SineMardin Film Fest opens today

DİYARBAKIR - Anatolia News Agency

The seventh SineMardin International Film Festival will host moviegoers in the magical atmosphere of the eastern province of Mardin, starting today through June 15.

The festival has been organized since 2007, festival chair Münevver Helün Fırat told Anatolia news agency, adding that it was an attempt to promote the city to the world.

She said they would organize two competitions for the first time this year in the short and documentary categories and added that they had selected 10 shorts and nine documentaries out of 197 applications for the festival.

“The film that we have selected will be put to public voting during the festival. The winning films will be given 5,000 Turkish Liras. Next year we will add a feature film competition category to the festival,” she said.

Fırat said Mardin was a rare city for the cinema sector thanks to its natural landscape, as well as its architecture. “Before the festival organization, Mardin was already the backbone of the film sector. It has a very significant place as the number of films festivals is increasing in Turkey. The first festival was a ‘film festival in a city without movie theater.’ Now we have a movie theater of 150 seats.”

This year, author Murathan Mungan will be presented with the festival’s honorary award, she said. “If he accepts, we will present the lifetime achievement award to director Nuri Bilge Ceylan.”

The festival will present a total of 89 films, including 28 feature films, 36 shorts and 25 documentaries.