Ankara Film Festival opens with films from around the world

ANKARA

Boasting over 200 films from dozens of countries around the world, the 27th Ankara International Film Festival is now underway for the next week.

The curtain was raised on the festival on April 28 with a short animation film by Fernando Franco and Begoña Arostegui, “El Lugar Adecuado.” 

The ceremony also featured the presentation of the festival’s 2016 Honorary Awards. Academic and painter Turan Erol, director and producer Tomris Giritlioğlu and director and actor Yılmaz Erdoğan were among the honorary award winners at the ceremony. 

Until May 8, the festival, which has chosen the theme of “Sight and Sound” for this year, will screen a total of 213 films from 45 countries and 197 directors. Among them are 62 feature films, 117 shorts and 34 documentaries. The event will also host talks with the participation of guest directors, cinema workshops, concerts and special events. 

Among 386 films that applied for the National feature film, national short film and documentary competitions, 57 of them have been selected to compete in the festival this year. 

Director Erden Kıral will head the jury for the national feature category, which will feature 10 films. The jury will be composed of actor Mehmet Aslantuğ, actress Ayça Damgacı, Marmara University radio and TV department head Şükran Esen and cinema critic and writer Fatih Özgüven. 

Director Nesimi Yetik will head the jury of the national short film section. The best of 30 films will be selected by a jury including directors Mario Rizzi and Sermet Yeşil, actress Ayris Alptekin and cinema writer Nagehan Uskan. 

Veton Nurkolları, journalist, writer and documentarian Nazım Alpman, producer Mihriban Sezen, critic Necati Sönmez and Mine Gencel Bek will be among the jury members for the national documentary category. 

Senem Tüzen’s “Ana Yurdu” (Morherland), Emre Konuk’s “Çırak” (The Apprentice), Mustafa Kara’s “Kalandar Soğuğu” (Kalandar Cold), Cansel Elçin’s “Melekleri Taşıyan Adam” (Angels’ Shepherd), Murat Saraçoğlu’s “Memleket” (Homeland), Mehmet Eryılmaz’s “Misafir” (The Visitor), Özcan Alper’s “Rüzgarın Hatıraları” (Memories of the Wind), Selim Evci’s “Saklı” (Secret), Tolga Karaçelik’s “Sarmaşık” (The Ivy) and Ahu Öztürk’s “Toz Bezi” (Dust Cloth) are among the films that will compete in the national feature category. 

The best films from world festivals and award-winning films at this year’s Berlin Film Festival will also be screened at the event.  Among them are “As One,” “Orizont,” “25 April,” “Life on the Border,” “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” “Wedding: A Closet Documentary,” “A Dragon Arrives,” “The Pearl Button,” “We Monster,” “Hail! Caesar,” “Mellow Mud,” “Swan,” “Me and Kaminski,” “Love 3D,” “Chevalier,” “Fire at Sea,” “Embrace of the Serpent,” “Ivies,” “One Breath,” “The Other Side,” “Father”  and many others. 


Hamlet adaptations 

One of the most striking parts of the 27th Ankara International Film Festival is the Hamlet selection. Titled “There is Something Rotten in the World,” the section will screen Hamlet adaptations shot over the years in five different countries, Yugoslavia, Germany, Finland, France and Britain. 

The first film in the selection will be Laurence Olivier’s cult “Hamlet,” made in 1948. It will be followed by Claude Chabrol’s 1963 adaptation “Ophélia,” Krsto Papić’s 1973 film “Acting Hamlet in the Village of Mrduša Donja,” Aki Kaurismäki’s 1988 film “Hamlet Goes Business,” and “Hamlet – This is Your Family” by Austrian director Peter Kern, who died last year.


For children 

Children’s films in the festival have been chosen with the cooperation and support of the China International Children Films Festival, with one animation and two fiction films geared for children 7 to 12 scheduled for screening at the event.

There will be something special for the capital’s refugee children as well. With the cooperation of the Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants, a workshop will be realized that will contribute to the imagination and creativity of refugee children. 

The festival venues are the Kızılay Büyülü Fener Movie Theater and the Goethe Institut-Ankara. The screenings at the Goethe Institut are free of charge.