04/04/2014 - The 33rd edition of Turkey's largest film event takes place from 5-20 April

Stephen Frears' Philomena [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile], screening in the Akbank Galas non-competitive section, will open the 33^rd Istanbul Film Festival, to be followed by a ceremony celebrating 100 years of Turkish cinema, where screenwriter Umur Bugay, actress Sevda Ferdağ, producer Abdurrahman Keskiner, actor Eşref Kolçak, musician Attila Özdemiroğlu, and director, screenwriter and producer İrfan Tözüm will receive Honorary Awards.

As a showcase for Turkish film, Istanbul will give out 12 awards in the National Competition, which includes ten films. There are 12 films in the International Competition, including Metalhead [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Reunion [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Papusza [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joanna Kos Krauze
film profile], 20,000 Days on Earth [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Me, Myself and Mum [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and they will be competing for the official Golden Tulip awards, as well as the FIPRESCI Prize and the Cineuropa Prize.

Numerous side programmes include sections such as Akbank Galas, Masters, New Visions, From the World of Festivals, Mined Zone, Antidepressant, Midnight Madness, Certified Copy and Kids' Menu, as well as a retrospective of films by Aleksei German entitled War and Remembrance.

The ninth edition of the festival's industry section, Meetings on the Bridge, will take place from 7–18 April. Bringing together producers, directors, scriptwriters and representatives of institutions from Turkey and Europe, and offering them opportunities to make the first international presentation of their feature-film projects and films at the post-production stage, the section features Film Project Development and Work in Progress workshops. It also features the German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund worth €150,000, established in 2011, which has so far supported 20 co-production projects.

Side events of the festival include masterclasses by Asghar Farhadi and Marin Karmitz, as well as various panels including What's Happening in Cinema in Turkey, Filmmaking During War, Building a Nation Through Cinema and others.