33rd Istanbul International Film Festival

The 33rd edition of the Istanbul Film Festival took place from April 5th to April 20th 2014. The aim of the Festival is to encourage the development of cinema in Turkey and to promote the commercial distribution of films of quality in the Turkish market. It was first presented as a film week in the summer of 1982, within the framework of the International Istanbul Festival. Accredited by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) since 1989 as a “specialized competitive festival”, the event was thusly renamed the International Istanbul Film Festival. Only films on arts or artists or literary adaptations can participate to the International Golden Tulip Competition.

The 2014 edition screened 357 films by 245 directors from 50 countries including features, short films and documentaries, in 25 different sections that were attended by 135,000 festivalgoers. The festival has three main competition categories: the National Golden Tulip Competition as its central program, International Golden Tulip Competition and Human Rights in Cinema Competition. In addition to its two official international juries, the festival hosted three non-official juries, the FIPRESCI jury among them. Other sections alongside the official competition programs were From the World of Festivals (including a showcase of highlights from recent international festivals, bringing together the latest works and reflecting the current trends in world cinema), Documentary Time with NTV (on international documentary films focused on themes as diverse as politics, art, film, sports, urbanism, literature, music, finance, human rights, justice, war, migration, TV, and education) and What a Pair (a particularly original retrospective based on the centenary of Turkish cinema).

The International Golden Tulip Competition comprised 12 feature films. The award for Best Film went to Blind, by Norwegian director Eskil Vogt, and the Special Jury Prize went to Papusza, by Polish directors Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze. The main prize in the National Golden Tulip Competition (10 films) was awarded to I Am Not Him (Ben O Degilim) by Tayfun Pirselimoglu. The FIPRESCI prize for International Competition went to 20.000 Days on Earth, by British directors Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth, and the FIPRESCI award for Turkish Panorama went to Once Upon a Time (He Bû Tune Bû), by Kazim Öz.

This year the festival presented eight Lifetime Achievement and Cinema Honorary Awards, to Andrzej Wajda, the father of modern Polish Cinema; screenwriter Umur Bugay; actress Sevda Ferdag; French producer Marin Karmitz; actor Esref Kolçak; producer Abdurrahman Keskiner; musician Attila Özdemiroglu, and director, screenwriter, and producer Irfan Tözüm. (Fernando Salvá)

Istanbul International Film Festival: film.iksv.org