Turkey ‘guest country’ at Balkan film festival

PRSTINA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey is set to be the “guest country” at this year’s PriFest, one of the most important film festivals, which will be held at the Kosovar capital of Pristina.

The organization is extremely pleased with the cooperation with Turkish producers, said Vjosa Berisha, president of PriFest.

“With Turkey being the ‘guest country,’ a 17-member committee will come to Kosovo from Turkey. In the coming days, they will evaluate the opportunities in cooperating with Kosovar producers,” he told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Berisha said the festival will feature 810 movies this year, with 40 of them competing in four different categories, while the rest of the movies being screened in the publicity programs.

Turkish movies “Kalandar Soğuğu” (Cold of Kalandar), “Kor” (Ember) and “Koca Dünya” (Big Big World) will be screened at the festival, and Mustafa Kara, the director of “Kalandar Soğuğu,” and Ecem Uzun, who stars in “Koca Dünya,” will meet with the audiences, Berisha added.

The event was opened with the screening of Kosovar-Dutch co-production “Unwanted” on July 13 and will end on July 20.

The opening of the festival attracted many actors, actresses, directors and producers from the region, along with Oscar winner Canadian director Paul Haggis. PriFest’s honorary president is the famous English actress Vanessa Redgrave, while Turkish director Derviş Zaim is a jury member.

The awards at the festival for “Best European Movie,” “Best Balkan Movie,” and “PrForum Best Project” will this year bear the names of the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry and the state-run television and radio group TRT.