Awards of The 26th International Istanbul Film Festival

Awards of The 26th International Istanbul Film Festival
* The GOLDEN TULIP Award to "REPRISE" directed by Joachim Trier (Norway)

* The SPECIAL PRIZE of the Jury to "DELIRIOUS"Tom Dicillo (USA) directed by

NATIONAL COMPETITION

The National Jury of the 26th International Istanbul Film Festival presided over by Ferzan Özpetek (Turkey), and composed of Klaus Eder (Germany), Mehmet Günsür (Turkey), Yıldırım Türker (Turkey) and Işıl Yücesoy (Turkey) has decided to give:

* The BEST TURKISH FILM OF THE YEAR Award to "İKLİMLER / CLIMATES" directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

* The BEST DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR Award to ZEKİ DEMİRKUBUZ for his film "Kader / Destiny"

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey gave a monetary prize of 50.000 YTL to each of the above-mentioned winners.
* The BEST ACTRESS Award to ÖZGÜ NAMAL for her performance in "Beynelmilel / International"

* The BEST ACTOR Award has been shared between ERKAN CAN for his performance in "Takva / Takva A Man's Fear of God" and UFUK BAYRAKTAR for his performance in "Kader / Destiny"

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey gave a monetary prize of 10.000 YTL to each of the above-mentioned winners.

* The SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE JURY went to "BEYNELMİLEL / INTERNATIONAL" by Sırrı Süreyya Önder & Muharrem Gülmez

FACE AWARD
THE FILM AWARD OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

The FACE Award (Film Award of the Council of Europe) is given to the film that best reflects the Council's values of respect for human rights, individual freedom, political liberty and the rule of law. The award includes a sculpture in bronze and a cash prize of 10.000 Euros. It is awarded as part of the Human Rights in Cinema section of the festival. The Human Rights Jury of the 26th International İstanbul Film Festival is composed of Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni (Italy), Philippe Boillat (Switzerland) and Turgut Tarhanlı (Turkey).

* The Jury decided to give the award to "BAMAKO / THE COURT" by Abderrahmane Sissako (Mali)

FIPRESCI AWARDS

The FIPRESCI Jury of the 26th International Istanbul Film Festival presided over by Miguel Somsen (Portugal), and composed of Cüneyt Cebenoyan (Turkey), Katharina Dockhorn (Germany), Marina Drozdova (Poland), Nathan Lee (USA) and Uygar Şirin (Turkey), gave:

* The FIPRESCI Award in the International Competition to "KUNSTEN AT GRAEDE I KOR / THE ART OF CRYING" by Peter Schønau Fog (Denmark), for telling the story of a family with secrets everybody knows about but nobody speaks about it, balancing comedy and tragedy. You will never feel detached by this intense portrait of a Danish family, seen through the innocent point of view of a child.

* The FIPRESCI Award in the National Competition, in memory of Onat Kutlar, went to "KADER / DESTINY" directed by Zeki Demirkubuz, for being a story that finds a strong cinematic language to explore the nature of existence and irrationality. Taking the form of a downward spiral, the film is both a perverse anti-romance and a study of obsession.

As in the previous years, Efes Pilsen has given a prize of US$ 30.000 to the winner of the Onat Kutlar Prize, Zeki Demirkubuz, to be used for his next film project.

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS sponsored by the Radikal Newspaper and determined by the votes of the Festival audience, are given to:

* "NIWEMANG / HALF MOON" by Bahman Ghobadi (Iran) in the International Competition, and "İKLİMLER / CLIMATES" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan in the National Competition.

Festival Review Great 'Climates' at Istanbul fest
Director Demirkubuz fulfills 'Destiny'

By DEREK ELLEY

ISTANBUL -- Two of Turkey's best-known directors came away the big winners at the Intl. Istanbul Film Festival, which wrapped its 26th edition Saturday.

In the National Competition, a jury led by Italian-based Turkish helmer Ferzan Ozpetek awarded Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Climates" best film, while Zeki Demirkubuz copped best director for "Destiny." Latter film also won the Fipresci award and shared the actor prize

Both pics -- existential dramas centered on male protags' obsessive problems with women -- also shared the top prizes at Turkey's Antalya fest last fall. "Climates" won a Fipresci award at Cannes last year.

Prizes hardly reflected the diversity and depth of current Turkish cinema, which is on its biggest high in decades. Last year, of the 212 pics released in the country, 34 were Turkish and they accounted for a massive 51% of the nation's total box office tally.

The 21 features in the National Competition showed a wide range of subjects (including a revived interest in stories set during the '80s military junta), as well as much-improved technical and commercial smarts. Like Bollywood movies, Turkish pics now profit considerably from overseas distribution to ethnic communities, both in Europe and North America. Increased revenues are now being funneled back into bigger production budgets.

Other local films favored by foreign observers included "International," an ironic comedy set in a small town during the junta, wacky cop drama-cum-genre riff "Police," slick psychothriller "The Little Apocalypse," crowdpleasing village dramedy "Adam & the Devil," and sumptuously lensed drama "Bliss," one of three movies showcasing rising young actress Ozgu Namal.

New IIFF director Azize Tan assembled a strong program heavy on tributes to filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant, and an international competition praised at the closing ceremony by British director Michael Radford, jury prexy.

Radford and the five other jurors, including Demirkubuz, Icelandic director Dagur Kari and German thesp Udo Kier, gave the top Golden Tulip Award to Norwegian dramedy "Reprise," a first feature by Joachim Trier, and special prize of the jury to Tom Di Cillo's Gotham paparazzi comedy "Delirious," with Steve Buscemi.

Aside from Van Sant and Di Cillo, other notables who jetted in included Paul Schrader (for an honorary gong) and South Korean helmer Park Chan-wook.

Fest, which ran March 31-April 15, still labors under poor screening conditions in the city's crowded Beyoglu district but, per Tan, admissions were up more than 10% vs. last year, tallying 170,000 tickets sold.Climates / N.B. Ceylan and Zeynep Özbatur Destiny / Zeki Demirkubuz

<