‘Istanbul to host TV series fair in 2025’

ISTANBUL

With Turkish series garnering a significant following around the world, Türkiye plans to host a TV and series content fair in Istanbul in 2025, the deputy culture and tourism minister has said.

Attending the 74th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), one of the largest public film festivals in the world where thousands of industry representatives come together, Batuhan Mumcu noted that the ministry has launched efforts to host an international fair on the TV and cinema industry, underlining the need of the country to have such a large-scale organization as one of the top nations exporting the series.

"We will organize a series and TV content fair in Istanbul in 2025. We think that this event will be one of the most important events in its field," Mumcu said during his visit to the European Film Market (EFM) that takes place in the backdrop of the Berlinale where Türkiye has a stand.

Stating that Turkish TV series have a great impact in terms of promoting Türkiye and Turkish culture, Mumcu said, "We are supporting the opening of country stands at events such as MIPCOM, MIPTV, ATF Singapore, Content America and Dubai Series and Content Fair, which are among the most important series and content fairs in the world."

According to the information given by the minister, Türkiye is among the top five countries in the world in terms of TV series-film exports.

"Today, our TV series is broadcast in more than 170 countries around the world, from America to Russia and from the Far East to Latin America, reaching approximately 750 million people."

Stating that the ministry attaches great importance to both film production and international representation, Mumcu said, "We have won many awards at the Berlinale before, including the Golden Bear, which is the grand prize. Films supported by our ministry participate in the world's most important international film festivals, such as Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and Tokyo, contributing to the promotion of Türkiye and Turkish cinema."

Turkish films are presented to foreign sector representatives at the Turkish stand opened within the scope of the festival.

"We host co-production and other cooperation meetings of our filmmakers. These meetings are very important for the development of new co-productions and cooperation opportunities. In addition, the foreign sales of our films are made here and this is also very important for us," Mumcu explained.

Cinema viewers are expected to exceed 40 million.

In addition, Mumcu also spoke about the legislative amendment to increase the number of cinema audiences.

"We paved the way for private institutions to buy discounted tickets. We believe that this regulation will make a significant contribution to the number of viewers in 2024," Mumcu said.

As movie theaters had to close their doors for a long time during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a decrease in the number of film viewers in Türkiye since then.

"Our cinema sector started this year very well. The number of viewers increased by 34 percent as of February 2024 compared to the same period last year. In 2024, we anticipate that we will exceed 40 million viewers with an increase of 30 percent compared to the previous year," he said.