16th Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival

The Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival has been organized since 1998 with the goal of using the narrative of cinema to raise public awareness about gender issues.

Since 1996, the Turkish Flying Broom Women’s Communication and Research Association’s aim has been to establish a network of women’s NGOs and to function as an information and documentation center. Over the years, this organization has raised many funds from both national and international sources towards the implementation of projects geared towards improving women’s status and capacity. It has also contributed to the process of democratization and the development of a civil society in Turkey, in accordance with the international gender equality norms and principles formulated at Beijing (1995) and other international conferences and summits.

The Festival is an international organization where features, shorts, documentary and animation films by women directors from Turkey and around the world are presented to the audience in a framework of specific themes, panels, discussions, film screenings and exhibitions. In 2003, an international section was added to the festival and FIPRESCI has been sending an international jury which awards one of the films produced in the last two years and screened in the “Each Has a Different Color” section of the festival.

Also, from its sixth year onward, the festival established the Honorary Award and Bilge Olgaç Achievement Award to recognize women who have made great efforts for cinema and show appreciation of their works.

In addition to the film screenings, local and international directors, press members and film critics are hosted in Ankara as a part of the Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival. (Magali Van Reeth)

Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival: www.ucansupurge.org