Istanbul Film Festival’s national competition to be held this month
ISTANBUL
The 39th Istanbul Film Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), was postponed to a later date due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The largest film festival in Turkey will hold its National Competition and National Short Film Competition in cooperation with Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) between July 17 and 28.
The screenings of 11 feature films and 12 short films will be held at the open-air cinema to be set up at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM). Every evening at 9 p.m., a feature film and a short film will be screened together. The screenings will be held with the participation of film crews.
The competition films will also be screened online on filmonline.iksv.org.
The remaining screenings of the 39th Istanbul Film Festival will be held between Oct. 9 and 20. The program of the festival, which will be held in joint cooperation with Filmekimi, will be announced on the social media channels and the website of the festival in due time.
The National Competition Jury will be headed by director Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun. Jury members are producer Sevil Demirci, actor Berk Hakman, cinematographer Deniz Eyüboğlu Aydın, and writer Hakan Bıçakçı.
The competitions of the 39th Istanbul Film Festival will begin on July 17. The award winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum on July 28.
The world premiere of the documentary “İyi ki Yapmışım” (Glad I did it!), directed by Selçuk Metin, a biopic on actor Metin Akpınar, will be held following the award ceremony with the participation of Akpınar. The film will be screened for the general public in October during the festival.
National competition
Eleven films completed in the 2019-20 season will be vying for the Golden Tulip in the National Competition of the festival.
The National Competition jury will distribute awards in nine categories: Golden Tulip Best Film, Best Director, Special Prize of the Jury, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer, Best Editing, and Best Original Music.
Golden Tulip Best Film in the National Competition will be awarded with 200,000 Turkish Liras, the film winning the Special Prize of the Jury in memory of Onat Kutlar will be awarded 50,000 liras. The prizes for Best Actress and Best Actor will be 10,000 liras each. Best Director will be awarded 50,000 liras. Best Original Music will be awarded 5,000 liras, and Best Screenplay 10,000 liras.
National Competition films include “Bina” (The Antenna) by Orçun Behram, “Plaza” by Anıl Gelber, “Nasipse Adayız” (You Know Him) by Ercan Kesal, “Körleşme” (Going Blind) by Hacı Orman, “Ceviz Ağacı” (Silenced Tree) by Faysal Soysal, “Aşk, Büyü vs.” (Love, Spells and All That) by Ümit Ünal, “Topal Şükran’ın Maceraları” (Adventures of Sukran the Lame” by Onur Ünlü, “Uzak Ülke” (Faraway Land) by Erkan Yazıcı, “Şair” (The Poet) by Mehmet Emin Yıldırım, “Bilmemek” (Not Knowin) by Leyla Yılmaz and “Soluk” (Breath) by Özkan Yılmaz.
The National Short Film Competition jury comprises of director Konstantina Kotzamani, Gökalp Gönen and actor Boran Kuzum. Best Short Film will be awarded 5,000 liras. Twelve short films will vie for the award.
The Istanbul Film Festival presents the Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize in memoriam director and producer Seyfi Teoman, who passed away in 2012. The director of the film awarded with the Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize will be presented 30,000 liras. Six debut feature fiction films are eligible for the prize. The jury consists of director Emine Emel Balcı, actor Özgür Emre Yıldırım and musician Ahmet K. Bilgiç.
Tickets will be available for purchase for the screenings at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum on July 10. Tickets will be available to festival audiences in Turkey only.