The awards of the 42nd Istanbul Film Festival
The 42nd Istanbul Film Festival, which started on 7 April, concluded with the award ceremony held on 18 April at Soho House Istanbul. A total of 59 films competed in the international and national competitions of the festival.
The winners of the international and national competitions
were revealed at the award ceremony of the 42nd Istanbul Film Festival. During
the ceremony, awards of the international and national competitions, as well as
the National Short Film and National Documentary Competitions, the Young Master
Award, Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize and International Federation of Film
Critics (FIPRESCI) prizes were announced.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
International Golden
Tulip Best Film Award was presented to Jang-e jahani sevom / World War III[1]
Golden Tulip Best Film (in memory of Şakir Eczacıbaşı)
Jang-e jahani sevom / World War III – Houman Seyyedi (Iran)
Special Jury Prize
Pamfir – Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine, France,
Poland, Chile, Luxembourg)
Special Mention
Atlantic Bar – Fanny Molins (France)
YOUNG MASTER AWARD given by the Nespresso Youth Jury
Sígurno mjesto / Safe Place – Juraj Lerotić (Croatia)
NATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Best Short Film
Adres / Navnîşan / The Address – Aram Dildar
Special Mention
Suriyeli Kozmonot / The Syrian Cosmonaut – Charles Emir
Richards
SEYFİ TEOMAN BEST DEBUT FILM PRIZE
Bars / Tulliana – Orçun Köksal
NATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Best Documentary
Boşlukta / Drifting – Somnur Vardar
Special Mention
Düet / Duet – İdil Akkuş, Ekin İlkbağ
FIPRESCI PRIZES
International Competition
Da-Eum-So-Hee / Next Sohee – Jung July (South Korea)
National Competition
Kör Noktada / Im Toten Winkel / In the Blind Spot – Ayşe
Polat (Germany)
National Short Film Competition
8 Mart 2020: Bir Günce / March 8, 2020: A Memoir – Fırat
Yücel (Türkiye, The Netherlands)
NATIONAL COMPETITION
Ayşe Polat’s Im Toten
Winkel / Kör Noktada[2]received Golden Tulip Best Film in national competition.
Golden Tulip Best Film
Kör Noktada / Im Toten Winkel / In the Blind Spot – Ayşe
Polat
Kariyo & Ababay Foundation Special Jury Prize (in memory
of Onat Kutlar)
Cam Perde / Glass Curtain – Fikret Reyhan
Best Director
Belmin Söylemez (Ayna Ayna / Mirror Mirror)
Best Screenplay
Ayşe Polat (Kör Noktada / Im Toten Winkel / In the Blind
Spot)
Best Actor
Alper Çankaya (Cam Perde / Glass Curtain)
Best Actress
Manolya Maya, Şenay Aydın, Laçin Ceylan (Ayna Ayna / Mirror
Mirror)
Best Cinematographer
Barış Aygen (Bir Tutam Karanfil / Cloves & Carnations)
Best Original Music
Kazuya Nagaya, Sound Walk Collective (Iguana Tokyo)
Best Editing
Serhad Mutlu, Jörg Volkmar (Kör Noktada / Im Toten Winkel /
In the Blind Spot)
Best Art Director
Meral Efe Yurtseven, Emre Yurtseven (Iguana Tokyo)
Special Mention
Sanki Her Şey Biraz Felaket / Almost Entirely a Slight
Disaster – Umut Subaşı
[1] ÜÇÜNCÜ DÜNYA SAVAŞI | JANG-E JAHANI SEVOM | WORLD WAR III IRAN
2022 | DCP | Colour | 107’ | Persian; Turkish, English s.t.
Director: Houman Seyedi Screenplay: Houman Seyedi, Arian Vazir Daftari, Azad
Jafarian Director of Photography: Payman Shadmanfar Editing: Houman Seyedi Music: Bamdad
Afshar Cast: Mohsen Tanabandeh, Neda Jebreili, Mahsa Hejazi, Navid Nosrati Producer:
Houman Seyedi Production Co.: Namava Dünya
World Sales: Iranian Independents
Best Film–Orizzonti, Best Actor–Orizzonti
2022 Middle-East Now! (İtalya Italy) Special
Mention | 2022 Tokyo Special Jury Prize
2022 Asian World Film Festival (Los
Angeles) , Special Jury Award, Best Actor | 2022 Stockholm FIPRESCI Prize
Iran’s Oscars submission World War III follows a downtrodden day labourer as he appears to be given the opportunity of lifetime when he’s cast in a bad film about the Holocaust, only to have his life turned upside down. Starting off as a black comedy and descending into the dark callousness of human oppression, World War III won two major awards at the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti section where it premiered. ‘People will fight tooth and nail to obtain their most basic needs –a house, a job and a family– and everything they end up obtaining is nothing but a facade –decorative and artificial,’ says prolific Iranian director, scriptwriter, editor, and actor Houman Seyedi about the inspiration of his sixth film.
[2] KÖR NOKTADA | IM TOTEN WINKEL | IN THE BLIND SPOT GERMANY
2023 | DCP | Renkli Colour | 117’ | German, Turkish, Kurdish,
English; Turkish, English s.t.
Director: Ayşe Polat
Screenplay: Ayşe Polat Director of Photography: Partick Orth
Editing: Serhad Mutlu, Jörg
Volkmar Music: Dynamedion Art Director: Osman Özcan, Görkem
Canbolat Cast:
Ahmet Varlı, Çağla Yurga, Nihan Okutucu, Tudan Ürper, Katja
Bürkle, Aziz Çapkurt, Aybi Era Yapımcı
Producer: Mehmet Aktaş Co-Producer: Ayşe Polat Yapım Production Co.:
mîtosfilm
World Sales: ArtHood Entertainment
Ayşe Polat’s latest film premiered in the Encounters section of the 2023 Berlin Film Festival. A German film team is shooting a documentary in northeastern Turkey, in a remote village, where they interview an old woman performing a ritual to keep the memory of her son alive. The Kurdish translator of the German crew is also the nanny of Melek, a 7-year-old girl. Her father, Zafer, works for a sinister, obscure organisation and is caught between loyalty to his employers and fear for his family’s well-being when his daughter appears to be haunted by a mysterious force. The fateful encounter of these people develops a destructive power.