The 40th Istanbul Film Festival, which started on 1 April with online screenings and continued in cinemas and at outdoor venues, was concluded with the award ceremony held on 14 July at Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus.
The winners of the international and national competitions were announced at the award ceremony of the 40th Istanbul Film Festival organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) with the support of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Also at the ceremony, along with the Cinema Honorary Awards, the organisations and institutions that contributed to the realisation of the festival were presented with gratitude plaques.
A total of 45 films competed in the international and national competitions of the 40th Istanbul Film Festival. During the evening, awards were presented to the winners of the International and National Competitions, as well as the winners of the National Short Film and National Documentary Competitions, Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize and International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) prizes.
Gratitude to the Istanbul Film Festival supporters
General Director of İKSV, Görgün Taner presented gratitude plaques to the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate of Cinema, theme sponsors with the highest contribution Anadolu Efes, Paribu and Morhipo, and the festival’s Special Screening Sponsor Zurich Sigorta. The plaques were received by Cultural Marketing Manager Orçun Ejder on behalf of Anadolu Efes, CEO Yasin Oral on behalf of Paribu, Social Media Content Manager Merve Evirgen on behalf of Morhipo and CEO Yılmaz Yıldız on behalf of Zurich Sigorta. During the ceremony, gratitude was extended to all theme sponsors that supported IKSV for the realisation of the festival as well as the international cultural institutions that contributed to the festival.
Istanbul Film Festival Cinema Honorary Awards
This year, the Cinema Honorary Awards, which are given by the Istanbul Film Festival to people who have given their heart and soul to cinema, were presented to director Çetin İnanç aka “jet director”, stage and film actress Suna Selen, stage and film actor Salih Güney, and vocal artist, actress and dubbing artist Belkıs Özener.
National Documentary Competition
This year a total of 9 films competed in the National Documentary Competition organised by the Istanbul Film Festival with the goal of supporting documentary filmmakers and documentary cinema. On the National Documentary Competition Jury were directors Serdar Kökçeoğlu and Martina Priessner along with director and producer Hasan Söylemez.
The winner of the Best Documentary Award was Anima directed by Yusuf Emre Yalçın. Discovery+ Turkey Senior Business Development Manager Birgül Öztürk presented the award to the producer of the film Ezgi Selin Ülkü. The Best Documentary Award is supported by a monetary prize of 20,000 TL granted by Discovery+ which is also the Documentary Time Theme Sponsor of the festival this year.
The films Nosema directed by Etna Özbek and Wind Horse directed by Sidar İnan Erçelik received a Special Mention in the National Documentary Competition.
National Short Film Competition
Organised by the Istanbul Film Festival to encourage short filmmaking, support the development in this field and introduce the outstanding films to the audiences, the National Short Film Competition featured 13 films this year. The competition jury included actress and producer Nazlı Bulum, director Engin Erden and film critic Selin Gürel.
The jury awarded The Criminals directed by Serhat Karaaslan with the Best Short Film Award. The Best Short Film Award is supported by a monetary prize of 5,000 TL granted by Anadolu Efes.
A Year in Exile directed by Malaz Usta received a Special Mention in the National Short Film Competition.
International Competition
The 40th Istanbul Film Festival International Competition jury was headed by director Radu Jude with jury members director Mahnaz Mohammadi, actress Katia Goulioni, actor Numan Acar, and photographer, director Fabrizio Maltese.
The Golden Tulip Award supported with a monetary prize granted by Eczacıbaşı Group is shared among the director of the Golden Tulip-winning film (10,000 Euros), the distributing company of the film in Turkey (50,000 TL), and the director of the film receiving the Special Jury Prize (5,000 Euros).
This year 11 films from 9 countries competed for the International Competition Golden Tulip Award, which is given in memory of Şakir Eczacıbaşı, co-founder of Istanbul Film Festival and former IKSV chairman of 16 years. The winner of the Golden Tulip was Madalena directed by Madiano Marcheti. Announced by Katia Goulioni, the award was presented by Eczacıbaşı Holding Chief Investment Officer Bülent Kozlu.
The jury bestowed the special jury prize on two films this year. International Competition Special Jury Prize was given to Death of a Virgin and the Sin of not Living directed by George Peter Barbari and Nemesis directed by Thomas Imbach. The awards were presented by Mahnaz Mohammadi.
National Competition Awards
In the 40th Istanbul Film Festival National Competition, a total of 13 films produced in the season of 2020-2021 competed for the Golden Tulip Award. This year the National Competition Jury was chaired by director Tolga Karaçelik. Fellow members of the National Competition Jury were actress Ece Dizdar, art director and production designer Naz Erayda Kurdoğlu, producer Nadir Öperli and writer Şebnem İşigüzel.
National Competition Jury gave awards in 9 categories of Best Film, Best Director, Special Jury Prize, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score.
In the National Competition, The List of Those Who Love Me directed by Emre Erdoğdu won the Golden Tulip for the best film. The award was presented by Tolga Karaçelik. In the National Competition, the Golden Tulip Award is supported with a monetary prize of 200,000 TL.
Best Director award was given to Fikret Reyhan for his film Fractured. Announced by Ercan Kesal the award was presented by Anadolu Efes Cultural Marketing Manager Orçun Ejder. The Best Director award is supported with a monetary prize of 50,000 TL granted by the Cinema of Turkey Theme Sponsor Anadolu Efes.
Given in memory of Onat Kutlar, the Special Jury Prize was bestowed on You Me Lenin directed by Tufan Taştan. The award was presented by Orçun Behram. The Special Jury Prize is supported by İKSV with a monetary prize of 50,000 TL.
Best Actress Award was given ex-aequo to Asiye Dinçsoy for her role in All About Peace and Harmony and to İlayda Elif Elhih for her role in Geranium. The Best Actress Award is supported by a monetary prize of 10 thousand TL. The awards were presented by Salih Güney.
Best Actor Award was given to Halil Babür for his role in The List of Those Who Love Me. The award was presented by Ece Dizdar. The Best Actor Award is supported with a monetary prize of 10 thousand TL.
Fikret Reyhan won the Best Screenplay Award for the film Fractured. The award was presented by Alametifarika Co-Founder and Creative Director Uğurcan Ataoğlu. The Best Screenplay Award is supported by Alamet Holistic with a monetary prize of 10,000 TL.
Best Cinematography Award was given to Orçun Özkılınç for the film Geranium. The award was presented by Naz Erayda.
Best Editing Award was given to Evren Luş for the film The Cemil Show. The award was presented by Çiçek Kahraman.
Best Original Score Award in memory of Hasan Saltık who passed away this year was given to Deniz Cuylan and Brian Bender for the film The Hunt. The award was presented by LU Records co-founder Ahmet Kenan Bilgiç and Betal Özay. The Best Original Score Award is supported by LU Records with a monetary prize of 5,000 TL.
Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize
Istanbul Film Festival is awarding a prize in memory of director and producer Seyfi Teoman whom we lost in 2013. In the festival’s Cinema of Turkey section 6 debut fiction films made in Turkey ran for the Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize whose jury consisted of directors Zeynep Dadak, Leyla Yılmaz and Orçun Behram. Çağıl Bocut the director of Geranium which won the Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize also received a monetary prize of 30,000 TL given via Tulip Card. Leyla Yılmaz announced the winning film. On behalf of IKSV Tulip Card holders, the award was presented by Feyzi Erçin who has been a Tulip Card holder for the past 16 years.
The monetary prize given to the directors who win the Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film Prize will be financed for 5 years with the contributions of the “IKSV Tulip Card Membership Program” which has been supporting all activities of IKSV since 2002 to date.
FIPRESCI International Federation of Film Critics Awards
Within the scope of the Istanbul Film Festival, International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) gave the FIPRESCI Prize to two films. The FIPRESCI jury was presided by Massimo Lechi from Italy. The jury which evaluated the films in the International Competition included Hsin Wang from Taiwan and Viktor Apalaçi from Turkey. The jury evaluating the films in the National Competition comprised of Nikos Aletras from Greece, Marcelo Ikeda from Brazil and Hasan Nadir Derin from Turkey.
The winners of the FIPRESCI Awards were Death of a Virgin, and the Sin of Not Living directed by George Peter Barbari in the International Competition, and Fractured directed by Fikret Reyhan in the National Competition. The winners of the prizes were announced by jury member Viktor Apalaçi and film critic and festival advisor Esin Küçüktepepınar, respectively.
LOOKING BACK AT THE 40TH ISTANBUL FILM FESTIVAL
Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), the 40th Istanbul Film Festival took place between 1 April and 13 July, 2021.
At the 40th Istanbul Film Festival, over the course of 104 days and in 91 screenings, a total of 86 feature and 20 short films from 24 countries met with movie lovers on the festival’s online platform filmonline.iksv.org, and at Atlas 1948 and Kadıköy Movie Theatres as well as the Maximum Uniq Open Air.
40th Istanbul Film Festival screenings were attended by close to 100,000 viewers.
Within scope of the festival, 13 films in the national competition were screened with the participation of the film crews.
40th ISTANBUL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS
1 April-13 July 2021
National Short Film Competition
- Best Short Film – The Criminals / Serhat Karaaslan (Turkey, France, Romania)
- Special Mention – A Year in Exile / Malaz Usta (Turkey)
National Documentary Competition
- Best Documentary – Anima / Yusuf Emre Yalçın (Turkey)
- Special Mention – Nosema / Etna Özbek (Turkey)
- Special Mention – Wind Horse / Sidar İnan Erçelik (Turkey)
International Competition
- Golden Tulip – Madalena / Madiano Marcheti (Brazil)
- Special Jury Prize – Death of a Virgin, and the Sin of Not Living / George Peter Barbari (Lebanon)
- Special Jury Prize – Nemesis / Thomas Imbach (Switzerland)
National Competition
- Golden Tulip Best Film – The List of Those Who Love Me / Emre Erdoğdu
- Special Jury Prize (in memory of Onat Kutlar) – You Me Lenin / Tufan Taştan
- Best Director – Fikret Reyhan (Fractured)
- Best Screenplay – Fractured / Fikret Reyhan
- Best Actress – Asiye Dinçsoy (It’s All About Peace and Harmony) & İlayda Elif Elhih (Geranium)
- Best Actor – Halil Babür (The List of Those Who Love Me)
- Best Cinematography – Orçun Özkılınç (Geranium)
- Best Film Editing – Evren Luş (The Cemil Show)
- Best Original Score – Deniz Cuylan, Brian Bender (The Hunt)
Seyfi Teoman Best Debut Film
- Best Debut Film – Geranium / Çağul Bocut
FIPRESCI Awards
- International Competition – Death of a Virgin, and the Sin of Not Living / George Peter Barbari (Lebanon)
- National Competition – Fractured / Fikret Reyhan
