31st Istanbul Film Festival closes with award ceremony

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

This year’s Best Director Award went to Zeki Demirkubuz (L) for his new feature ‘Inside.’ He was presented his award by Tayfun Pirselimoğlu (R), last year’s winner.

The 31st Istanbul Film Festival closed April 14 with award ceremonies for the National and International Competitions.

The winner of the National Competition in the Best National Film category was Emin Alper’s “Beyond the Hill” (Tepenin Ardı), while the Best Director Award went to Zeki Demirkubuz for his new feature “Inside” (Yeraltı).

The Best Actress award was given to Sanem Öge for her performance in “Present Tense” (Şimdiki Zaman). The Best Actor award was received by Engin Günaydın with his performance in “Inside.” 

This year, the director, scriptwriter, poet and writer Murathan Mungan was the Golden Tulip National Competition jury president. The other members of the jury were director Yüksel Aksu, representative of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Dimitris Kerkinos, last year’s Best Actress winner Nazan Kesal and Alexandre Mallet-Guy, film distributer and producer. This year 12 films, three of them Turkey premieres and five of them world premieres, competed in the Golden Tulip National Competition.

Tayfur Aydın’s film “Trace” (İz–Rêç) received the national competition’s Special Jury Prize. The director was handed his award by the Golden Tulip National Competition jury member, director Yüksel Aksu. 

The jury of the 31st Istanbul Film Festival Golden Tulip International Competition was headed by director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The other members of the jury were the actor Alexander Fehling, director Brillante Mendoza, director Corneliu Porumboiu and journalist Elçin Yahşi. 

This year, the Golden Tulip International Competition Award, presented in memory of Şakir Eczacıbaşı, was given to Julia Loktev’s “The Loneliest Planet.” The award was presented to Julia Loktev by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. In the International Competition, the Special Jury Prize was given to Joachim Trier’s “Oslo, August 31st.” The award was handed to Ingrid Olava, an actress in the film, by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI Awards were given to Andrea Arnold’s film “Wuthering Heights” in the International Competition and to Emin Alper for his film “Beyond the Hill” in the National Competition. 

The People’s Choice Award, given by daily Radikal, was presented by supplements director Cem Erciyes and İlksen Başarır, director of last year’s winner “Merry-Go-Round” (Atlıkarınca), to Rodrigo Garcia’s “Albert Nobbs,” and to Zeki Demirkubuz’s “Inside.”