Short Film Festival arrives in Istanbul

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The ninth Akbank Short Film Festival opens today in Istanbul and with continue until March 28 screening films from around the world.

The Akbank Short Film Festival is continuing its journey with some new categories. The program of the festival, which opens today and will continue until March 28, has been developed with new competition and experimental shorts sections under the animation category.

This year 392 films were submitted to the competition under the documentary and fiction categories. As a result of the pre-evaluation, 15 fiction and nine documentary films out of a total of 24 films comprise the “Festival Shorts.” In the section comprising the productions after January 2012, the films are screened with English subtitles.

The “International” section of the festival, for which 134 international films were submitted, will feature short films screened and honored at prestigious festivals around the world such as Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand, Rotterdam, Berlin and Venice. This year’s selection includes films from Germany, Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland, France, Italy, Korea, Canada, Kenya, Somalia, Spain, U.S., Belgium, Yemen, England, Australia, Argentina, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Director Emin Alper guest of the event

This year, Emin Alper will be the guest of the festival’s “Short to Feature” section. An accomplished director, he made his first feature film, “Beyond the Hill,” following his short films, and is known for his awards received from various worldwide film events. Alper will talk about his movie adventures in a chat session at the festival. “Behind the Hill” and his two short films “Rıfat” and “The Letter” are included in the festival program.

Film enthusiasts will have the opportunity to watch documentary films such as “Freigburg, The Capital of the Sun,” “Life Stories Free of Handicaps,” “Karçal: Scream of the North,” and “Power of Unification” by Vedat Atasoy, one of the leading Turkish documentary film directors. The director will also share his experiences with the audience at the event “Documentary Movies.”

Joan C. Gratz, an Academy-awarded American animator, is the first guest of the “Experiences” section this year. Gratz, who is one of the pioneers of the clay-painting technique in animation in the world as well as her successful short films, will share her experiences with short film makers in a talk and with her animation films to be shown at the festival.

Ten films from Turkey will be competing to win the “Best Animation Film Prize” in the “Animation Shorts” category included in the competition for the first time this year. In this section of the festival, animation shorts from Canada, Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, U.S., Finland, Germany and Estonia will be screened.

One of the new sections, ‘Experimental Shorts’

The “Experimental Shorts” section is one of this year’s new events. Nine films from Norway, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Japan, Estonia and Turkey that have been screened at important events are included in the program.

The festival’s “Special Screening” section will present “Laterna, the Beauty of Pera,” a film by Nilüfer Saltık as the project designer, about the barrel-organ (Laterna), one of the indispensable musical instruments for the residents of Istanbul in the 19th century.

As for the “Workshops” and “Talks” sections, several important names like Feza Çaldıran, Sevilay Demirci, Nadir Öperli, Yamaç Okur, Mehmet Güleryüz, Cemal Erez, Galip Tekin and Berat İlk will deliver their knowledge and experiences to short film lovers. All screenings and events will be held at Akbank Art Center free of charge. For further information about the festival, please visit www.akbankkisafilm.com.