The Istanbul Film Festival's industry section, Meetings on the Bridge, has announced the winners of its 11th edition, which took place from 8-14 April. 

The Film Development Workshop featured ten projects, and the jury comprising Gabor Greiner (Films Boutique), Hisham Alghanim (Kuwait National Cinema Center), Jamila Wenske (One Two Films), Ossama Bawardi (Philistine Films) and Rémi Burah (ARTE France) decided on the winners. 

Müge Büyüktalaş, of the company MO Film Prodüksiyon, the producer of Perihan, received the Meetings on the Bridge Award, worth $10,000. Perihan is the new film by Can Evrenol, who made a splash on the genre-festival circuit with the horror film Baskin last year, after premiering it in Toronto's Midnight Madness. Written by Cem Özüduru, the project tells the story of a little girl with an anatomical disorder – she doesn't have a mouth. After surgery, she discovers that if she only tells lies, she can keep her mouth open.

The Melodika Sound Post-production Award was given to writer-director Ali Vatansever for his project Pure. Vatansever's first film, the comedy One Day or Another, sold 50,000 admissions in Turkey. Pure is a psychological drama about a naïve bricklayer, with the urban transformation taking place in the country as an underlying theme. Selin Vatansever Tezcan is producing through Terminal Film Yapım.

Lusin Dink received the Mediterranean Film Institute (MFI) Script and Development Workshop Award for her project Letter of Ashes. The writer-director's first film, the docudrama SaroyanLand, premiered at Locarno in 2013. Letter of Ashes is a drama-comedy about a young French-Armenian man who reluctantly comes to Istanbul to deliver an urn to a Turkish-Armenian family, which has no idea what to do with it. Emine Yıldırım is producing through Giyotin Film and Nar Film. A Special Mention went to producers Onur Saylak and Doğu Yaşar Akal for their project More [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], directed by Remi Burah.

The Works in Progress selection included five projects, and the jury consisting of Lorenzo Esposito (Locarno Film Festival), Rickard Olsson (Picture Tree) and Zsuzsanna Kiraly (Komplizen Film) chose the winners. 

The Anadolu Efes Award worth TL30,000 (€9,271) was presented to writer-director Ceylan Özçelik and producers Emre Oskay, Adnan Şapçı and Sadık Ekinci (IFP) for Inflame. The director's first feature film tells the story of a news-channel employee who has been having a recurring nightmare that makes her wonder whether it is possible that her parents did not die in a car crash.

Erkan Tahhuşoğlu and Ayhan Salar, both in charge of the script, directing and production through Şiyara Film and Salar Film, respectively, received the Digiflame Award (comprising colour correction and online editing expenses) for The Verge [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], which tells the story of two schizophrenic women from different generations. 

The Başka Sinema Award, which ensures distribution of the film without VPF in the Başka Sinema network, was presented to writer-director Ayşe Toprak and producer Cem Doruk for Mr Gay Syria. It is a documentary about a Syrian homosexual who fled the civil war in Syria and gay discrimination in Turkey to look for a new home in Germany. 

Finally, the second edition of the Neighbours section, aimed at connecting the filmmakers of Turkey and their colleagues from neighbouring countries, presented five projects: Maya by Tamta Gabrichidze (Georgia - produced by Tinatin Kajrishvili of Gemini Film), Mahmood by Sina Ataeian Dena (Iran - produced by Amir Hamz of Bon Voyage Films), Smuggling Hendrix [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Marios Piperides
fiche film] by Marios Piperides, My Favorite Fabric by Gaya Jiji (Syria - produced by Laurent Lavole of Gloria Films Production, and Ibarra Films and Dublin Films) and Entwined [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Minos Nikolakakis
fiche film] by Minos Nikolakakis (Greece - produced by Minos Nikolakakis and Giorgos Georgopoulos for Multivision and Authorwave).

Here is the complete list of winners:

Meetings on the Bridge Award
Perihan – Can Evrenol

Melodika Sound Post-production Award
Pure – Ali Vatansever

MFI Script and Development Workshop Award
Letter of Ashes – Lusin Dink
Special Mention: More - Remi Burah

Anadolu Efes Award
Inflame – Ceylan Özçelik 

Digiflame Award
The Verge – Erkan Tahhuşoğlu and Ayhan Salar

Başka Sinema Award
Mr Gay Syria – Ayşe Toprak