International Istanbul Film Festival


The Istanbul International Film Festival is the first and oldest international film festival in Turkey, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. 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.

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. 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 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.
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.
In 2007, the Council of Europe, in collaboration with Eurimages, started to present the Film Award of the Council of Europe 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.
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. The festival boasted an audience of 170,000 in 2007, breaking its own record.

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 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.
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.

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:
These awards are presented within the context of the festival:
YearFilmDirectorNationality
19851984Michael Radford
1986YesterdayRadoslaw Piwowarski
1987Guard Me, My Talisman Roman Balayan
1988Travelling AvantJean-Charles Tacchella
1989A Film with No Name Srdjan Karanovic
1990Pomegranate and Cane Saeed Ebrahimifar
1991FarendjSabine Prenczina
1992Life on a String Chen Kaige
1993Manila Paloma BlancaDaniele Segre
1994The Blue Exile Erden Kıral
1995The Silences of the Palace Moufida Tlatli
1996Little Sister Robert Jan Westdijk
1997The King of Masks Wu Tian-ming
1998Ayneh Jafar Panahi
1999El Viento se Llevó lo Qué Alejandro Agresti
2000Clouds of May Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2001No Place to Go Oskar Roehler
2002MagoniaIneke Smits
2003Suddenly Diego Lerman
2004Goodbye, Dragon Inn Tsai Ming-liang
2005La Femme de GillesFrédéric Fonteyne
2005Café LumièreHou Hsiao-hsien
2006A Cock and Bull StoryMichael Winterbottom
2007RepriseJoachim Trier
2008Egg Semih Kaplanoğlu
2009Tony ManeroPablo Larraín
2010The MisfortunatesFelix Van Groeningen
2011MicrophoneAhmad Abdalla
2012The Loneliest PlanetJulia Loktev
2013What Richard DidLenny Abrahamson
2014BlindEskil Vogt
2015Cancelled--
2016Un Monstruo de Mil CabezasRodrigo Plá
2017The OrnithologistJoão Pedro Rodrigues
2018WesternValeska Grisebach
2019House of Hummingbird Kim Bora

Other awards

National Competitionhttp://www.iksv.org/film/english/press_release.asp?cid=4&ms=6 Istanbul Film Festival awards , retrieved 2007-12-15http://www.iksv.org/film/english/film.asp?cid=403# Awards of the 28th International Istanbul Film Festival , retrieved 2009-07-23

YearFilmDirector
1985Bir Yudum Sevgi Atıf Yılmaz
1986Züğürt Ağa
Amansız Yol
Adı Vasfiye 		Nesli Çölgeçen
Ömer Kavur
Atıf Yılmaz
1987Anayurt Oteli Ömer Kavur
1988Biri ve Diğerleri Tunç Başaran
1989Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite Tunç Başaran
1990Karartma Geceleri Yusuf Kurçenli
1991Camdan Kalp Fehmi Yaşar
1992Gizli Yüz Ömer Kavur
1993İki Kadın Yavuz Özkan
1994Bir Sonbahar Hikayesi Yavuz Özkan
1995İz Yeşim Ustaoğlu
199680.Adım Tomris Giritlioğlu
1997Akrebin Yolculuğu " Ömer Kavur
1998Masumiyet Zeki Demirkubuz
1999Güneşe Yolculuk Yeşim Ustaoğlu
2000Mayıs Sıkıntısı Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2001Dar Alanda Kısa Paslaşmalar
Herkes Kendi Evinde 		Serdar Akar
Semih Kaplanoğlu
20029Ümit Ünal
2003Uzak Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2004Karpuz Kabuğundan Gemiler Yapmak
Ahmet Uluçay
2005Anlat İstanbul Ümit Ünal, Kudret Sabancı, Selim Demirdelen, Yücel Yolcu, Ömür Atay
2006Beş Vakit Reha Erdem
2007İklimler Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2008Summer Book Seyfi Teoman
2009Men on the Bridge Aslı Özge
2010VavienYağmur Taylan, Durul Taylan
2011Saç Tayfun Pirselimoğlu
2012Tepenin Ardı Emin Alper
2013Thou Gild'st The Even Onur Ünlü
2014Ben O Değilim Tayfun Pirselimoğlu
2015Cancelled
2016Toz Bezi Ahu Öztürk
2017Sarı sıcak Fikret Reyhan
2018Borç Vuslat Saraçoğlu
2019Kız Kardeşler Emin Alper

Famous visitors

Famous visitors since 1982 include:
;Actors and actresses
;Directors