Film fest to dole out lifetime awards

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Malatya Film festival will welcome film stars, directors and movie aficionados such as Türkan Şoray, Kadir İnanır and John Sayles. Hürriyet photo

The third annual Malatya Film Festival will award Münir Özkul and Türker İnanoğlu with lifetime honors, according to Anatolia news agency.

This year’s festival, which takes place from Nov. 9 to 15, will host different events, panels and discussions. Mayor Ulvi Saran said it would feature more foreign films from countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Korea, China and Iran. “We would like to make Malatya a film [center] for directors and producers,” said Saran.

Last year a total of 130 films were included in the festival, but Saran said he hoped the number would rise to 150 this year.

The Malatya Film Festival has slowly been gaining recognition among the international film community due to its interesting location and roster of noteworthy films.

The festival is also hosting a national short film competition organized to support and encourage short film production among young directors. The winner will receive a prize of 5,000 Turkish Liras during the festival’s award ceremony.

Malatya will welcome film stars, directors and movie aficionados such as Türkan Şoray, Kadir İnanır and John Sayles.

Last year, the Short Film Jury Special Prize went to “Toros Canavarı” (Toros Monster).

Özkul, a longtime star in Turkish movies and TV series, was the subject of a book by cinema writer and researcher Ali Can Sekmeç.