Thursday, April 5

Festival Takes Off Tomorrow!

The 37th İstanbul Film Festival is preparing to meet cinephiles at 9 different movie theaters presenting 210 films from 43 countries by 218 different directors. The 12-day long festival will also be hosting many events including discussions, exhibitions, and concerts.

At the opening ceremony which will take place on the evening of Friday, April 6, at İstanbul Lütfi Kırdar International Convention and Exhibition Centre, actress Perihan Savaş, screenwriter and writer Osman Şahin, director Aram Gülyüz, and producer Arif Keskiner will be given the festival’s Honorary Cinema Award. Cevdet Pişkin, who has been managing one of the oldest movie theaters of the festival, Atlas Movie Theater, for 22 years, will be given the award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema.

The films and sections of the festival programme will be presented at the gala, the guests of which include master director Peter Greenaway and his wife Saskia Boddeke. Having attended the festival many times as a guest, this year Greenaway takes part in the festival with the film The Greenaway Alphabet that his wife Bodekke made about him.

Another prominent figure attending the opening night is actor Travis Fimmel. The opening film of the festival, Lean on Pete, will be screened after the presentation of Fimmel as an actor in the film.

Watch the Opening Gala Live!

This special night hosting all the national and international guests where we will be celebrating the 37th anniversary of the festival will be aired live with Vodafone TV live broadcast which will begin at 19.30 with the red carpet walk and continue with the award ceremony at 20.30.

The First Guest: Travis Fimmel

Festival’s opening film, Lean on Pete, will be screened on Friday, April 6 simultaneously at 21:30 at Atlas Sineması in Beyoğlu and at Rexx Sineması in Kadıköy as part of the section Vodafone Red Galas. The film’s world premiere took place at Venice Film Festival, and this time Travis Fimmel, the popular actor of the TV series “The Vikings”, will be answering questions from the audience after the screening at Atlas Sineması.

Meetings on the Bridge

We are Meeting on the Bridge to begin the first day of the festival with the first session of the series “TV Series Becoming Digital 2”.

The session will begin with the screening of the first episode of the series 7 Faces, and continue with the talk “The Story of Creation and Production” taking place between 12.15 and 13.30. Director Tunç Şahin, producer Cihan Aslı Filiz and the content manager of BluTV, Sarp Kalfaoğlu, will be attending this event at Soho House, and all you need to do to join us is to send an email to onthebridge@iksv.org.

We’re at the Festival in the Weekend

Nine masterpieces by legendary director Ingmar Bergman, selected by directors from Turkey, will be meeting cinephiles at a special section called “Bergman: 100 Years”. There will be a discussion on Bergman’s cinema on Saturday, April 7 at 16.00 at Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat. The director of Bergman Center, Jannike Åhlunds will be attending the talk and one of the advisors of the festival, film critic Nil Kural, will be the moderator.

There will also be a special talk on Turkish Cinema on Sunday, April 8 at 16.00 at Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat. The festival’s Honorary Award recipients of this year, Osman Şahin, director Aram Gülyüz, and producer Arif Keskiner will come together at this unique festival talk “From Yeşilçam Era Until Today”, and veteran film critic Atilla Dorsay will moderate the talk.

Weekend Combo

Saturday, April 7, at 13:30 at Beyoğlu Sineması – Seventh Seal with the presentation of Emin Alper
Saturday, April 7, at 16:00 at Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat – Festival Talk “Bergman: 100 Years”

Don’t miss these additional screenings!

April 6, Friday at 19:00 at Atlas Sineması – You Were Never Really Here
April 6, Friday at 19:00 at Rexx Sineması – Isle of Dogs
April 6, Friday at 21:30 at Beyoğlu Sineması – Disobedience
April 19, Thursday at Atlas Sineması – Touch Me Not

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