2026 Istanbul Film Festival | Turkish Films of Golden Tulip Competition

DEAD DOGS DON’T BITE

ÖLÜ KÖPEKLER ISIRMAZ

Director: Nuri Cihan ÖzdoğanTÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour / 101' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Nuri Cihan ÖzdoğanDirector of Photography: Mustafa YeşilovaEditing: Hakan ÇelikMusic: Oğuz ÖzdoğanArt Director: Kenan Çelik, Cansel KaracanCast: Kemal Burak Alper, Burak Can Doğan, Gizem Gülüş Koçoğlu, Ayşe Kaya, Özlem Buluttekin Özel, Ahmet Ağgün, Eser Ağçalı, Cevher Hikmet Güzey, Mehmet Akif Özdemir, Engin Yüksel, Abdullah Koç, Özgür YiğenoğluProducer: Kaan Özdoğan, Nuri Cihan ÖzdoğanCo-Producer: Hasan Doğanay, Oben YılmazProduction Co.: Remz FilmWorld Sales: Remz Film

Balkan Premiere

2026 Istanbul Film Festival – Best Actor (Kemal Burak Alper)

A skinny young boy, Ismet, is tasked with dumping illegally imported, non-recyclable waste into nature, alongside his childhood friend, Dogo. In a system where filth flows downward and money flows up, criminal groups unable to share the profits of the illegal waste trade brace for a bloody street war, while Ismet and Dogo take on the dirtiest jobs in hopes of climbing the hierarchy. Bound by a vow of loyalty, Ismet tries to bury their sins as deep as the waste itself, only to realize that the rot of the system they serve has already seeped into his friendship with Dogo and into his own soul.

THOSE WHO WHISTLE AFTER DARK

KARANLIKTA ISLIK ÇALANLAR

Director: Pınar YorgancıoğluTÜRKİYE, BULGARIA, GERMANY / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 108' / Turkish, English, Italian; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Pınar Yorgancıoğlu, Emre GülcanDirector of Photography: Jonas Raphael SchneiderEditing: Ayris Alptekin, Barış Demirdelen, Pınar YorgancıoğluMusic: Alican ÇamcıArt Director: Ceyda YüceerCast: Müfit Kayacan, Hülya Gülşen, İnci Sefa Cingöz, Emrah Özdemir, Berkan Şal, İlda Özgürel, Altuğ Görgü, Nilgün Türksever, Kartal Can Ermiş, Pervin Ünalp, Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu, Meral ÇetinkayaProducer: Bekir Yusuf Açıksöz, Dilde Mahalli, Furkan Besli, Pınar Yorgancıoğlu, Zeynep EkmekciCo-Producer: Vanya Rainova, Victoria Mitreva, Sandra Müller, Michael Eckelt, Kanat Doğramacı, TRTProduction Co.: İndiBindi Film, İkinciyeni Film, Gece Kuşu Film, Rosa FilmWorld Sales: İndiBindi Film

European Premiere

l Film Festival – Best Actress (İnci Sefa Cingöz)

Toprak, an unemployed aspiring writer and video game addict, hopes to run away from an increasingly bleak future in Turkey. Her mother Suzan is determined to fulfil the dreams of her youth through her daughter. Meanwhile, her father Melih struggles to adapt to civilian life, hiding from his family a growing sense of emptiness since his retirement from the Museum of Natural History. When a supernatural visitor suddenly appears to Melih, all three are soon haunted – literally – by the ‘ghosts’ of abandoned dreams and alternate possibilities.

HEAR THE YELLOW

GÜNYÜZÜ

Director: Banu SıvacıTÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour / 103' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Banu SıvacıDirector of Photography: Yusuf AslanyürekEditing: İsmet AraçMusic: Canset Özge CanArt Director: Reyhan AcarCast: Selva Erdener, Süleyman Kadim Kabaali, Asena Hotamış, Okan Selvi, Dilşah Demir, Doğukan Töngel, Feridun Koç, Kerem ÖzdoğanProducer: Yusuf Aslanyürek, Banu Sıvacı,Orkun HuyluProduction Co.: Aslanyürek Film, Anagraf Film, An FilmWorld Sales: Yusuf Aslanyürek

Türkiye Premiere

Suna, a musician who returns to her evacuated village to trace the shadows of the past, seeks a confession from Bekir—a man suffering from dementia whom she suspects is her sister’s killer. During this journey, the unexpected bond she forms with Bekir’s rebellious daughter, Fidan, forces Suna to reconnect with her family and confront the darkness within her own soul.

LIFELIKE

BİR ARADA YALNIZ

Director: Ali VatanseverTÜRKİYE, GREECE, ROMANIA / 2025 / DCP / Colour / 115' / Turkish, English; Turkish, English s.t.Screenplay: Ali VatanseverDirector of Photography: Konstantinos KoukouliosEditing: Evren Luş, Feyza KayıkçıMusic: Erdem HelvacıoğluArt Director: Yunus Emre Yurtseven, Meral Efe YurtsevenCast: Fatih Al, Esra Kızıldoğan, Onur Gözeten, Eylül ErsözProducer: Selin Vatansever Tezcan, Oya Özden Özdemir, Aytun Aktan Bahçeci, Antigoni Rota, Stelios Kotionis, Dumitru AlexandruCo-Producer: Yunus Emre Tolan, Engin AltıntaşProduction Co.: Terminal Film, Aktan Görsel Sanatlar, Foss Productions, Da CliqueWorld Sales: Terminal Film

Türkiye Premiere

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.

ON THE DRY ROCK

KURU TAŞIN BAŞI

Director: Yeşim UstaoğluTÜRKİYE / 2026 / DCP / Colour / 82' / Turkish; English s.t.Screenplay: Yeşim Ustaoğlu Ortak Yönetmen Co-Director: Selen HeinzDirector of Photography: Selen HeinzEditing: Thomas Balkenhol, Hakan Aytekin, Svetolik Mica Zajc, Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Selen HeinzCast: Kezzban Küçük, Serhat İnce, Mahmut Tüylü, Hacer İnce, Mehmet İnce, Nuray Özdemir, Hanife Çağaracı, Kibar BoyacıProducer: Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Behrooz Hashemian, Anna Maria AslanoğluCo-Producer: Irmak PakdemirProduction Co.: Ustaoğlu FilmWorld Sales: Ustaoğlu Film

Türkiye Premiere

As a dam swallows a river and erases the memories of the displaced, On the Dry Rock follows the locals of a once breathtaking valley in northeast Turkey up the mountain, where they struggle to preserve memory, identity, and dignity in a manufactured world of concrete and consumerism that feels no longer their own.