The 36th Ankara Film Festival (November 13–21)

The 36th Ankara Film Festival, organized by the World Mass Communication Research Foundation, will meet moviegoers from November 13–21. 

Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun [1], one of the leading figures in contemporary Turkish cinema, will serve as the head of the jury for the National Feature Film Competition.

The jury for the 36th Ankara Film Festival consists of academic and film critic Ece Vitrinel, film critic and author Murat Erşahin, and Ankara Film Festival Director İrfan Demirkol. The jury selected eight films from among 30 submissions to compete in the National Feature Film Competition.

This year, the jury will evaluate Emine Emel Balcı's "Buradayım, İyiyim / Here I Am, I Am Good," Hasan Tolga Pulat's "Parçalı Yıllar / Partial Years," Mustafa Emin Büyükcoşkun and Semih Gülen's "Atlet / Athlete," Özkan Çelik's "Perde," Seyfettin Tokmak's "Tavşan İmparatorluğu / Rabbit Empire", Şeyhmus Altun's "Aldığımız Bir Nefes / The Breath We Take" Tunç Davut's "Kesilmiş Bir Ağaç Gibi / Like a Cut Tree," and Ziya Demirel's "En Güzel Cenaze Şarkıları / The Most Beautiful Funeral Songs."

This year, eight films will compete in the National Feature Film Competition, chaired by director, screenwriter, and producer Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun[1]. The jury also includes production designer Aslı Dadak, producer Diloy Gülün, actress Hasibe Eren, and editor Osman Bayraktaroğlu.

The festival's Film-Direction Jury, comprised of Cengiz Özkarabekir, Handan Öztürk, and Leyla Yılmaz, will determine the Best Director Award. The Turkish Cinema Critics Association (SİYAD) jury includes Ekrem Buğra Büte, Selin Gürel, and Senem Erdine. This jury will select the winner of the SİYAD Best Film Award.

The National Documentary Film Competition, in which seven documentaries will compete, will include writer, director, and producer Andreas Treske; director and writer Tuluhan Tekelioğlu; and artist and academic Zeyno Pekünlü.

This year, the following documentaries will be competing in the National Documentary Film Competition: Abdullah Harun İlhan’s “Free Words: A Poet from Gaza,” Ayşe Çetinbaş and Çayan Demirel’s “30 Years with Kardeş Türküler” (Sister Songs), Gülten Taranç and Ragıp Taranç’s “My Grandfather’s House,” Letisya Tapan’s “Between Two Spaces,” Mert Güncüer’s “The Notebook of an Exile: Misina,” Tayfun Belet’s “Like a Novel,” and Tolga Oskar’s “Nilgün.”

The Honorary Awards of the 36th Ankara Film Festival have been announced. This year, the Aziz Nesin Labor Award will be presented to Zuhal Olcay for her versatile production in theater, film, and music; the Art Çınarı Award will be presented to Rutkay Aziz for her pioneering work on the theater stage and her lasting contributions to cinema. The Sinematek/Cinema House, which keeps film culture alive and preserves our memory through archival work, received the Mass Communication Award; and Demet Evgar and Selman Nacar were recognized with Foundation Special Awards for their productions that have inspired different generations in the art world. The Ankara Film Festival Honorary Awards will be presented to the winners on November 13th, the festival's opening night.

The festival will host filmgoers at the Kızılay Büyülü Fener Cinema. As in previous years, the festival aims to foster new productions and young artists in Turkish cinema.

The National Feature Film Competition will present Ankara audiences with the year's most notable films, presenting awards in 12 different categories. These categories include prestigious awards such as the Mahmut Tali Öngören Best First Film Award, the Onat Kutlar Best Screenplay Award, and the SİYAD Best Film Award.

The National Documentary Competition will feature original documentaries, while the National Short Film Competition, which provides a valuable platform for film students and young directors, will be open to all genres.

This year, the Ankara Film Competition, which will evaluate documentaries and short films focusing on Ankara, is also attracting attention. The winning film from this competition, organized in collaboration with Koç University's Vehbi Koç Ankara Research Center (VEKAM), will contribute to academic research by being included in the VEKAM archive.

FESTIVAL POSTER

Atay Erol's work, which depicts the multifaceted structure of the festival in a colorful and eye-catching way that reflects the spirit of the city with characters symbolizing Ankara, was chosen as the festival's 2025 poster.

[1] Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun, who began his career as a documentary director and expanded it with feature films, attracted international attention with his 2009 debut, "Wrong Odds and Ends," which won the Best Film Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival. The film, which also won Best Director and Best Screenplay awards in Istanbul and Adana, laid the foundation for the director's cinematic style. His second film, "Yozgat Blues," released in 2013, received the FIPRESCI Award in Warsaw and the Best Balkan Film award in Sofia after its world premiere in San Sebastian. It also garnered national recognition with Best Film awards in Adana and Malatya.

Coşkun's third feature, "Anons," released in 2018, cemented his international success by winning the Special Jury Prize in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival. The same year, it became one of the most talked-about films of the year with its awards at the Adana Golden Boll. The director won the Best Documentary Award at the Ankara Film Festival with his documentary "Crossroads" in 2022, and produced the series "Derin Mor" for the digital platform in 2023. He is currently working on his new film, "The Society for the Cremation of the Dead," set in 1930s Istanbul.