International Istanbul Film Festival

The article is about the older festival, held in April. For the newer festival, held in February, see If Istanbul Independent Film Festival.

The Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkish: Uluslararası İstanbul Film Festivali) is the first and oldest international film festival in Turkey, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), a non-profit organisation. It is held every year in April in movie theaters in Istanbul, Turkey. As mentioned in its regulations, the festival aims to encourage the development of cinema in Turkey and to promote films of quality in the Turkish cinema market.^[1]

History

The Istanbul International Film Festival was first organized in 1982, within the frame of the International Istanbul Festival as a "Film Week" consisting of six films.^[2] The theme of the films participating in the Festival was limited to "Arts and Cinema", to keep the event within the context of the International Istanbul Festival. In 1983 the event was realized under the title of "Istanbul Filmdays", taking place throughout the Festival within a span of a month.

Beginning from 1984, the event gained an identity as a separate activity; it was shifted to the month of April. In 1985, two competitive sections, one being national and the other international, were included in the festival program. From 1987 on, "Cinema Honorary Awards" began to be presented.

In the following years, The Istanbul International Filmdays firmly established its position and took its place among the major film festivals of the world with the large number of films shown and the quality and versatility of its program.

At the beginning of 1989 the event was recognized as "a competitive specialized festival" by International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) and was accredited. Parallel to this development, "Istanbul Filmdays" was renamed as "Istanbul International Film Festival".

Beginning from 1996, "Lifetime Achievement Awards" along with "Cinema Honorary Awards" began to be presented to international cineastes, actors and actresses.

Istanbul International Film Festival 23rd edition logo

In 2006, celebrating its 25th year, the festival created a meeting platform for Turkish and European film professionals under the title "Meetings on the Bridge", aiming to bring European film institutions with Turkish directors and producers to discuss funding possibilities. Also in 2006, Azize Tan, the then Assistant Director of the festival replaced Hülya Uçansu as director.^[3][4]

In 2007, the Council of Europe, in collaboration with Eurimages, started to present the Film Award of the Council of Europe (FACE) to a film selected from the entries in the Human Rights and Cinema section of the festival. With its 28th edition in 2009, the festival began to give its Golden Tulip Award also as a result of its National Competition.^[5]

Since the beginning of the Festival, a total of 2,065,000 spectators have attended the screenings of 2,330 films from 72 different countries (2005 figures). The festival boasted an audience of 170,000 in 2007, breaking its own record.^[6]

Censorship

In 1988, government inspectors forced the withdrawal of 5 of 160 films that are to be screened at the festival. Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue and Vedreba (The Supplication) by Tengiz Abuladze were among these five works. Vedreba was being blocked on the grounds that it was "anti-Islamic" and cuts from the other four films were demanded because of erotic scenes. ^[7]

Upon the notification by the censorship board that certain films on the program were to be banned, the then president of the Golden Tulip Jury, Elia Kazan, organised a protest march with the participation of Turkish filmmakers. The Turkish Ministry of Culture subsequently issued a decree holding all international film festivals exempt from censorship.^[3]

Program

The selection and programming of the festival films is conducted by the selection committee and the advisory board. The program consists of an international competition open only to feature and animated films on art and artists or literary adaptations, a national competition, non-competitive, informative sections on specific themes which can include documentaries, shorts and feature films.

The 2008 program which includes 200 films comprises the following sections:

• International Competition
• Turkish Cinema 2007-8
  • National Competition
  • Out of Competition
  • Documentaries
• Festival Awards Screenings
• Special Screening: Turkish Classics Revisited
• Human Rights in Cinema
• Galas
• Challenging the Years
• From the World of Festivals
• Young Masters
• Documentary Time with NTV
• American Independents
• Mined Zone
• Midnight Madness
• Woman is Her Name
• From the Caucasus to the Mediterranean
  • Medscreen Arab Film Promotion
• Kids' Menu
• The World of Animation: Alexander Petrov
• '68 and its Heritage
• Marc Caro: Lost in Illusions
• In Memoriam
• Nokia Nseries Short Film Competition

Awards List

These awards are presented within the context of the festival:

• Golden Tulip (for the best film in the international competition)
• Best Turkish Film of the Year
• Best Turkish Director of the Year
• Special Prize of the Jury
• Special Mention
• Best Actor and Best Actress (national competition)
• Honorary Award
• Lifetime Achievement Award
• FIPRESCI Prize (national -in memory of Onat Kutlar- and international competitions)
• Film Award of the Council of Europe
• People's Choice Award

Golden Tulip Winners

Year	Film	Director	Nationality
1985	1984	Michael Radford	United Kingdom  India
1986	Yesterday	Radoslaw Piwowarski	Poland
1987	Guard Me, My Talisman (Khrani menya, moj talisman)	Roman Balayan	Soviet Union
1988	Travelling Avant	Jean-Charles Tacchella	France
1989	A Film with No Name (Za Sada Bez Dobrog Naslova)	Srdjan Karanovic	Serbia
1990	Pomegranate and Cane (Nar O Nay)	Saeed Ebrahimifar	Iran
1991	Farendj	Sabine Prenczina	France
1992	Life on a String (Bian Zou Bian Chang)	Chen Kaige	China
1993	Manila Paloma Blanca	Daniele Segre	Italy
1994	The Blue Exile (Mavi Sürgün)	Erden Kıral	Turkey
1995	The Silences of the Palace (Saimt el Qusur)	Moufida Tlatli	Tunisia
1996	Little Sister (Zusje)	Robert Jan Westdijk	Netherlands
1997	The King of Masks (Bian Lian)	Wu Tian-ming	China
1998	Ayneh (The Mirror)	Jafar Panahi	Iran
1999	El Viento se Llevó lo Qué (Gone with the Wind)	Alejandro Agresti	Argentina
2000	Clouds of May (Mayıs Sıkıntısı)	Nuri Bilge Ceylan	Turkey
2001	No Place to Go (Die Unberührbare)	Oskar Roehler	Germany
2002	Magonia	Ineke Smits	Netherlands
2003	Suddenly (Tan de repente)	Diego Lerman	Argentina
2004	Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Bu San)	Tsai Ming-liang	Taiwan
2005	La Femme de Gilles	Frédéric Fonteyne	Belgium
	Café Lumière	Hou Hsiao-hsien	Taiwan
2006	A Cock and Bull Story	Michael Winterbottom	United Kingdom
2007	Reprise	Joachim Trier	Norway
2008	Egg (Yumurta)	Semih Kaplanoğlu	Turkey
2009	Tony Manero	Pablo Larraín	Chile
2010	The Misfortunates	Felix Van Groeningen	Belgium
2011	Microphone	Ahmad Abdalla	Egypt
2012	The Loneliest Planet	Julia Loktev	Russia  United States
2013	What Richard Did	Lenny Abrahamson	Ireland
2014	Blind	Eskil Vogt	Norway
2015	Cancelled
2016	Un Monstruo de Mil Cabezas	Rodrigo Plá	Mexico

Other Awards

National Competition^[8][9]

Famous visitors

Famous visitors since 1982 include:^[3][10]

Actors and actresses

Directors

References

1. ↑ Istanbul Film Festival regulations, retrieved December 15, 2007
2. ↑ Istanbul Film Festival history, retrieved December 15, 2007
3. 1 2 3 (eds.) Pinhas, Yusuf; Omaç, Nuray (2006). Anlar/Moments. 2. İstanbul: IKSV. ISBN 975-7363-53-7. 
4. ↑ Bayrak, Kerem (2006-04-19). "A Silver Year for Istanbul International Film Festival". indieWire. Archived from the original on 2007-04-26. Retrieved 2008-04-05. 
5. ↑ "28th International Istanbul Film Festival Press Release 28. Uluslararası İstanbul Film Festivali - Genel Bülten (Turkish)" (Microsoft Word Document). İKSV. 2009-03-10. Retrieved 2009-07-23. 
6. ↑ "27th International İstanbul Film Festival introduced through press conference". İKSV. 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
7. ↑ "Istanbul Film Festival In Censorship Dispute". The New York Times. 1988-04-04. Retrieved 2008-04-05. 
8. ↑ Istanbul Film Festival awards, retrieved 2007-12-15
9. ↑ Awards of the 28th International Istanbul Film Festival, retrieved 2009-07-23
10. ↑ (ed.) Pinhas, Yusuf (2009). Anlar/Moments. İstanbul: IKSV. 

External links

• Official Festival Website
• 26.İstanbul Film Festival