The 34th Istanbul Film Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IFCA), will take place from April 4th to 19th. The aim is “to encourage the development of Turkish films, helping them achieve international recognition, and to encourage quality films in the Turkish market.” The two-week event will screen 204 films from 62 different countries divided into 20 sections.
This year’s event will honour the late poet Onat Kutlar, the festival’s co-founder and founder of the Turkish film library, offering a new award in his memory, the FIPRESCI Prize.
This year, for the first time, there will be a competition exclusively for documentaries, “National Documentary”, in addition to the usual three competitive sections.
The programme includes an international competition, with the “Golden Tulip” for Best Film given in memory of Sakir Eczacıbaşı, IFCA’s former chairman and co-founder of the Istanbul Film Festival. Rolf de Heer will be the jury chairman.
The national competition, with a jury chaired by director Zeki Demirkubuz, will choose the Best Turkish Film, the Special Jury Prize and Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Director of Photography, Best Editing and Best Music. Another jury will decide which film wins the Seyfi Teoman Award for Best First Feature Film. And to complete the competition “Rights of Man in the cinema”.
Apart from these competitive sections, there are four new out-of-competition sections: “Balkans: Cinema of Flames”, “Family Ties”, “Small truths” and “German animated film”. A special category will be dedicated to Argentine director Lisandro Alonso. The festival will be interspersed with discussions and workshops.
Sources: film.iksv.org, aujourdhuilaturquie.com, todayszaman.com et cineuropa.org
