The national short film competition will be held between 17-28 April 2024 as part of the 43rd Istanbul Film Festival, a specialized competitive film festival.
The aim of the National Short Film Competition is to encourage the realisation of highly qualified short films of art in Türkiye, to support the development thereof; to make sure that the qualified products of the cinema of Türkiye reach the viewers; and thus contribute to the foreign promotion and development of the cinema of Türkiye.
a) The jury, upon evaluation of the films participating in the National Short Film Competition, selects the Best Short Film. A monetary prize of 30,000 Turkish liras is presented by Anadolu Efes to the director of the Best Short Film. This award is given to a single film and cannot be shared.
b) The jury, along with the main award, can bestow a non-monetary Special Mention to honour an extraordinary artistic or technical aspect of a film.
c) The jury comprising of members of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) evaluates the films participating in the National Short Film Competition and selects the best film to award it with the FIPRESCI Prize.
d) The directors, producers, and distributors of the winning film agree to mention the prize they are awarded in press documents and promotional materials as well as during any further distribution of the winning film (on the credit titles).
For films to participate in the National Short Film Competition, the following conditions are envisaged:
a) Turkish animation, fiction, documentary or experimental short films realised after 1 January 2023 can participate to the Festival. For a short film (or a co-produced short film) to be deemed “Turkish short film”, the director or the producer of the film must be a national of the Republic of Türkiye.
b) The films should at most be 20 minutes long; their exhibition formats need to be DCP.
c) Films available on DVD or streaming or VOD services are not eligible for inclusion in the programme.
d) Films which have not been selected upon their submissions for previous editions are not re-evaluated.
The producer(s) applies to participate in the festival as the legal owner of the film. If there is more than one legal owner, then the submission form must include the signatures of all legal owners or their written consent in attachment. The owners can apply to the festival with as many films as they wish.
In order for the films applying for the Festival to be promoted and to be included in the Festival catalogue, below documentation should be submitted until 19 January 2024, 17.00 hours, along with the submission forms through the online Eventival system at https://vp.eventival.com/iff/2024.
a) Online screener link (valid for at least 3 months)
b) Technical features and film info
c) Turkish and English synopses
d) Press book or electronic press kit
e) Film stills (high res)
f) Director’s photograph (high res);
g) (in case the screening copy is not subtitled in English) Dialogue list for subtitle translation or English subtitle list
The submitter confirms the veracity of the information provided in the submission form. The director or submitter commits to refrain from withdrawing the film from the festival after the programme is announced at the festival launch press conference after they have confirmed in writing the selection of the film.
Turkish films are screened with English subtitles. If the owner of the film cannot supply an English subtitled copy of the film, the Festival will prepare electronic subtitles. The last day for delivery of the copies of the films the participation of which in the competition are finalised is two weeks before the Festival, at the latest. The screening copies are submitted to the Festival Office at the İKSV (Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Arts) or sent via downloadable links.
Competition films are selected by the Istanbul Film Festival Short Film Advisory Board from among submitted short films. The final judgment with respect to the inclusion of a short film in the National Short Film Competition is entered by the festival directorate. The Festival reserves the right to not disclose information regarding the selection of films.
Films to be screened for the National Short Film Competition are evaluated by a jury determined by the festival directorate. The National Short Film Competition Jury comprises film producers, directors, screenwriters, actors, film critics, film historians, academics, and prominent people in branches of art connected to cinema, from Türkiye and abroad.
The jury designates its own working system. Members of the jury view the films in competition, the screening arrangement of which is determined by the Festival Directorate, within the duration of the Festival. The Jury, before the decision is announced, submits to the Festival Directorate the minutes signed by all members.
The Festival is responsible for the insurance of the physical copies of selected films, from the moment they are received by the Festival to the moment they are collected by the forwarding agent.
Should a copy be lost or damaged, the Festival’s responsibility could be engaged only to the extent of the value indicated by the producer on the entry form. If the entrant does not send the entry form to the Festival Office until 19 January 2024, the physical copy will be valued by the insurance company on 1,000 US Dollars.
The festival directorate reserves the right to disqualify films not meeting the technical specifications required and sufficient for public screening.
The authority of any resolution concerning subjects not separately established in the regulations belongs to the Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Arts.
The owners, producers and directors of the Turkish short films participating in the program of the 43rd Istanbul Film Festival are considered to have accepted the rules of these regulations.
The festival authority reserves the right to amend the regulations.
