Documentary films to hit screen in Istanbul

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Documentarist 2012, Istanbul Documentary Days, opens its fifth annual film festival tonight at an official ceremony at the French Cultural Center. The festival, which will screen numerous films throughout the city between June 1 and 6, will host one of the most important documentary filmmakers of our time, Heddy Honigmann as the guest of honor.

As well as retrospective screenings of the director’s best-known films, including “Metal and Melancholy,” “O Amor Natural,” “The Underground Orchestra,” and “El Olvido,” the festival will also host a cinema class taught by Honigmann.

Apart from bringing together well-known documentary filmmakers, directors and festival organizers, the event is a significant meeting point for Turkish and international documentary filmmakers. This year’s festival program will include a number of different categories.

The festival will also host the second round of the Creative Documentary Development Workshop, taught by John Appel and Jeroen Berkvens. The first round of the workshop took place earlier this year in March. At the end of the workshop, some of the projects will be invited to various international festivals.