05/11/2018 - Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun’s The Announcement and Vuslat Saraçoğlu’s Debt also snagged some major awards in the national section

The team behind Halef receiving the Best Film Award in the National Competition

Palestinian director Bassam Jarbawi’s debut feature, Screwdriver, and Murat Düzgünoğlu’s Halef were the big winners of the Best International and National Film Awards, respectively, at the sixth Bosphorus Film Festival, which ran from 26 October-3 November.

The International Feature Film Competition jury, headed up by last year’s winner at Bosphorus, Iranian director Parviz Shahbazi, and comprising Turkish actress Belçim Bilgin, French producer Marc Baschet and Canadian cinematographer Iris Ng, handed the 50,000 TL (€8,000) Golden Dolphin to the director of Screwdriver.

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The Best Director Award was bestowed upon Peyman Moaadi for his sophomore feature, Bomb: A Love Story. In the acting categories, Best Actress went to Argentinian Valeria Bertuccelli for her role in The Queen of Fear [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which she also wrote and co-directed, and Best Actor to Kosovo’s Kushtrim Hoxha, who stars in Ismet Sijarina’s feature debut, Cold November [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ismet Sijarina
film profile]. Finally, the jury awarded its Special Prize to Babak Jalali for his latest feature, Land [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

In the National Feature Film Competition, the big winner of the 100,000 TL (€16,000) Golden Dolphin for Best Film, Halef director Murat Düzgünoğlu, received the prize from jury chair Serdar Akar. Halef was not content with just that one award, though, as the film snagged two more Golden Dolphins – Best Actor for Muhammet Uzuner, and Best Screenplay for Murat Düzgünoğlu and Melik Saraçoğlu.

The second big winner of the night was Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun, who received the Best Director Award for his latest feature, The Announcement [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun
film profile], and the Best Director of Photography Award for Krum Rodriguez’s cinematography. Also, Vuslat Saraçoğlu’s debut feature, Debt, left the ceremony with two awards: Best Actress for İpek Türktan Kaynak and Best Editing for Naim Wing. Finally, the FİYAB Producer Award, which is granted to first- or second-time producers, was bestowed upon Mesut Ulutaş for The Pigeon [+see also:
trailer
film profile], directed by Banu Sivaci.

However, by no means did the gathering neglect its past: when the Bosphorus Film Festival first started, it had short-film competitions, and this year the event gave out six awards to shorts, worth a total of 70,000 TL (€11,300). Thus Volte by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzala won the Ahmet Uluçay Grand Prix and the Best International Short Documentary Prize, while Patision Avenue by Thanasis Neofotistos and Titanium by Gökçe Erdem were the victors in the International and National Short Fiction Film sections, respectively.

Here is the complete list of winners at the sixth Bosphorus Film Festival:

International Feature Film Competition

Best Film
Screwdriver - Bassam Jarbawi (Palestine/USA/Qatar)

Best Director
Peyman Moaadi - Bomb: A Love Story (Iran)

Best Actress
Valeria Bertuccelli - The Queen of Fear [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Argentina/Denmark)

Best Actor
Kushtrim Hoxha - Cold November [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ismet Sijarina
film profile] (Kosovo/Albania/Macedonia)

Special Jury Prize
Land [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Babak Jalali (Italy/France/Netherlands/Mexico)

National Feature Film Competition

Best Film
Halef - Murat Düzgünoğlu (Turkey)

Best Director
Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun - The Announcement [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun
film profile] (Turkey/Bulgaria)

Best Actress
İpek Türktan Kaynak – Debt (Turkey)

Best Actor
Muhammet Uzuner - Halef

Best Screenplay
Murat Düzgünoğlu, Melik Saraçoğlu - Halef

Best Director of Photography
Krum Rodriguez - The Announcement

Best Editing
Naim Wing - Debt

FİYAB Producer Award
Mesut Ulutaş - The Pigeon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Turkey)

Short-film awards

Ahmet Uluçay Grand Prix
Volte - Monika Kotecka, Karolina Poryzala (Poland)

Best International Short Fiction Film
Patision Avenue - Thanasis Neofotistos (Greece)

Best National Short Fiction Film
Titanium - Gökçe Erdem (Turkey)

Best International Short Documentary
Volte - Monika Kotecka, Karolina Poryzala

Best National Short Documentary
Return - Nesli Özalp (Turkey)

İstanbul Media Academy Young Talent 
Cassette - Serkan Fakılı (Turkey)

Honorary Award 
Bent Hamer