we wanted to attach to the film. We kept the budget sensible and were able to secure funding from a single equity source who saw the potential of the movie.

W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at DOC NYC?

CT: It’s an incredible honor to play at DOC NYC alongside such an incredible group of films! It’s quite the pinnacle of festival screenings that every filmmaker wishes to be a part of.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

CT: The best advice I received was to not sell myself or my films short. With “Kedi,” we were initially rejected by sales agents and the ones that wanted to pick us up would have undersold the film. Had we lost sight of the appeal of our film for audiences, we would have missed out on its success.

The worst advice I ever heard about directing was to be prepared to answer any question that might come up while making a film — a task that ends up being crippling because it’s impossible to be that prepared and leads to micro-managing which can often hinder the potential of the people you’re working with, including yourself.

Learning how to hone my intuitions and my taste level in general led me to be prepared for any issues that could come up and freed me up to be a better listener.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

CT: For the longest time I had been under the false impression that I needed to get a project off the ground before starting a family. As luck would have it, we got funding for “Kedi” the same week I found out I was pregnant. We ended up scheduling the project around my pregnancy — I was halfway into the pregnancy when we started shooting — and it only helped make a better film.

It’s not something we speak about openly — though we should. My advice to female directors is that they can change the rules — they don’t have to try and squeeze into the roles that are imposed upon them. Just find others who support you!

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

CT: Hard to pick just one! I have been in awe of many woman-directed films, from Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need To Talk About Kevin” to Kathryn Bigelow’s “Strange Days.”

I think if I had to pick one that was iconic to me, it would have to be Sally Potter’s “Orlando.” It was so wonderfully strange and powerful when I saw it as a young adult. it was probably one of the few films that impacted me personally and stayed with me for a very long time.

W&H: There have been significant conversations over the last couple of years about increasing the amount of opportunities for women directors yet the numbers have not increased. Are you optimistic about the possibilities for change? Share any thoughts you might have on this topic.

CT: I am optimistic, simply because I think the whole industry is changing. Most female filmmakers work differently than male filmmakers, creating content less frequently but I believe, of better quality — an approach that may not be profitable for big studios but makes less difference to independent companies.

We will see more and more films that are “surprise” hits and as filmmakers, we have to keep proving the exception can be the rule.