Istanbul Film Festival Honorary Awards announced

ISTANBUL

The recipients of the Cinema Honorary Award of the 42nd Istanbul Film Festival, which will be held between April 7 and 18, have been announced.

The Cinema Honorary Awards, presented by the festival to names who made an effort for cinema, will be given to two master cinema and theater actors, Kayhan Yıldızoğlu and Nevra Serezli this year.

The awards will be presented at the opening ceremony of the festival to be held on the evening of April 6.

Actor Yıldızoğlu, born in 1933 in Istanbul, has worked for the Istanbul City Theater for 27 years with veteran directors including Zeki Ökten, Halit Refiğ, Lütfi Ö. Akad, Duygu Sağıroğlu and Memduh Ün.

He often played supporting roles in Turkish cinema and portrayed many different characters in more than 300 films and dozens of television series after 1986. He also worked in England, Russia and Italy and continued his acting career until 2015.

He was awarded the Lifetime Honorary Award at the Antalya Film Festival in 2015, the Golden Sycamore Award at the Kayseri Film Festival in the same year, and the Cinema Honorary Award at the Sadri Alışık Theater and Cinema Actor Awards in 2018.

Actress Serezli, born in 1944 in Ankara, worked in the Ankara Art Theatre and the Çevre Theater, which she founded with Altan Erbulak and her husband Metin Serezli. She joined the Theater Istanbul ensemble in 1990 and returned to the theater stage after a hiatus of 11 years at Tiyatrokare in 2021.

She played in many movies and television series and did voiceovers. She has been honored with many awards, such as Dokuz Eylül University Muhsin Ertuğrul Theater Labor Award, Sakıp Sabancı Lifetime Achievement Award, the Çolpan İlhan Special Award, and the Contemporary Journalists Association Uğur Mumcu Memorial Award.