44th Istanbul Film Festival kicks off

ISTANBUL

The 44th Istanbul Film Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), opened on April 11 and will run through April 22.

Set to celebrate cinematic voices that shape contemporary storytelling, the festival offers an expansive lineup of screenings, talks, and special events with guest directors and actors from around the world.

This year’s edition features 139 feature films and 15 short films, presenting the latest works from acclaimed auteurs alongside exciting new talents. The program includes world, Balkan and Turkish premieres, with highlights ranging from major award-winners to restored classics and cutting-edge documentaries.

Among the most anticipated titles are Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Dreams,” winner of both the Golden Bear and the FIPRESCI Award at the Berlin Film Festival; Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” recipient of the Special Jury Prize in San Sebastian; “Simon of the Mountains,” the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize winner; and “Blue Trail,” winner of the Grand Jury Prize in Berlin.

The festival will also screen new films from celebrated directors such as François Ozon, Tom Tykwer, Michel Franco, Burhan Qurbani, Mahdi Fleifel and Gary Hustwit, alongside restored masterpieces by David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Jacques Demy, Robert Bresson and Quentin Tarantino. Notable documentaries include biopics on Max Richter, Brian Eno and Charles Aznavour. The opening film of the festival is “Cologne 75” by Ido Fluk, which premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.

In addition to screenings, the festival hosts a robust program of Q&As, talks and retrospectives. Norwegian director Haugerud will be honored with a retrospective featuring six of his films. He will participate in a festival talk on April 16 at Yapı Kredi Culture and Arts and attend screenings of “Sex, Love and Dream”s on April 13, 14 and 15.

Award-winning photographer and writer Larry Towell, known for documenting historical and human rights issues across Nicaragua, Mexico, Canada, Palestine and Afghanistan, will speak on April 19 at the same venue.

Marking its 20th anniversary, the festival’s co-production platform Meetings on the Bridge will feature a series of public panels: “Rethinking Competitiveness, Copyrights and Collaboration in Cinema,” “Cinema and Artificial Intelligence: Looking to the Future,” “Whose Story? Film Funding and Creative Choices” and “Finding the Right Story: Current Creative Tendencies in Documentary Narrative.”