The 43rd Istanbul Film Festival presents a substantial programme of 132 feature and 12 short films, which comprises most recent productions of World Cinema, cult titles, and latest films of master directors and young talents. For 12 days, the festival will bring days full of cinema with film screenings, talks with guest directors and actors, as well as special screenings and events.
The 43rd Istanbul Film Festival is sponsored by N Kolay
Görgün Taner, General Director of İKSV: “As İKSV, we have been supporting different areas of culture and arts, and striving to present our audiences with the best productions for over 50 years. We have been organising the Istanbul Film Festival, one of the most established events of the Foundation, for 43 years. It is of great importance for the future of our country to support science and arts, while also providing mechanisms that foster high-quality productions in these fields. We believe we are doing our part in this, and we take pride in sustaining a robust, international and pioneering event with the Istanbul Film Festival, which has opened up new horizons for not just one, but many generations. The support of sponsors, especially festival sponsors, is of utmost importance for İKSV as a non-profit organisation working for public benefit. It is through the contributions of our supporters that we provide our audiences with thought-provoking and high-quality content, and artists with creative platforms of expression to support their works. This year we have good news in this respect; N Kolay is the sponsor of the Istanbul Film Festival. We are happy that through our collaboration with N Kolay we will be able to ensure the festival becomes stronger and reaches a wide range of audiences. I would like to send my sincere gratitude to N Kolay for providing us with valuable support as festival sponsor.”
Ayşegül Adaca Oğan, CEO of Aktif Bank: “Aktif Bank is over a quarter century old, and as Turkey’s most comprehensive financial technologies ecosystem, while always helping the financial needs of our customers with N Kolay, our digital bank, we also attach importance to increasing our support to projects in the field of culture and arts, which adds value to society and social life. In our 25th year we are excited to contribute with our digital bank N Kolay to the Istanbul Film Festival, which has been organised for 43 years by İKSV, a heart and soul of our country’s culture and arts scene. We had already enriched our collaboration with İKSV through the support we had provided in different scopes over the past years. This year we are proud to be the sponsor of the Istanbul Film Festival, which is followed with great curiosity in the international arena and eagerly awaited by cinema lovers. As we look forward to bringing together N Kolay with cinema lovers, I would like to thank the entire İKSV team who contributed to this collaboration.”
43rd Istanbul Film Festival Cinema Honorary Awards
This year the Cinema Honorary Awards, presented to those who devoted their hearts and efforts to cinema, will be presented to renowned actress Meral Orhonsay and versatile filmmaker Engin Ayça. The awards will be presented at the Opening Ceremony on the night of 16 April.
Wim Wenders and Kôji Yajusho will be in Istanbul as guests of the festival
Esteemed director Wim Wenders is coming to Istanbul for the first time as the festival’s guest of honour in collaboration with MUBI. The festival will feature three films of Wenders: his final film Anselm, which premiered at Cannes and explores the life and artistic journey of German artist Anselm Kiefer, Alice in the Cities, which will be screened from a restored copy on its 50th anniversary, and Japan’s Oscar nominee Perfect Days, in which Kôji Yakusho stars and creates wonders. As part of the festival, Wenders will also meet audiences in a talk.
On the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Turkey, Kôji Yakusho will also come to Istanbul for the festival. One of Japan’s most renowned and respected male actors, Kôji Yakusho shoulders the burden of every genre from yakuza films to romantic drama, and from action to comedy. Yakusho, who has received an award for almost every role he has taken on, is in the festival programme with four films that stand out in his filmography. Festival audiences will be able to watch Kôji Yakusho as the lead in 13 Assassins (Takashi Miike), Under the Open Sky (Miwa Nishikawa), Shall We Dansu (Masayuki Suô), and Perfect Days, with which he won a Best Actor Award in Cannes Film Festival.
Before the screenings Wim Wenders and Kôji Yakusho will both be awarded a Cinema Honorary Award by the festival.
Festival films will be screened in six movie theatres
This year Istanbul Film Festival’s films will be screened in 6 movie theatres: Atlas 1948 and Beyoğlu Sineması in Beyoğlu, CineWAM Premium+ City’s Nişantaşı (Hall 3 and Hall 7) in Şişli, and Kadıköy Sineması and Kadıköy Belediyesi Sinematek / Sinema Evi in Kadıköy. The screenings will be at 11.00, 13.30, 16.00, 19.00, and 21.30.
What’s on the festival?
The 43rd Istanbul Film Festival programme includes films from 15 different sections, including classics such as Best of the Fests, Young Masters, Mined Zone, Antidepressant, No More Flowers, and Where Are You My Love?.
Musicians, the section which brings together lovers of cinema and music is back with 5 films, including concert films by Ryuichi Sakamato and Talking Heads, iconic figures who have left their mark on the history of music, as well as original stories of music lovers from different parts of the world.
The Spectre section, which was added to the festival programme last year, will once again explore films that experiment with cinema’s new possibilities. This year’s selection includes brand new films from the Berlin Film Festival, including the newest films by Lisandro Alonso and Hong Sang-soo, as well as Carlos Reygadas’ restored cult film Battle in Heaven.
The Hungarian Rhapsodies section, devised on the occasion of 2024 Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Year, brings together the most respected directors of Hungarian Cinema. 12 features and 1 short film that span from 1966 to 2023, from drama to animation, from political to comedy, from young masters to auteurs will be screened within the scope of the section.
The stars of the festival will align at N Kolay Galas
Galas, one of the most beloved sections of the Istanbul Film Festival, will be featured this year with support by N Kolay. N Kolay Galas will feature celebrity movie stars and master directors in the Turkish premieres of 9 highly anticipated films.
Turkish Classics Revisited, supported by Zurich Sigorta: My Dreams, My Love and You
Istanbul Film Festival, in collaboration with Zurich Sigorta, continues to bring important works of Turkish cinema to light by restoring them and to bring new copies of these classics to the country’s cinema scene. This year, moviegoers will be able to watch the 1987 film My Dreams, My Love and You, directed by Atıf Yılmaz, written by Ümit Ünal, and starring Türkan Şoray and Oğuz Tunç, from the restored copy of Atlas Post Production. The film crew will attend the screening at Atlas 1948 on Friday, 19 April.
Competitions of the Festival
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The jury of the International Competition will be chaired by New Zealand actress Kerry Fox. The International Competition jury comprises director Maryna Er Gorbach, editor Gladys Joujou, artistic director of Thessaloniki International Film Festival and Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Orestis Andreadakis, and film critic Guy Lodge.
NATIONAL COMPETITION
The jury of the National Competition will be chaired by director, screenwriter and producer Aslı Özge. The National Competition jury comprises actress Merve Dizdar, cinematographer Barış Aygen, artist Halil Altındere, and musician Ekin Fil.
In the National Competition, awards are handed out in 10 categories: Golden Tulip for Best Film, Special Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Music.
A monetary prize of 300,000 Turkish Liras and the Golden Tulip Award are presented to the producer of the Best Film by İKSV. The producer of the film that wins the Special Jury Prize is awarded a monetary prize of 150,000 Turkish Liras by Kariyo & Ababay Foundation, in memory of Onat Kutlar. 75,000 Turkish Liras is given by Anadolu Efes to the Best Director. A monetary prize of 25,000 Turkish Liras is given to the recipient of the Best Screenplay Award by Alametholistic, while the Best Art Director will also receive 25,000 Turkish Liras from Milliyet Sanat. Recipients of Best Original Music, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Cinematographer, and Best Editing will each be given 25,000 Turkish Liras by İKSV.
NATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION
The National Short Film Competition jury comprises director Kasım Ördek, director and visual artist Zeynep Demirhan, actor, writer and director Barış Gönenen. A monetary prize of 30,000 Turkish Liras will be presented by Anadolu Efes to the Best Short Film.
NATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
The National Documentary Competition jury for the 43rd Istanbul Film Festival comprises director Berna Gençalp, director Orhan Eskiköy and film critic Evrim Kaya. The Best Documentary will also be given a monetary prize of 30,000 Turkish Liras.
SEYFİ TEOMAN BEST DEBUT FILM PRIZE
The jury of the Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize, for which feature-length debut films from Turkey are nominated, comprises director Orçun Köksal, producer İpek Erden and director Nesimi Yetik.
The Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize has been given since 2013, in memory of Seyfi Teoman, the director, screenwriter and producer who passed away in 2012, and is supported with a monetary prize of 50,000 Turkish Liras to encourage future works by the winning film’s director. For four years, the Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize has been presented by İKSV’s Tulip Card Membership Programme with the support of individual donors. This year, six films will compete for the Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize.
FIPRESCI – International Federation of Film Critics Prize
The jury of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) will present a FIPRESCI Prize to one film each from the National Competition, International Competition, and National Short Film Competition. Chaired by Paola Casella, the jury will include Géza Csákvári, Sezen Sayınalp, Nino Kovacic, Valentina Giraldo Sánchez and Selin Gürel.
YOUNG MASTER AWARD
Young Masters, a traditional section of the Istanbul Film Festival which has been turned into a competitive section for two years with the contributions of Nespresso, will once again be a competitive section this year.
The section will feature 11 debut or second films.
The films within the Young Masters section will be evaluated by the Nespresso Youth Jury, composed of film students who are between 18 and 25 years of age, and the director of one film will be awarded the Young Master Award with the support of Nespresso. The Young Master Award, as well as 3,000 Euros of monetary prize by Nespresso, will be handed to the winning director on 28 April, during the closing and award ceremony of the festival.
The festival’s Nespresso Youth Jury comprises Ahmet Faruk Aksoy, Damla Yağız, Nisa Nemutlubakış, Nour Abu Abdou, Sarp Polat, Yavuz Alp Ayata and Zehra Akaslan.
19th Meetings on the Bridge
Meetings on the Bridge, the co-production, training and networking platform that brings producers, directors and scriptwriters from Turkey and its neighbouring countries together with international film professionals, will be held this year on 24-25-26 April with the support of Anadolu Efes.
The Film Development, Work in Progress and Short Film workshops of Meetings on the Bridge, which is the first platform initiated in Turkey in this field, provide an opportunity to filmmakers from Turkey to present for the first time their feature and short fiction films and documentaries, and their films in post-production, as well as aiming for creating a platform for artistic and financial collaborations.
Sponsored by OGM Pictures, the Meetings on the Bridge: TV Series workshop enables creators of series in development to present their projects to industry professionals. A project to be selected from among the participants in the workshop will also be presented by Meetings on the Bridge the OGM Pictures Special Award, worth 60,000 Turkish Liras.
The recipients of Meetings on the Bridge Workshop Awards will be announced in a ceremony to be held on 26 April.
The Festival hosts the 2nd Onat Kutlar Workshop, ‘“The Voice of Life”: Freedom’
After the first Onat Kutlar Workshop, titled ‘Onat Kutlar: Cinema is a Feast’, was held in June 2022 at Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image, Birkbeck, University of London, the second workshop, hosted by the Istanbul Film Festival, will take place at Salon İKSV on 22 and 23 April. The workshop, which will be free of charge, will be open to everyone.
Festival Tickets
Festival tickets are available ranging from 20 to 150 Turkish Liras. Tickets can be purchased through the festival’s official ticket provider, Passo or at the İKSV box office.
Black and White Tulip Card members will be able to purchase their tickets with a 25% discount, while Red Tulip Card members will be able to purchase their tickets with a 15% discount. If they prefer, Black Tulip Card members will be able to submit their ticket requests using the reservation form sent to them.
Early bird ticket sales for Tulip Card members: 1-4 April
General sale: Friday, 5 April
As part of the Eczacıbaşı Youth Ticket project, student ticket prices will be 20 TL.
Senior citizens will have a %25 discount for all screenings.
Festival sponsor N Kolay is also launching a special ticket campaign for the festival. Within the scope of the campaign, new customers of N Kolay between 25-28 March will be able to purchase tickets with a 250 TL balance to be loaded to their virtual cards. Moreover, customers who purchase their Istanbul Film Festival ticket with N Kolay virtual card via Passo will be able to earn up to 100 TL refund.
Supporters
The 43rd Istanbul Film Festival will be organised with the support of over 20 institutions.
N Kolay is the sponsor of the festival.
Theme sponsors of the festival:
| Anadolu Efes | “Cinema of Turkey” |
| N Kolay | “N Kolay Galas” |
| Paribu | “From World Festivals” |
| Ali Muhiddin Hacı Bekir | “Antidepressant” |
| Nespresso | ’’Young Masters’’ |
With the “Turkish Classics Revisited” section, supported by Zurich Sigorta, the Istanbul Film Festival continues to bring esteemed works of the Cinema of Turkey to the silver screen.
Pera Museum Auditorium, Kadıköy Municipality Sinematek/Cinema House and Minoa Pera are this edition’s Venue Sponsors.
Selpak continues to support the festival as the Hygiene Sponsor, while MUBI, Mey|Diageo and The Stay support the festival as Contributing Corporations.
KAFT designed a limited edition t-shirt for cinema lovers who wish to contribute to the Istanbul Film Festival. 43rd Istanbul Film Festival special festival t-shirts by KAFT will be available for sale on kaft.com as of 26 March.
The 43rd Istanbul Film Festival is supported by Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Istanbul, Goethe-Institut Istanbul, German Films, Institut Français, Unifrance, Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway, Liszt Institute Hungarian Cultural Centre and Hungarian National Film Archive, Korean Culture Centre and Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Instituto Guimarães Rosa, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Istanbul, Embassy of Portugal / Instituto Camões, Consulate General of the Kingdom of Sweden in Istanbul, Embassy of Canada to Turkey, Istanbul Cervantes Institute, Danish Cultural Institute Turkey, Embassy of Luxembourg in Ankara, Italian Culture Centre, Dimitrei Cantermir Roman Culture Center and Embassy of Ireland.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is providing venue allocation, whereas Beşiktaş Municipality, Beyoğlu Municipality and Kadıköy Municipality are providing promotional support to the festival.
In all festivals of Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Eczacıbaşı Group is the Founding Sponsor, The Marmara Group is the İKSV Accommodation and Venue Sponsor, Google is the İKSV Digital Transformation Sponsor, Zurich Sigorta is the İKSV Insurance Sponsor. The Service Sponsors of the festival are American Hospital, TEMPO BPO, Insider, MindBehind, Plaza OSGB, GFK, Mindshare, SOMERA, boosmart, and Wiseback. As in previous years, we would like to thank KOOP for the technical support they provided to this edition of the festival.
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