Selim Yildiz was born in 1985 in the Bahçesaray district of Van province, Turkey. He completed his compulsory education in Bahchesaray. Between 2007 and 2011, he worked as a construction worker, studying documentary and photography at the Istanbul Free University. His work on Kurdish children and the Kurdish press has been featured in several festivals and received many awards. He organized photography workshops for children affected by the 2011 Van earthquake who struggled to survive in temporary campgrounds. He shot his first documentary "29" in 2013. His second film, I Remember, was about the Roboski massacre. He received the Johann van der Köcken Prize for New Talents in the Documentary Genre.