Accessible Film Festival opens in Ankara

ANKARA

The 4th Ankara Accessible Film Festival, which presents all screenings and side activities accessible for visually impaired and hearing impaired film lovers, opened on May 24.

This year, the festival program once again offers modern and classic movies of Turkish and world cinema, as well as workshops and Q&A sessions with directors, actors and film crews. 

The only film festival in Turkey where everyone can watch movies together regardless of disability, the Ankara Accessible Film Festival presents all films with audio descriptions for visually impaired audiences and with sign language and detailed subtitles for hearing impaired viewers. 

Workshops and Q&A sessions with directors and film crews are accompanied by a sign language translator, while opening and award ceremonies are presented with audio descriptions alongside sign language translation. 

All festival venues are selected from the venues in the Turkish capital that are accessible for orthopedically impaired audience.

Visually impaired film lovers can follow films with headsets that provide an audio-description of the films, which are available on request at screening venues. Hearing impaired audiences will be provided with detailed Turkish subtitles as well as a sign-language translator embedded on screen.

All festival movies being screen have been made accessible by the Audio Description Association. 

The Goethe-Institut Ankara and the Ulucanlar Prison Theater Hall are hosting the festival screenings this year, with all screenings and side activities free of charge.  

The festival has a special guest this year, Yana Novikova, the leading actress of the movie The Tribe (Plemya), which was awarded at the Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week with the Grand Prize and has been in the limelight at every festival where it has been screened, as the first movie ever to be shot in sign language, without any audible dialog or subtitles.

This year 27 feature, short and documentary films will be screened at the Ankara Accessible Film Festival under the thematic sections named “Competition Without Barriers,” “Turkish Cinema,” “From the World,” “Films Without Barriers,” “The Long and Short of it,” “For Children,” “From the History of Cinema” and “Autism-Friendly Screening.” 

Emin Alper’s “Abluka,” (Frenzy), Faruk Hacıhafızoğlu’s “Kar Korsanları” (Snow Pirates), Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s “Mustang,” Emine Emel Balcı’s “Nefesim Kesilene Kadar” (Until I Lose My Breath) and Tolga Karaçelik’s “Sarmaşık” (Ivy) will all compete for the Audience, Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay awards. 

Audiences will have the chance to attend Q&A sessions with directors, cast and crew of the movies, accompanied by a sign language translator. 

‘From the World’ 

Consisting of critically acclaimed films from world cinema, this year the “From the World” section presents outstanding movies from United Kingdom, Greece and France including “45 Years,” “The Lobster,”  “The Guest,” and “Far From Men.” 

The “Films Without Barriers” section invites us to question what we know about disability and explore what is unknown to us. This special selection includes “The Tribe,” a movie widely discussed in the last year’s festival circles. 

Autism-friendly screening for children 

The autism-friendly screening was arranged for the first time last year. This year, the animated movie “The Little Prince” will be screened in a dimly-lit theater with relatively low sound levels. There will be no trailers before the movie, during which the audience will be allowed to walk around the room and eat food and drink beverages. 

Organized by Puruli Culture & Art, the festival’s award ceremony will take place at the Ankara Opera House on May 29.