Istanbul’s IKSV festivals record 224,000 visitors in the first seven months

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) announced that its events for the first half of 2015- the Istanbul Film, Music and Jazz Festivals- have concluded, while registering 224,000 viewers in the first seven months of this year.

In its 2015 program, the 34th Istanbul Film Festival, sponsored by Akbank for the 11th time, screened 171 short and feature films, with 455 screenings at eight different theatres through April 4-19. A total of 130,000 cinephiles and festival guests attended the film festival, which featured a concert, master classes and panels. Also at the film festival, the “Meetings on the Bridge” initiative celebrated its 10th year, having completed 29 film projects and 36 different fund-raising projects since 2006.

The festival’s Cinema Honorary Awards were presented to director and producer Yılmaz Atadeniz, musician Cahit Berkay, actress Nebahat Çehre, screenwriter and director Safa Önal, and actor Süleyman Turan this year, while Onat Kutlar and his friends were commemorated on the 50th anniversary of their Turkish Cinematheque’s founding. The 1962 production of Metin Erksan’s “Revenge of the Snakes” was also awarded and screened within the “Turkish Classics Revisited” project. On a different note, the ordained screening cancellation of the movie “Bakur” marked this year’s festival. Accordingly, 33 films in the festival’s different competitions decided to cancel their screenings, thus cancelling some award and closing ceremonies as well.

Built upon the theme “Cultural Lanscapes,” the 43rd Istanbul Music Festival sponsored by Borusan Holding has left its mark on this year’s program as well. The festival hosted around 600 local and international guests, 27 concerts and various premiers at 13 different venues, with 23,000 music enthusiasts. The world premieres of works by two important composers, Hasan Niyazi Tura and Tigran Mansurian, also occurred at the program. This year’s Honorary Award was presented to Prof. Filiz Ali, while the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to the Borodin Quartet. 


56 jazz concerts in 24 venues 

Under the banner of the 22nd Istanbul Jazz Festival, which took place June 27 -July 15, 56 concerts were held at 24 different venues, hosting more than 250 international and local artists and attended by more than 30,000 viewers. Jazz music lovers were able to enjoy various voices from blues to folk, such as Joan Baez, Jools Holland, Marcus Miller, Melody Gardot and Tigran Hamasyan. The Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s jazz festival was presented to master jazz musician, pianist, and composer Emin Fındıkoğlu.

Salon İKSV celebrated its fifth year as one of the essential venues of Istanbul’s music scene, with contemporary music concerts this year, with artists and bands such as Tatu Rönkkö and Efterklang, Arif Sağ, the Secret Trio, Swans, Submotion Orchestra and Kardeş Türküler. Within the Garanti Jazz Green and Jazz Tree concert series, as part of the “Oyun Salonu” project in collaboration with Doğan Books, many panel discussions were led and various plays were staged.

Cultural policy studies, reports, and policy texts continued supporting the development of cultural policies in Turkey. The IKSV, within these studies, have entitled one of its policy texts “Cultural Policy Priorities and Suggestions for Political Parties.”

Preparations continue for the 14th Istanbul Biennial “SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms” to take place in the second half of the year. Drafted by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the biennial will open its doors from September 5 at over 30 venues, presenting over 1,500 works by over 80 participants. The 14th Filmekimi will also take place once again in the second part of 2015, on Oct. 3-11. 

The 8th Leyla Gencer Voice Competition will also be held in September, in Istanbul, bringing young talents to the world of opera. The competition will be held Sept. 6-11. The 8th Leyla Gencer Voice Competition is organized by İKSV and Accademia Teatro alla Scala, in collaboration with the Kadıköy Municipality Süreyya Opera House, Italiano di Cultura, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Poland National Opera and with the contributions of Borusan Sanat.