TURKEY / Two Turkish films triumph at the Istanbul Festival

The 35th Istanbul International Film Festival ended with an awards ceremony on April 17^th.

In the National Competition most of the awards went to just two films: Ahu Öztürk’s “Dust Cloth”, about two Kurdish cleaning ladies in Istanbul, won the Golden Tulip for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and the Cineuropa Award.

Mustafa Kara’s “Cold Of Kalandar” was the other major prize-winner. It’s about a farmer who wants one of his herd to be in a bullfight. The film won four awards: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Photography and Best Editing.

In the International Competition the winner of the first Audentia Award was the Romanian director Anca Damian’s “The Magic Mountain”. The Council of Europe Award, presented each year to a film which raises public awareness of Human Rights issues, went to “Mediterranea”, a feature film by the Italian Jonas Carpignano.