Documentary Time
BERONA
Director: Barış Altı
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 64' /
Laz, Turkish; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Barış AltıDirector of
Photography: Barış AltıEditing: Barış Altı, Muhammet Kul, Emir FidanCast:
Katılanlar With: Lütfiye Altı, Ali Altı, Ayşe Korkut, Zaide Moral, Ayşe Ocakçı,
Ahmet Korkut, Semahat Hacıosmanoğlu, Ayşe ŞeremetProducer: Barış AltıWorld
Sales: Barış Altı
2025 Trabzon Best Documentary
In the highlands of the Black Sea, fifty-eight-year-old Lütfiye and seventy-three-year-old Ayşe grind corn in an old watermill, recalling how they were married off at the age of seventeen. Lütfiye still bears the traces of that past; while she joins her friends in the village to work in the tea fields, her husband Ali (59) watches silently from the sidelines. Against Ali’s silence, the solidarity among women comes to the fore. Yet, there is someone who is not engulfed by this silence.
LONGING FOR THE SUN
YAŞAMAYA MECBURSUN!
Director: Caner Kaya
TÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour / 85' /
Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Caner KayaDirector of Photography: Erdem
YılmazEditing: Caner KayaMusic: Bulutsuzluk ÖzlemiWith: Nejat Yavaşoğulları,
Sina Koloğlu, Akın Eldes, Demirhan Baylan, Mert Alkaya, Sunay Özgür, Utku Ünal,
Serdar Öztop, Gökhan Büyükkara, Ahmet Pekmezci, Gencay KıymazProducer: Ersan
Çongar, Cihan Aslı FilizProduction Co.: Bir FilmWorld Sales: Bir Film
World Premiere
The documentary tells the 40-year-long story of Nejat
Yavaşoğulları and the band Bulutsuzluk Özlemi, who set out when the idea that
"Rock cannot be sung in Turkish" was prevalent. Spanning from small
stages in Taksim to giant stadium concerts, the band gives voice to urban life,
the environment, and freedom through their songs. Through the eyes of musicians
and witnesses, such as Murat Meriç, Bedri Baykam, Aptulika, Reha Öztanyel,
İzzet Öz, Harun Tekin, Güven Erkin Erkal, İhsan Apça, Teoman, Kaan Tangöze, Murat
Cem Orhan, and Dilan Balkay, the film sincerely depicts how music became a
beacon of hope despite the odds and inspired future generations.
WHERE AM I IN MY STORY?
LI KU DERA ÇΔROKA XWE ME?
HİKÂYEMİN NERESİNDEYİM
Director: Nalin Acar, Adar Taş
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour
/ 67' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Nalin Acar, Adar TaşDirector of
Photography: Ferit BingölEditing: Ferhat ÖrsMusic: Eylül NazlıerWith: Adalet
Taş, Berivan Acar Cihangir, Hori Acar, Xeme Taş, Fahriye Taş, Remziye Suna,
Sema Keklik, Sevcan AcarProducer: Adar Taş, Nalin AcarWorld Sales: Nalin Acar,
Adar Taş
Türkiye Premiere
Two women directors include their own families in the frame,
removing the distinction between private and public spaces shaped by gender
roles. The film focuses on the life stories of women from families living in
two different cities. Despite the differences between the two cities, homes,
and socio-economic conditions, there are similarities and differences between
the women’s stories, as well as the roles they take on or resist to... The
documentary also shows generational differences among the women in both
families and focuses on the experiences of marriage, sexuality, and pregnancy.
MAILBOX 213 DIYARBAKIR
POSTA KUTUSU 213 DİYARBAKIR
Director: Orhan Miroğlu
TÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour / 134'
/ Turkish, Kurdish; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Orhan MiroğluDirector of
Photography: Cevahir Şahin, Ahmet Bikiç,Abidin EşEditing: Celal KarakuşMusic:
Mümin SeslerWith: Orhan MiroğluProducer: Orhan Miroğlu, Halil ÖzdemirProduction
Co.: Matiate ProductionWorld Sales: Orhan Miroğlu
World Premiere
The military coup of September 12, 1980, transformed
Diyarbakır Prison No. 5 into a "laboratory of cruelty," marking one
of the darkest chapters in Turkey's recent history. In a place where the only
connection to the outside world was through "Mailbox 213," letters
were censored, and screams were confined within stone walls. Writer and
politician Orhan Miroğlu, a survivor of that era, returns to those corridors
years later. The documentary transcends mere testimony of torture, and cinematographically
portrays the longing that couldn't fit into a mailbox, the resilience of the
human spirit, and a society's confrontation with its traumatic memory.
CLOCK WITHOUT A DIAL
KADRANI OLMAYAN SAAT
Director: Fatma Karakuş Kaçmaz
TÜRKİYE / 2024 / DCP / Colour
/ 62' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Fatma Karakuş KaçmazDirector of
Photography: Serkan KaçmazEditing: Serkan Kaçmaz, Fatma Karakuş Kaçmaz, Hüseyin
GürsoyProducer: Fatma Karakuş KaçmazWorld Sales: Fatma Karakuş Kaçmaz
2024 Antalya Best Documentary
2025 Indianapolis Independent FF Best Documentary
2025 İzmir International Women Filmmakers FF Best
Documentary
2025 My Name Is Climate FF (UK) Best Director
2025 Abbas Kiarostami 5 Film & Photo Festival (İran)
Best Documentary
The researcher investigating climate change decides to meet with people who make their living from nature and embarks on a journey across a vast region to explore different lives. Grounded in both social and scientific reality, the researcher strives to bridge the gap between the two. Believing that the only way to prevent the world from descending into disaster lies in this connection, the researcher constantly watches the clock, aware that time is running out.
YAVAŞ ÖLÜM
SLOW DEATH
Director: İlkay Nişancı
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 85' /
Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: İlkay Nişancı, Aslı OdmanDirector of
Photography: Okan CandemirEditing: İlkay NişancıMusic: Türkay NişancıCast:
Katılanlar With: Aslı OdmanProducer: Hakan FıçıcıProduction Co.: RPT FilmWorld
Sales: RPT Film
TEMA Foundation's Slow Death is an activist-researcher’s
diary of destruction. The documentary confronts the narratives of death, life,
and hope in the Elbistan Plain, swallowed up by two thermal power plants and
coal mines. It promises to reflect not only Elbistan’s story but also the
impending disasters we are navigating through, constructed as a development
dream.
2M²
Director: Volkan Üce
BELGIUM, GERMANY, TÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP /
Colour / 83' / Turkish, Dutch; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Volkan
ÜceDirector of Photography: Joachim Phillippe, Sabine PanosyanEditing: Eytan
İpekerMusic: David BaulterCast: Katılanlar With: Tayfun Veli Arslano, Kemal
GökşenProducer: Hans Everaert, Harry Flötter, Jörg Siepmann, Mehmet Akif
Büyükatalay, Claus Herzog ReichelCo-Producer: Vildan Erşen, Tayfun
PirselimoğluProduction Co.: Menuetto Film, 2 Pilots, Film Faust, Mitra
FilmWorld Sales: Cat&Docs
10+
Balkan Premiere
2026 Istanbul Film Festival – Documentary Directors' Assoc.
Best Documentary
In 2m2, director Volkan Üce follows the balancing act
between religion and commerce of a Turkish funeral undertaker in Belgium and
his counterpart in Türkiye. Every death raises the fundamental question after a
life between two countries and two cultures: where does one belong, where does
one want to be buried, in which two square meters?
THE MAKING OF MICHEL PETITE
Director: Feyyaz Yıldırım
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 30'
/ Turkish, French; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Feyyaz YıldırımDirector of
Photography: Meryem YavuzEditing: Özgürcan Uzunyaşa, Feyyaz YıldırımMusic:
Tunahan KocaefeArt Director: İdris Kaan AkbayCast: Katılanlar With: Emrah
Özdemir, Mustafa Kıran, Ahmet Kuyaş, Gaye Boralıoğlu Anlatan/Narrator: Yekta
KopanProducer: Ferahnaz Ör, Feyyaz YıldırımCo-Producer: Melda ÇınarWorld Sales:
Ninova Films Distribution
The Making of Michel Petite spans from literature to cinema,
and records a multi-layered history that is as humorous as it is measured in
that ambiguous space where reality and fiction intertwine. The film begins as a
documentary about Michel Petite, an author known for autofiction. By
incorporating multiple making-of layers, it blends the process of making the
documentary with the author’s narrative technique.
Türkiye Premiere Documentary Time
THE DEFEAT
Director: Mehmet Ali Sevimli
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour /
75' / Turkish; English s.t.Director of Photography: Hakan AkgünEditing: Mehmet
Ali SevimliMusic: ZalwanaProducer: Mehmet Ali SevimliWorld Sales: Mehmet Ali
Sevimli
13+
2025 TRT Documentary Awards Professional Category 2nd Place
In this geography, being defeated in a political election is not an ordinary defeat; in local terms, it is ‘being collapsed.’ As the 31 March 2024 local elections approach, the race for the headman for the elder council heats up in Pirsultanlı Village. The rivalry of the candidates competing for headman is not just a political race; it transforms into a power struggle that deeply affects the people of the village, from kinship ties to friendships. The most important question in the village is ‘who will cause the collapse and who will be collapsed.’ The film deals with the cultural codes of local politics, belonging, and dynamics of power with a fly-on-the-wall approach through the election of a village headman.
2026 Tallinn Best Director, Best Original Music
On the 20th floor of a social housing apartment building,
nineteen-year-old İzzet, terminally
ill, finds solace in VRChat. His father Abdi, a school bus driver, distances
himself and seeks comfort from a hodja. His mother Reyhan, a social media
influencer famed as the ‘cancer-fighting mom,’ becomes obsessed with a wild
plant rumoured to cure cancer. After a disappointing physical meeting with a
girl he has met on VR, İzzet attempts suicide. Abdi converts his bus into a
room with a view, embarking on a final journey with his son, using the wild
plant as an excuse. Left behind, Reyhan tries to suppress her void by gathering
neighbours in her home. On the road, spending precious alone time with his son,
Abdi changes his mind and sets off in pursuit of the plant.
MASTER OF BRAINS GAZI YASARGIL
HÜMANİST BİR DEHA GAZİ YAŞARGİL
Director: Atıl İnaç
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour and B&W
/ 96' / Turkish, English; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Atıl İnaç, Alper
ŞenDirector of Photography: Murat AçıkalınEditing: Alper ŞenMusic: Circus
MarcusProducer: Derya Tarım, Gülen Güler, Atıl İnaçProduction Co.: Lacivert
Film, Yalan DünyaWorld Sales: Lacivert Film
Some stories of success are rooted in epic journeys. The
distance between the point of origin and the summit reached gains meaning
through challenges, sacrifices, and extraordinary determination. These stories
prove that what seems ‘improbable’ is not ‘impossible,’ offering courage and
direction to generations who listen to the call of passion. A most esteemed,
globally renowned brain surgeon, Gazi Yaşargil embodies such a life that pushed
the boundaries of science. Relentlessly striving toward his goals, he overcame
obstacles and conventions alike. Master of Brains: Gazi Yaşargil traces his
boundless journey, his profound devotion to humanity and knowledge, and his
lifelong pursuit of truth.
LIKE A NOVEL
ROMAN GİBİ
Director: Tayfun Belet
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 62' /
Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Tayfun BeletDirector of Photography: Tayfun
BeletEditing: Tayfun BeletMusic: Ömer OralWith: Nur Deriş, Gündüz Vassaf, Filiz
Ali, Emine Uşaklıgil, Korhan Atay, Oya Baydar, Mehmet Ö. Alkan, Turgay Olcayto,
Serpil Eryılmaz, Orhan Bahtiyar, İbrahim Metin, Barış Çatal, Serdar
KaraProducer: Tayfun Belet, Nur DerişWorld Sales: Nur Deriş, Tayfun Belet
2025 Antalya Best Documentary
2025 Boston Turkish FF Best Documentary Audience Prize
Starting their life of love and struggle in Thessaloniki,
Sabiha and Zekeriya Sertel were two journalists who fought for freedom during
Turkey’s turbulent times. After Sabiha’s death, her family kept her existence a
secret. Her niece, Nur Deriş, discovers Sabiha’s story through the book Like a
Novel. The film Like a Novel is a poignant journey tracing a silenced
generation and a denied era.
New Visions
GOAT501
KEÇİ501
Director: Evrim Çervatoğlu
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour /
70' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Evrim ÇervatoğluDirector of Photography:
Reşat Okan CandemirEditing: Erkan ÖzkanMusic: Gökhan ÖzkanArt Director: Evrim
ÇervatoğluCast: Cengiz Taşçı, Hızır Akyüz, Sabit Aslan, Kenan Aslan, Şafak
Şişman, Şükran Yıldız, Yaşar ÇervatoğluProducer: Evrim ÇervatoğluCo-Producer:
Seniha Sibel Özorhon, Kuzey Yücehan SevgicanProduction Co.: BageniWorld Sales:
Evrim Çervatoğlu
General Audience
2026 Istanbul Film Festival – Best Cinematography (New Visions)
2025 Doker Moscow Documentary FF Best Sound
2025 St. Petersburg HIFF-HALO Best Documentary, Best Debut
Actor
2025 Come On Doc (Belgrad) Best Documentary
2025 İran Documentary FF Best Documentary
2025 Greece FF Special Jury Prize
2025 Gorniskega (Slovenia) Special Jury Prize
Goat501 is a poetic docudrama that follows Cengiz, a
solitary shepherd living in the highlands of Turkey’s Eastern Black Sea region.
The film begins with the birth of a goat, and ends one year later, when that
same goat gives birth to its own offspring — quietly completing a timeless
cycle. But, this is not only the story of a goat, it is the story of Cengiz
himself. As two other men in the film engage with the herd for profit, Cengiz
lives outside the boundaries of economy, society, and time. Each of his years
repeats like the goats’ cycle, untouched by money or ambition. Over time,
Cengiz becomes indistinguishable from his animals — he is the 501st goat.
MOM’S PALE FLOWERS
ANNEMİN SOLGUN ÇİÇEKLERİ
Director: Ali Cabbar
TÜRKİYE, FRANCE / 2025 / DCP / Colour /
90' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Ali CabbarDirector of Photography: Evren
GündoğduEditing: Tuvana Simin GünayMusic: Demircan DemirArt Director: Erol
KüçükCast: Oral Özer, Nazan Kesal, Ferit Kaya, Burcu Gölgedar, Yüksel
ÜnalProducer: Arthur Cohen, Ali Cabbar, Marsel KalvoProduction Co.: Elementary,
Pangea, Mars ProductionWorld Sales: Ali Cabbar
A year after his father's death, Bahadır, a struggling artist living in Istanbul, returns to the small village he grew up in to oversee the weeklong grape harvest. But, what he finds is a region at grips with climate change, on the brink of abandonment, and a looming decision to make: part with his family's heritage or fight to salvage it.
BONDS, ROOTS AND PASSIONS
BAĞLAR, KÖKLER VEUTKULAR
Director: Sunay Terzioğlu
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 92'
/ Turkish, Arabic, Bulgarian; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Ferit
KarahanDirector of Photography: Serdar ÖzdemirEditing: Ferit Karahan, Aykut
Yıldırım, Hakan Hücum, Sunay TerzioğluMusic: Viktor Forlidas, MuSou MusicArt
Director: Nanaz BahramCast: Ushan Çakır, Ezgi Yaren Karademir, Baran Can
Eraslan, Hasibe Eren, Nizam Namidar, Özgün Çoban, Özcan Varaylı, Zeynep
Vehaplar, Şerif Bozkurt, Başar AlemdarProducer: Timur HarzadınCo-Producer:
Kemal Genel (rejiCorp.)Production Co.: Denge Yapım ve Danışmanlık Ltd.
Şti.World Sales: Timur Harzadın
2026 Istanbul Film Festival – Film-Yön Directors' Assoc. Best Director Prize
2025 Antalya Cahide Sonku Special Jury Prize
2025 Bakü Best Screenplay
After surviving a boat accident, three people struggle to
rebuild their lives. Torn between her family’s expectations of an arranged
marriage and her desire for freedom and acceptance, Hazel tries to create a
future in her adopted country. Moulded in prison, Hamza longs for a new
beginning in another country, but faces an inner conflict rooted in identity
and belonging. Afghan Khaled makes a living as a shepherd and falls in love
with the village headman’s daughter, yet traditions and his outsider status stand
in his way. Bonds, Roots and Passions explores migration, identity, family
bonds, and love through deeply human journeys.
ABOUT MY MOM
ANNEM HAKKINDA
Director: Soner Sert
TÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour / 93' /
Turkish, German; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Soner SertDirector of
Photography: Evren GündoğduEditing: Deniz Bulut GünerMusic: Saki ÇimenArt
Director: Natali YeresCast: Burak Dakak, Kadir Çermik, Yurdaer Okur, Başak
Daşman, Name Önal, Sahra Şaş, Işiknaz ÖzedgüProducer: Atay YıldızProduction
Co.: Ayem MediaWorld Sales: Ayem Media
Türkiye Premiere
2026 Istanbul Film Festival – Best Actor (Burak Dakak) (New Visions)
Caner, who went to Germany to study at university, returns
to Türkiye for the fifth anniversary of his mother’s death, and is greeted at
the airport by his estranged father Muharrem. Setting off on a long journey to
attend the commemoration where all the relatives will gather for religious
rituals, Caner enters into a fierce struggle with his father, whom he sees as
responsible for his mother’s death. The final showdown will take place at the
large family meal.
New Visions
SULTANA
Director: Ali Kemal Güven
TÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour /
116' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Erdi IşıkDirector of Photography: Yakup
AlgülEditing: Deniz Bulut GünerMusic: Şevki Çepa & SoundWorksArt Director:
Güler BaşarCast: Tuba Büyüküstün, Derya Pınar Ak, Seray Kaya, Rojbin Erden,
Taro Emir Tekin, Hakan Kurtaş, Nur Sürer, Çağlar Çorumlu, Itır EsenProducer:
Rodi KayımCo-Producer: Ahmet Katıksız, Erdi Işık, Suzan SümeliProduction Co.:
Rodi MedyaWorld Sales: Rodi Kayım
World Premiere
Sultana is a drama set in Istanbul’s one and only strip
club, telling a story of women, power, rivalry and solidarity. A new Turkish
story where women are not victims in a fairy tale, but warriors learning that
the ‘handsome prince’ is often the real monster ––and their only salvation is
each other. Meral, the long-reigning queen of Sultana, the one and only strip
club of Istanbul, takes the newcomer Anna, a talented, young, Belarusian
dancer, under her wing. But she, soon realizes she has created a rival powerful
enough to replace her, and a ruthless power struggle erupts between the two
women.
AS WE BREATHE
ALDIĞIMIZ NEFES
Director: Şeyhmus Altun
TÜRKİYE, DENMARK / 2025 / DCP /
Colour / 95' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Şeyhmus AltunDirector of
Photography: Cevahir ŞahinEditing: Evren LuşMusic: Artem LitovchenckoArt
Director: Sevi SevgiCast: Defne Zeynep Enci, Hakan KarsakProducer: Şeyhmus
Altun, Fevziye Hazal TanCo-Producer: Johanna SveinsdottirProduction Co.: Jurnal
KolektifWorld Sales: Arthood Entertainment
2025 Ankara Best First Film, Best Art Direction, Best Actor
(H. Karsak)
2025 Antalya Dr. Avni Tolunay Special Jury Prize
2025 Cairo Bronze Pyramid–Special Jury Prize
In an Anatolian village, young Esma’s family is shaken after
a horrific fire in the chemical plant where her father Mehmet works. Amidst the
dense fog of smoke writhing its way across the area, families are being
evacuated, children falling ill, and economic hardship from the plant’s sudden
closure will soon plague all. As Esma observes her father’s struggle to keep
his family safe despite his continuing refusal to evacuate their family home,
her perspective shifts as to the real cause of the strife.
THE ANNESI NINJA
Director: Sinan Yabgu Ünal
TÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour /
114' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Sinan Yabgu ÜnalDirector of
Photography: Feza ÇaldıranEditing: Emin ŞervaniArt Director: Atilla ÇelikCast:
Özge Gürel, Fatih GühanProducer: Alper Aydın, Salih FahlioğullarıProduction
Co.: Sev YapımWorld Sales: Salih Fahlioğulları
World Premiere
Kerim, haunted by past traumas, in his relationship with
Melis refuses to speak about what happened earlier. Two years later, they
return to the island where his memories lie buried, hoping for a peaceful
holiday. Minor tensions grow into tragicomic clashes as silences begin to
speak. The vacation spirals into an endless argument; hunger and exhaustion
push them to their limits. After an accident, Kerim —so quick to judge others—
must confront his own conscience, as truth and lies blur. Told in a real-time single
sequence from day to night, the film builds relentless tension within the
island’s claustrophobic atmosphere.
LO-FI
Director: Alican Durbaş
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 74' /
Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Alican DurbaşDirector of Photography: Ahmed
Hamdi ErenEditing: Selda TaşkınMusic: Eylül ÇekirgeArt Director: Erim
GayretliCast: Furkan Kalabalık, Ceren Koç, Birgül Ulusoy, Caner Erdem, İbrahim
Arıcı, İlker Sami KılıçProducer: İpek ErdenCo-Producer: Mike Downey, Ertekin
Can Olguner, Ekrem Ozan OlgunerProduction Co.: Vayka FilmWorld Sales: Vayka
Film
16+
Balkan Premiere
The first light of morning falls into a bedroom cluttered
with moving boxes through a half-covered window. Emre and Defne, a couple in
their early thirties, wake to the disarray of an apartment that feels either
newly moved into or about to be moved out. As traces of life in the home
emerge, Defne’s simple routines, done with first-day excitement, create moments
that shift for Emre between the ordinary, the intimate, and the quietly
magical. Through these moments, he begins to notice the dynamics of their relationship
and, over the day, confront parts of himself and the mistakes he has made
within it.
DUMP OF UNTITLED PIECES
İSİMSİZ ESERLER MEZARLIĞI
Director: Melik Kuru
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / B&W / 105' /
Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Melik KuruDirector of Photography: Barış
AygenEditing: Serhad MutluMusic: Efe DemiralArt Director: Elif ÖnerCast:
Manolya Maya, Ekremcan Arslandağ, Tuğrul Tülek, Tülin Özen, Ceylan Özgün
Özçelik, Emrah Özdemir, Okan Avcı, Cüneyt Yalaz, Ege DerinProducer: Hilal
Şenel, Fahriye İsmayilovaCo-Producer: Simla Güran (Demeli Film)Production Co.:
Hafif FilmWorld Sales: Hafif Film, Parda Film
Türkiye Premiere
2026 Istanbul Film Festival – Best Art Direction, Best Original Music (New Visions), SİYAD Film Critics Assoc. Best Film Award
Facing imminent eviction, an idealistic young photographer
and her hapless roommate attempt to sell her work to galleries for the first
time, embarking on a bumpy journey through the collapsing art market of
Istanbul.
THE FARM
SÜT ÇİFTLİĞİ
Director: Elif Eda
TÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour / 83' /
Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Elif EdaDirector of Photography: Emre
PekçakırEditing: Bünyamin BayansalMusic: Güncel Gürsel ArtıktayArt Director:
Vahhab AydınCast: Mira Saikali, Derya Alabora, Ediz Metin, Anıl Kır, Deniz Bal,
Gökhan CivanProducer: Enes ErbayCo-Producer: TRT, Elif Eda,
SoberworksProduction Co.: Teferruat FilmWorld Sales: Teferruat Film
World Premiere
After the sudden loss of her parents, twelve-year-old İrem
moves in with her estranged grandmother on a semi-industrial dairy farm. As she
witnesses the routine separation of newborn calves from their mothers, İrem
becomes increasingly troubled by the quiet violence embedded in everyday
practice to obtain more milk. This unsettling realisation leads her to make a
small but radical decision: to liberate the pregnant cows from the farm, with
the help of Halid, an orphan apprenticed to the farm’s veterinarian.
THE GREATEST FUNERAL HITS
EN GÜZEL CENAZE ŞARKILARI
Director: Ziya Demirel
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 111' /
Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Ziya Demirel, Yusuf Tan DemirelDirector of
Photography: Doron TempertEditing: Henrique CartaxoArt Director: Osman Özcan,
Görkem CanbolatCast: Esra Dermancıoğlu, Halil Babür, Çağdaş Ekin Şişman, Nalan
Kuruçim, Yıldız Kültür, Gözde Mutluer, Ayça Damgacı, Hidayet Tılı, Özer
KeçeciProducer: Anna Maria Aslanoğlu, Ziya DemirelCo-Producer: Emre
OskayProduction Co.: istos film, Sky FilmsWorld Sales: istos film
2026 Istanbul Film Festival – Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Esra Dermancıoğlu), Best Supporting Actress (Çağdaş Ekin Şişman), Best Supporting Actor (Özer Keçeci)
2025 Ankara Best Supporting Actress (Çağdaş Ekin Şişman),
Critics Association Best Film
An ever-crying woman tries to lull the household to sleep with some chamomile tea. An incompatible couple prepares for their wedding night. The wedding videographer, after a night of wrestling in bed with his nine-year-girlfriend, hears a €20,000-confession from the lemon-holding, crying woman. A group of friends celebrate the birthday of a dead person. Someone tries to teach another how to drive, but never lets go of the wheel. All of this happens because Dr. Erol Ergüven has more than thirteen medical diplomas.
Around The World
SERMON TO THE VOID
BOŞLUĞA XÜTBƏ
Director: Hilal Baydarov
AZERBAIJAN, MEXICO, TURKEY / 2025 /
DCP / Colour / 112' / Azerbaijani Turkish; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay:
Hilal BaydarovDirector of Photography: Hilal BaydarovEditing: Hilal
BaydarovMusic: Kanan RustamliCast: Huseyn Nasirov, Maryam Naghiyeva, Rana
Asgarova, Elshan Abbasov, Orkhan IskandarliProducer: Hilal Baydarov, Carlos
Reygadas, Burak Çevik, Nuri Cem Erbak, Cenk ÜnalerzenCo-Producer: Nuri Cem
Erbak, Cenk ÜnalerzenProduction Co.: Ucqar Film, Splendor Omnia Studios, Fol FilmsWorld
Sales: Ucqar FilmTurkish Rights: Fol Films
Sermon to the Void is hypnotic and provocative, an existential essay that defies cinematic form, a challenging and unforgettable experience. It does not lead a coherent storyline, but instead offers a theological/philosophical/spiritual experience that you can only surrender yourself to. In pursuit of a protagonist who embarks on a quest for the Water of Life as the world comes to an end, Sermon to the Void is less about the destination but more about the mythical, memorial, metaphysical journey through a poetry of landscapes that are abstract and other worldly, yet uncannily familiar. Drawing inspiration from the works of the great Azerbaijani Turkish poet and thinker Muhammad Füzuli, Sermon to the Void director Hilal Baydarov was praised by critics as ‘as a modern-myth maker’ ‘introducing a new visual language.’ Co-produced by Baydarov, Carlos Reygadas, and Burak Çevik, the film had its world premiere at Venice.
EARTH SONG
STRANA AXÊ
Director: Erol Mintaş
FINLAND, GERMANY / 2026 / DCP / Colour
/ 118' / Kurdish, Turkish, Swedish, Finnish, English; Turkish, English
s.t.Screenplay: Erol Mintaş, Mikko ViljanenDirector of Photography: Juice
HuhtalaEditing: Antti Reikko, Erol MintaşCast: Dilan Gwyn, Feyyaz Duman, Zenan
Tünc, Ali Seçkiner AlıcıProducer: Mete Şaşıoğlu, Erol MintaşProduction Co.:
Sons of LumièreWorld Sales: Sons of Lumière
Earth Song is a film about a family and the secrets that we
hide, even from the people closest to us. The film tells the story of a woman
of Kurdish origin in Finland as she navigates the complexities of her identity
and belonging as she digs into her past. It’s a story about the search for
truth, self-discovery, and forgiveness. ‘With Earth Song, I would like to
explore the Kurdish characters in diaspora whose stories have gone untold,’
says the director Erol Mintaş, ‘I tell the story at a time when ecological
disasters are happening and give us the feeling of the “world crumbling down”,
which helps me to ask, “what is the importance of the truth when the world is
about to come to an end?”.The latest film by Erol Mintaş, whose Song of My
Mother won many international awards, Earth Song premiered at Rotterdam.
THE WEARY HOURS OF TWO LAB ASSISTANTS
İKİ LABORANTIN YORGUN SAATLERİ
Director: Burak ÇevikTURKEY, UK, GERMANY, CROATIA / 2026 /
DCP / Colour / 22' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Burak ÇevikDirector of
Photography: Gregory OkeEditing: Burak ÇevikMusic: Zeynep ToramanCast: Nalan
Kuruçim, Bahar Çevik, Didar Püren ErbekProducer: Burak ÇevikCo-Producer: Kanat
Doğramacı, Nuri Cem Erbak, Vanja Vascarac, Stjepan HundicProduction Co.: Fol
FilmWorld Sales: Fol Film
TÜRKİYE PREMIERE
At midnight, two lab assistants study an unknown substance
using machines and procedures that are unclear to us. They pursue knowledge
through the strict logic of the laboratory. As exhaustion settles in, one of
the assistants brews Turkish coffee for the other, and the night shifts. The
process becomes a fortune-telling, and the scientific gaze gives way to
intuition. Moving from analysis to foresight, the two women imagine another
method of knowing; a space where rational inquiry and intuitive perception coexist.
The film had its world premiere within the Forum Expanded section of the
Berlinale.
Young Masters
ISTANBUL CALLING
PAR-DESSUS BORD
Director: Alexandre Büyükodabaş, Manon Pietrzak
FRANCE,
TÜRKİYE / 2025 / DCP / Colour and B&W / 66' / French, Turkish; Turkish,
English s.t.Screenplay: Alexandre BüyükodabaşDirector of Photography: Nader
ChalhoubEditing: Sébastien DescoinsMusic: Karam Al ZouhirArt Director: Marion
Schultz, Merve AcarçiçekCast: Tuğba Sunguroğlu, Yurdaer Okur, Eren Çiğdem,
Zirek, Ceren Erlüle, Roberto Jean, Hüseyin Özveren, Sedef EcerProducer: Simon
Ingelaere, Okan ÜzeyProduction Co.: Luzeronde Films, Kalavara FilmWorld Sales:
Luzeronde FilmsTurkish Rights: Kalavara Film
World Premiere
Deniz, a woman from Marseille whose parents kept her away
from her roots, discovers the existence of Alev, her paternal great aunt,
through an anonymous package. In the Istanbul of the 1960s, a detective
investigated this young woman, who was mysteriously erased from familial
memory. This is the debut feature by Alexandre Büyükodabaş, inspired by Chris
Marker’ın La Jetée.
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