Tuesday, April 21, 2026

2026 Istanbul Film Festival | Turkish Films of the Festival

 




























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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