SPONSORS
| 2 | | 3 | INDEX
Introduction 06
Advisors 08
Juries 10
Pitching for Feature Films in Development 17
Features Work In Progress Platform 37
Documentaries Work In Progress Platform 49 Ortak Yapım Marketi ve Proje Geliştirme 67 Platformu Series / Short Series Pitching Platform
Sümer Tilmaç Antalya Film Support Fund Pitching Platform 81 Co-Production & Events 88 Project Development Market Awards 90
Festival Team 92
1
| 5 | KURMACA INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION Olena Yershova Yıldız Head of Antalya Film Forum
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Antalya Film Forum, a three-day meeting point for Turkish and international producers, sales agents, distributors, broadcasting and funding representatives with an active involvement in international co-productions.
This year, our industry is facing the new reality, new challenges: economic crises and the global pandemic. In the circumstances, the importance of such events is greater than ever. So we are very happy that, thanks to the support of our sponsors and funders, we can bring your projects to the attention of the international film industry.
The film industry is changing rapidly. The new media and new platforms emerging also bring new opportunities. Given the significantly growing role of drama series in the audiovisual industry and how they are reshaping the market around the world, the Antalya Film Forum decided this year to dedicate one of its sections to the series.
Our aim is to encourage the development of universal stories which are both original and creative.
We wish you good health, good luck and inspiration!
We would be thrilled to hear about the progress and achievements of your projects in the future. Please do not hesitate to contact our team if we can be of any assistance.
With my warmest wishes,
| 6 | | 7 | KURMACA ADVISORS
KATRIEL SCHORY ADVISOR
Katriel Schory studied at the NYU Film School. He formed more than 300 Israeli films, many of them won prestigious production company Belfilms, which produced more than awards, including Oscar nominations, Gold and Silver Lions 150 films, including award winning features, documentaries. and Bears and Golden Globe. He received the Chevalier de From 1999, for more than 20 years he was the Executive Di- l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 2011. In 2018, he rector of the Israel Film Fund, which supports Israeli feature was awarded the Berlinale Camera Award by the Berlin IFF ADVISORS films. During these years he authorised the production of for his outstanding contribution to the film industry.
MARSEL KALVO ADVISOR
In 2006 Marsel Kalvo founded the distribution company (2013), The Voice (2013), Adab-ı Muaşeret (2009) and as- Mars Production. Since 2009, he has produced various ti- sociate producer of Fish (2014) and Shadows and Faces tles selected to film festivals such as Venice, Locarno, Tallinn (2010). He is also the co-founder of Baska Sinema which is Black Nights. He was one of the producers of the award win- the first art-house theatrical release chain, distributing Turk- ning film Something Useful (2017) and But Muzeyyen That’s ish and international titles in Turkey. the Deepest Desire (2015), Sibel (2018), Nobody’s Home
SIMONE BAUMANN ADVISOR
Born in 1963 and raised in Germany. She studied philosophy Saxonia Entertainment in Leipzig as the executive produc- in Rostov upon the Don in the 1980s. She worked in Mos- er. In 2019 she has been announced as the managing direc- cow in the early 1990s and as a lecturer at Berlin Humboldt tor at German Films where she has been working as Eastern University before she began a career in documentary film Europe representative since 2005. Simone Baumann has with Leipzig-based broadcaster MDR. Between 1997-2010 not only produced award winning, courageous and contro- she worked as the managing director of the independ- versial documentaries, but also tirelessly championed inter- ent production company LE VISION. In 2011 she joined national cooperation. | 8 | | 9 | JURIES
PITCHING FOR FEATURE FILMS IN DEVELOPMENT
BOBBY ALLEN
Bobby Allen is Senior Vice President of Production at Mubi, an independent film producer and Vice President of Sales JURIES a theatrical distributor and producer. Based out of Mubi’s and Acquisitions at Celluloid Dreams, Head of Production global headquarters in London, he leads the company’s pro- at MTV Films Europe, and Head of Acquisitions at Film Four. duction arm and is responsible for developing and produ- He has also held senior executive positions in international cing Mubi’s films worldwide. With over 20 years in the glo- film sales and acquisitions at companies such as PolyGram bal film and entertainment industry, prior to Mubi, Allen was Film International, Lionsgate, and Mayfair Entertainment.
DELLY SHIRAZI
Born in Iran and raised in Switzerland, Delly Shirazi is a prog- tival, where she was Lab Head of Studies in 2017. Shirazi is a rammer at IFFR, overseeing the MENA (Middle East and program advisor (fiction section) to the Geneva International North Africa) region, Iran and Turkey. She also contributes Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, and has collabo- regularly as a consultant and script analyst to several film fun- rated with Sunny Independent Pictures as a development ds, including the Doha Film Institute and Hubert Bals Fund. producer since 2018. She also regularly works with the Open Doors Locarno Fes-
DİLARA OMUR
Born in Istanbul in 1987, Omur spent a year studying Film and a variety of institutions and festivals. In the seven years from Psychology at Wesleyan University. She went on to earn an 2013 to 2020, she worked on script and project development undergraduate degree in Psychology at Koç University, fol- at BKM, developing content for more than 50 theatrically re- lowed by postgraduate degrees in Cultural and Creative In- leased films and broadcast TV shows. Most recently, she has dustries at King’s College and Comparative Literature at Bil- embarked on a new venture to develop her own stories. gi University. She has led script development workshops for | 10 | | 11 | JURIES JURIES
FEATURES WORK IN PROGRESS PLATFORM DOCUMENTARIES WORK IN PROGRESS PLATFORM
ANTOINE THIRION ADRIEK VAN NIEUWENHUYZEN
A French film critic and programmer, Antoine Thirion was Jeu de Paume in Paris and the Marseille Festival of Docu- Before becoming deputy director at IDFA in 1993 she worked ed several programs at IDFA. From February 2007 on she is born in 1981. He is a member of the selection committees mentary Film (FID). As an occasional screenwriter and au- as an assistant producer at one of the Dutch public broad- Head of the Industry office of IDFA where she is in charge of of the Locarno Film Festival and Cinéma du Réel. He wrote thor, his work includes two projects with Raya Martin, How casters. At IDFA she was from the beginning mainly involved the professionals program, including FORUM and Docs for for Cahiers du Cinéma from 2001 to 2009, co-founded the He Died Is Controversial (2015) and UNdocumenta (2016). in programming, the festival became in thirty years time one Sale. She serves regularly as a member of the selection com- website Independencia and published in various magazines of the leading documentary festivals in the world. She curat- mittee IDFA Bertha Fund. and collective works. He has curated retrospectives at the
ASLI ÖZGE NECATİ SÖNMEZ
Award-winning filmmaker, Aslı Özge, made her feature debut Cinemas Label Special Mention at the Berlinale and Interna- Film critic, documentary filmmaker and festival program- Housekeeper (2006), Sisters of Lilith (2008), The Trace of in 2009 with the acclaimed drama, Men on the Bridge, which tional FIPRESCI Prize at the Istanbul Film Festival. In 2019, mer. He is one of the founders of Documentarist Istanbul the Butterfly (2014) and You Come From Far Away (2018). premiered at the Locarno and Toronto Film Festivals. She Özge directed a mini-series, Dunkelstadt, in Belgium for the Documentary Days which was launched in 2008. His debut So far, he curated documentary programs at film festivals. He went on to write and direct Lifelong (2013) and the Ger- German TV channel, ZDF-Neo. She is currently working on film Theo’s Gaze (2003) looked at the work of Theo Ange- contributes to a number of magazines and newspapers. He is man-language All of a Sudden (2016), both of which pre- her latest project, Black Box. Özge was born in Istanbul and lopoulos. He has produced several awarded films such as currently living in Istanbul and Cairo. miered at the Berlin Film Festival. The latter won the Europa is based in Berlin.
RENAN ARTUKMAÇ PHILIPPA KOWARSKY
A producer and international distributor, Renan Artukmaç tion of internationally well-received features such as Golden Philippa Kowalski established Cinephil, an international sales Dogs in 2019, Winnie, the Emmy Award nominee. Philip- has been involved in the worldwide distribution of many Globe nominee, Neruda, by Pablo Larrain and the Venice and production company in 1997. Cinephil has a strong rep- pa Kowarsky, has co-produced many films, including the award-winning films (Oscar winner A Fantastic Woman, Days winner, Return to Ithaca, by Laurent Cantet. This year utation for securing distribution and financing deals for doc- Academy Award nominees, The Gatekeepers, The Look of Berlinale selected Gloria by Sebastian Lelio, Golden Globes he joined Elle Driver as Sales and Acquisitions Manager. umentaries from all over the world. Cinephil represented the Silence and The Act of Killing. In 2019 she became an Acad- nominee The Club). He has also participated in the produc- films which were shortlisted at Academy awards like: Advo- emy member. cate in 2020, On Her Shoulders in 2019, Distant Barking of | 12 | | 13 | JURIES JURIES
SERIES / SHORT SERIES PITCHING PLATFORM SÜMER TİLMAÇ ANTALYA FILM SUPPORT FUND PITCHING PLATFORM
LAURENCE HERSZBERG BURAK GÖRAL
Laurence Herszberg has been involved in some of the most now firmly established its place as the leading internation- Burak Göral is a film critic, journalist, author and screenwriter. 2004. To date, three of his feature screenplays have been important cultural developments in France, among them the al get-together for drama series, welcoming 70,000 public Since 1995, he has regularly written film reviews and articles produced. He has also published four books on cinema. Gö- Théâtre du Gymnase in Marseille, the Opéra Bastille and the festival-goers and more than 2,500 professionals. She is a on cinema for various newspapers, websites and magazines. ral is a screenwriting instructor for various educational insti- Réunion des Musées Nationaux. In 2002, she was appoint- Knight of the Legion of Honor and a board member of the In the second half of the 1990s, he began working as an assis- tutions and works as a script doctor/consultant on a project tant director, radio producer and website editor. He has been basis. He combines this with leading scriptwriting workshops ed by the mayor of Paris as General Director of the Forum Paris Philharmonic. actively writing screenplays for cinema and television since for his own screenwriting studio. des Images. She launched Séries Mania in 2010 and has
SARP KALFAOĞLU MÜGE ÖZEN
After launching his career as a scriptwriter for daily drama Muge Özen graduated from the Galatasaray University in co-produced Radiogram (2017), which screened at festivals series, Kalfaoğlu began working in the drama department of 2005. She spent several years working in the film acquisi- around the world, and The Antenna (2019), which premiered a national television channel. For the past two years, he has tion departments of D Productions and Mars Entertainment at the Toronto IFF. She is the main producer of Nisan Dağ’s been Head of Drama for BluTV, which he joined when the Group. In 2012, she joined AC Film where she line produced feature film, When I’m Done Dying, which won Pitching media platform was founded. nine films, including Mrs. Nergis (2014) and The Way We Are (2017) and Work-In-Progress (2019) awards at the Antalya (2020). She founded Solis Film in 2015, since when she has Film Forum. She is an alumna of the EAVE
VERONIKA KOVACOVA ONUR SAYLAK
After completing a Master’s Degree in International Busi- Beta Film’s headquarters in Munich and became senior sales Born in Ankara in 1977, Saylak is a film actor and director. Awards. He has since starred in several award-winning films, ness, Veronika Kovacova started her career at Bratislava-ba- executive responsible for Poland, the Baltic countries, Tur- As a drama student at Bilkent University, he performed in including The Blue Wave (Mavi Dalga, 2013) and Memories sed Eurokim, a daughter company of Beta Film, one of Euro- key, Greece and Cyprus. Kovacova began her new role as VP stage productions for the Ankara State Theaters and Bilkent of the Wind (Ruzgarın Hatırları, 2014). Saylak directed his first pe’s leading international sales and financing companies. As International Sales and acquisitions in 2019, and now overse- Theater. He began his screen career as the lead in Autumn feature-length film, More (Daha, 2017), which premiered at a sales assistant and later sales executive, she was responsib- es the territories of Eastern Europe, Turkey and Greece. (Sonbahar, 2008), for which he picked up Best Actor nods Karlovy Vary and went on to win multiple awards at both na- le for the Balkan countries and Poland. In 2012, she moved to at the annual Turkish Film Critics’ Association and Yeşilçam tional and international festivals. | 14 | | 15 | PITCHING FOR FEATURE FILMS IN DEVELOPMENT
A DESERVED KISS BONDS NOT AS YOU KNOW IT SEVEN THE ASHES THE WITCH UNKNOWN WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT A DESERVED KISS MURAT UĞURLU DIRECTOR
Selected Filmography Temple (2020) (Short) Director Two Pieces (2017) (Short) Director Another Face (2011) (Short) Director Lake (2009) (Short) Director I saw (2008) (Short) Director
Born in Ankara in 1987, Uğurlu graduated with a degree in vals. His critically acclaimed novel, “As You Left It”, was pub- Archaeology and Journalism before traveling to Poland to lished in 2013 by Iletisim Publishing. He lives and works as a study Film Directing at the National Film School in Łódź. His freelance director in Istanbul. short films have screened and won awards at various festi-
ASENA BULDUK PRODUCER
Filmography Temple (2020) (Short) Producer Music! Please (2016) (Short Documentary) Producer Director Producer Company Budget Long Way from Home (2013) (TV Show) Producer Murat Uğurlu Asena Bulduk Rubikon €377,373 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] †2,892,000 +90 505 764 5769 +90 535 579 9838 +49 151 288 68 916 Born in Istanbul in 1988, Bulduk studied Media Design and Berlin and working as a producer since 2017. Derya Tarım Multimedia Arts at NABA (New Academy of Fine Arts) in Mi- [email protected] lan. She moved back to Istanbul in 2012 and began an MA in www.lacivertfilm.com Film and TV at Istanbul Bilgi University. She has been living in SYNOPSIS +90 532 305 10 64
One summer’s evening, Can (8), a summer school student, the depressed, out-of-work academic, Barış (40). Meanwhi- mysteriously disappears. His disappearance upsets the lives le, Can is waiting patiently in the woods for his first kiss from DERYA TARIM PRODUCER of six characters on the same university campus in Ankara: the little girl he has fallen in love with when a mysterious whi- Yasemin (23), an engineering student; Nejat (50), a mad and te peacock appears. Filmography famous philosophy professor; Asude (65), a grumpy old phy- Who Has the Most Grudge Cast the First Stone (2019) Producer sics professor; a war veteran canteen worker, Edip (25); and Singled Out (2018) (Documentary) Producer Circle (2014) Producer A Step into the Darkness (2009) Co-Producer DIRECTOR’S NOTE Zincirbozan (2007) Executive Producer
A Deserved Kiss is a character-driven, non-linear story about verse and colorful characters that epitomize Turkey’s situa- six people of different backgrounds who live on the same tion as a country trapped between east and west. My aim is A co-founder of Lacivert Film, Tarım has produced and li- drama, Who Has the Most Grudge Cast the First Stone, the university campus. The common trait of these characters is to make a truthful film loosely based on people and places I ne-produced several TV series and award-winning feature Turkish-American co-production, Daphne Grows Roots, that they desperately want to be loved, but don’t know how know well. In this way, the seemingly disparate fragments will films. She has attended international co-production events and the documentary, Master of Brain. to go about it. I have spent the best part of 25 years living on feel like inseparable parts of a whole by the end of the film. and workshops including at the Karlovy Vary FF and WEMW campus and think of the place as an island community of di- Trieste. She is currently working on three new features: the | 18 | | 19 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT BONDS SONER SERT DIRECTOR
Selected Filmography Alarga (2018) (Short) Director Abigail (2017) (Short) Director Dad (2014) (Short) Director Bridge (2012) (Short) Director
Born in Izmir in 1989, Sert graduated from the Marmara Uni- series. To date, he has written and directed seven short films, versity Department of Cinema and Television. He completed which collectively have screened at almost 400 national and a Master’s degree in Film Design at Dokuz Eylül University. international festivals and won close to 60 awards. Sert has worked on many movie sets, documentaries and TV
SEÇKİN AKYILDIZ PRODUCER
Filmography Alarga (2018) (Short) Executive Producer Director Producer Production Company Budget Abigail (2017) (Short) Executive Producer Soner Sert Seçkin Akyıldız Rodin Film †2,132,000 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] +90 532 593 5831 +90 532 202 3355
Akyıldız began his film career in 2003 as a boom operator. He ted by Soner Sert. He has also worked as a sound technici- founded his own production company in 2012, since then he an on feature films including Three Sisters (2019), Successor has worked on many movies. Akyıldız co-produced the short (2018), Home (2018), Five Minarets in New York (2010) and SYNOPSIS films, Abigail (2017) and Alarga (2018), written and direc- Dilber’s Eight Days (2008).
Mevhibe, a woman in her early 60s, has a heart attack at interested in whether their mother comes out of surgery ali- the wedding of her youngest son Osman. She is rushed to ve; instead, their focus shifts to the moral values that hold a hospital for immediate surgery. Her large family is devasta- family together. ted. While Mevhibe is in the operating room, they all donate blood. When Osman’s blood turns out to be incompatible, the implication is that Osman is a stepchild. No one is now
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Bonds tells the simple, but trenchant story of a family. A family is therefore use the camera as if it were a member of the family. also like a small country. The particular aspect that draws me to Like a younger sibling… The story is essentially a psychodrama Bonds is that even the most insensitive, irresponsible and prob- and this will be reflected in the visual style. Specifically, l plan to lematic people can’t walk away when it comes to family mat- use cold colors in close-ups. I will keep the story fresh by em- ters; somehow, they can’t even leave behind the people they phasizing strong, sharp colors and fast, abrupt transitions, part loathe... After all, family implies being together, not apart. I will of the camerawork will be hand-held. | 20 | | 21 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT VUSLAT SARAÇOĞLU DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Debt (2018) Writer, Director, Producer Why Can’t I Be Tarkovsky? (2014), Actress, Production Coordinator The Children of Muslum Baba (2013) (Documentary) Director Cacophony (2011) (Short) Director The Balcony (2010) (Short) Actress
Saraçoğlu attended the Sarajevo Talent Campus in 2010. Her Best Editing awards at the Bogazici Film Festival, and Best debut feature, Debt, screened at various international film First Film at the Malatya Film Festival. In 2019 The leading festivals including Gothenburg and San Francisco. It won actor Serdar Orçin was granted with The Best Actor at Sadri Best Film at the 37th Istanbul Film Festival, Best Actress and Alışık Cinema Awards.
Director, Producer Production Company Budget Vuslat Saraçoğlu Streç Film €392,864 [email protected] [email protected] +90 536 352 0913
SYNOPSIS
Three siblings with different lifestyles and outlooks on life: realize that many things about their past are not actually how Tahsin (44), Yasin (38) and Remziye (34)... Following their fat- they want to remember them. They all inhabit different reali- her’s mysterious death, they have to meet in their hometown, ties. Nothing is as they know it... Tokat. During this time together, the tangled structure of sib- linghood is exposed in all its various aspects. The balance of power between the siblings takes very different forms. They
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Not as You Know It is a project about siblinghood, the past, some and cruel by others; by how timeframes can be skewed remembering and memory. How is a shared past remembe- to appear as mere seconds to some and years to others... red differently by members of the same family? How do we These are questions that I believe merit thinking about. Alt- twist and rework the past so as to make the present bearab- hough the subject seems serious, I hope to tell a unique story le? I am fascinated by this idea of multiple memories among interwoven with plenty of humorous and absurd moments. siblings; by how someone can be remembered as kind by | 22 | | 23 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT SEVEN M. TAYFUR AYDIN DIRECTOR
Filmography Love, Spells and All That (2019) Producer Colorless Dream (2018) Producer Escape to Adana (2017) Producer Black Crow (2016) Writer, Director Trace (2011) Writer, Director
Born in Bitlis in 1984, Aydın made his debut short film, To Be and won numerous awards. He is now developing his third Her, in 2008 and followed this up with several more shorts. In feature film, Seven. 2011, he directed his debut feature film, Trace. His second fe- ature, Black Crow, screened in competition at many festivals
DİLOY GÜLÜN PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Charlie’s Angels (2019) Line Producer Butterflies (2018) Producer Director Producer Production Company Budget Inferno (2016) Line Producer M. Tayfur Aydın Diloy Gülün Karma Films †2,325,050 Taken 2 (2012) Line Producer [email protected] [email protected] +90 212 352 7099 Ivy Mansion: Life (2003) Producer +90 532 423 5637 +90 532 441 7732 [email protected] www.karma-films.com After producing Ahmet Uluçay’s Boats out of Waterme- The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012) and The International lon Rinds (2004) and the drama series Ivy Mansion (2003), (2009). In 2018, she produced Tolga Karaçelik’s Sundance Gülün founded Karma Films. She has line produced several winner, Butterflies. features, including Charlie’s Angels (2019), Inferno (2016), SYNOPSIS
Four brothers and three sisters meet at the family home upon tradition. It’s as if the brothers she grew up with have turned the death of their father. By tradition, the inheritance is shared into unrecognizable monsters. Meanwhile, Evin’s older sisters among the men of the family only. The youngest sister, Evin, take the men’s side out of fear, and even accuse her of cau- is a strong woman who has nursed her bedridden father for sing unrest. But she eventually convinces the family to vote years and she objects. She finds herself dragged into a tense on sharing the inheritance equally among the seven siblings. conflict with her brothers, who accuse her of breaking with Will Evin be able to get the number of votes she needs?
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Seven is the story of a young woman who struggles honorab- in Turkey. I plan to shoot the film using a hand-held came- ly against the status quo of her patriarchal family to demand ra/steadicam so that the woman’s silent screams reach the justice and equality. It was inspired by the discrimination audience more directly. I will be shooting Seven in southe- against women that I have seen in my own family. I feel a par- astern Anatolia, where I made my two previous films. Having ticular urgency to tell this young woman’s story today when first-hand experience of the story and knowing the place so gender equality is in jeopardy and under intense discussion well will, I believe, make the film all the more powerful. | 24 | | 25 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT THE ASHES HÜSEYİN KARABEY DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Insiders (2018) Director Come to My Voice (2014) Director F Type Movie (Prisons of Turkey) (2012) (Short) Director No Darkness Can Make Us Forget (2011) (Short Animation) Director My Marlon and Brando (2008) Director
Karabey graduated from the Cinema Department of Mar- My Voice, world premiered at the Berlinale and won many mara University in 2001. His first dramatic feature, My Mar- awards at festivals including Mar del Plata and Sofia. lon and Brando, won Best New Narrative Director Award at the 6th Tribeca International Film. His 2014 feature, Come to
Director, Producer Production Company Budget Hüseyin Karabey Asi Film †3,845,000 [email protected] [email protected] +90 535 285 3486
SYNOPSIS
Zuhre and Ferhat decide to leave the town where they were to adapt to the customs of the town. One day, there’s a large raised to escape pressure from family for not having children. explosion in the mine. It appears impossible to retrieve Fer- In so doing, Ferhat defies his parents, all the more so because hat’s body. Zuhre has only one purpose now: to salvage hus- he chooses to stay with Zuhre. The couple make their new band’s body from the debris. She cuts hair short and begins home in a mining town and Ferhat starts working in a pit. to dress as a man, convinced that it will get her into the mine Zuhre feels guilty for failing to give a child and also struggles when she would otherwise be denied access as a woman.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The Ashes will be my fourth dramatic feature. With The As- mation of the main character (Zühre) will be convincing both hes, I continue with the theme of strong women in Turkey, stylistically and in terms of her development. I believe that I but set out to create a different story and style, bringing all my will provide a contemporary interpretation to these stories previous cinematic experience to the subject. While remai- through my direction of the actors, the power of black and ning as loyal as possible to the classical story structure, I also white images, and authentic art direction. aim to give the film a more contemporary style. The transfor- | 26 | | 27 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT THE WITCH ERMAN BOSTAN DIRECTOR
Filmography Childish Things (2017) (Short Animation) Director Sanrı, She Passed Away (2012) (Music Video) Director The Other Side (2009) (Short) Director
Born in Beykoz in 1984, Bostan graduated with a Bachelor’s and works as an assistant director in the advertising and TV degree in Theater Criticism and Dramaturgy. He then earned industry. The Witch is his first feature film project. a Master’s degree in Cinema and began writing reviews for various periodicals. He is a film acting and drama instructor
NİLÜFER KÜYEL PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Most Beautiful Scent of the World (2016) Head of Format Development and Acquisitions Director Producer Production Company Budget Intersection (2016) (Series) Head of Format Development and Acquisitions & Sales Erman Bostan Nilüfer Küyel Lucid Dream Entertainment $750,000 Broken Pieces (2014) (Series) Head of Format Development and Acquisitions & Sales [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Erkek Hicri Kadın Mukaddes (2007) (Short) Writer, Producer, Director +90 530 416 3883 +90 530 940 3828 Are We There Yet? (2007) (Kids Docu-Series) Field Producer
Küyel completed a Master’s degree in Film & TV at Istanbul veral sessions at TV markets and lectured at universities. She Bilgi University. She has 15 years of experience in the media launched her own company in 2019 and became a member industry in content development, production and distributi- of the Television Academy. Küyel was nominated on the list on. She has worked with several TV channels and production of Global Producers to Watch. SYNOPSIS companies, created award-winning content, moderated se-
In the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, the young widow, tmares and paranormal episodes, she realizes the need to Fikriye, is forced into a marriage with Naşit Nefi Effendi, who- act both to survive herself and to save the husband she has se mansion is the subject of rumors about an evil witch. As now fallen in love with. And with the help of hypnotist, Anton she anxiously looks for signs of the witch, Fikriye discovers Mesmer, she unravels the tragic secret behind the witch. there’s a strange setup at play at the mansion and a dark sec- ret lurking behind it. Haunted by ever more frequent nigh-
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The Witch begins as a classic “haunted house” story. But with during the collapse of the Ottoman era. And this turns the Fikriye’s transition from “sacrificial woman” to heroine as she film into a portrayal not only of personality order sufferers, battles for her life, home and love, the story evolves into a ps- but also of societies that resort to repression and censorship ychological thriller that unfolds around the existence of the to conceal explosive truths. The Witch is therefore built on witch. At the same time, there is a clear connection betwe- a multi-layered narrative that uses the conventions of genre en Nefi’s past—and so his traumas—and the mood prevailing cinema. | 28 | | 29 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT UNKNOWN LUSİN DİNK DIRECTOR
Filmography SaroyanLand (2013) (Documentary) Director
Dink graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University in 2003 with liam Saroyan’s journey to his motherland, Bitlis, in 1964. The a Bachelor’s degree in Cinema and TV. In 2004, she began film was shown at many national and international festivals working on local and international film productions as an as- after world premiering in the Open Doors section of the Lo- sistant director. She wrote and directed the creative docu- carno Film Festival. mentary, SaroyanLand, in 2013. SaroyanLand focuses on the internationally known Armenian-American writer Wil- ÖZCAN ALPER PRODUCER
Filmography Among the Ruins (2015) Director Future Lasts Forever (2011) Director Director Producers Production Company Budget Tales from Kars (2010) (Short) Co-Director Lusin Dink Özcan Alper Nar Film †5,948,700 Autumn (2008) Director [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Momi (2001) (Short) Director +90 533 335 8303 +90 535 333 9726
İbrahim Karatay Born in 1975, Alper attended various filmmaking workshops was nominated by the European Film Academy for the Euro- [email protected] and worked as an assistant for a number of Turkish directors pean Discovery Award. He is now working on Black Night, his +31 6 8167 7218 from 1996-2006. His first feature, Autumn, was shown at in- fourth feature film as director. His films have screened at over ternational film festivals and won many awards. In 2009, he 100 festivals and won over 50 international awards. SYNOPSIS
Unknown tells the story of Ibrahim, an almost 18-year-old stories through Ibrahim. The result is a collection of confli- boy who has gone missing. We never see Ibrahim in the film, cting narratives where one character sometimes fills in the İBRAHİM KARATAY PRODUCER but follow his encounters and experiences through the ac- gaps left by another. In the end, Ibrahim’s absent father will counts of his family, friends, acquaintances and other chara- have it out with the son. Who will come out victorious from cters. There is something vaguely sinister about each of the this reckoning is unknown. Selected Filmography characters; not only that, they are all anxious to tell their own Nasir (2020) Co-Producer Leyla Once Again (2020) Co-Producer Regained Memory (2018) Producer Silk Road (2017) Development Executive DIRECTOR’S NOTE Lejla (2017) (Short) Producer
Unknown follows the trail of missing Ibrahim in the “other” of the “ghost”, which Derrida went on to develop, is an apt world, where gated residences, high-rise malls, business definition of Ibrahim: his character takes shape through oth- complexes and fancy cafes have no place. Jacques Derrida er people’s narratives and although we never see him in the A Dutch-Turkish director, producer and scriptwriter, Kara- mic Film and Nar Film collaborated on Ibrahim’s directorial plays with the definition of opposition through “deconstruc- film, we are always aware of his presence. Like a ghost, Ibra- tay co-founded Alchemic Film with the Dutch-American debut, Shadow of Violence, as well as Barış Hancıoğulları’s tion” and refers to an ambiguous area. Unknown is a film that him teeters on the border between existence and non-exist- filmmaker, Paul Oscar Kanter, in 2017. Their first productions Leyla Once Again, and Özcan Alper’s new film, Black Night. draws on ambiguity in both content and style. The notion ence. were selected for Cannes, Karlovy Vary and IFFR. Alche- Unknown is their fourth collaboration. | 30 | | 31 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT ZEYNEP GÜZEL DIRECTOR
Filmography Impressions of a Summer (2020) (Short Documentary) Producer Come Rain or Shine (2019) (Documentary) Director, Producer Beginnings (2013) (Documentary) Producer
After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Film, Güzel ear- 2016-2019. Come Rain or Shine, her first feature-length do- ned a Master’s degree in Sociology. She managed Turkey’s cumentary, premiered at the 38th Istanbul Film Festival. She documentary fund, New Film Fund, between 2015-2019. was a workshop expert on the DocSalon Toolbox Program of She also curated the industry workshop, !f Doc Lab, between the Berlinale EFM 2020.
ARMAĞAN LALE PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Witch Trilogy 13+ (2019) Producer Director Producer Production Company Budget Inflame (2017) Co-producer Zeynep Güzel Armağan Lale FILMADA †2,500,000 The Stone (2017) Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Yellow Heat (2017) Line Producer +49 178 683 02 89 +90 532 676 79 03 http://cadiuclemesi.com Watchtower (2012) Associate Producer, Assistant Director +90 533 653 78 81 Beste Yamalıoğlu http://filmada.net [email protected] +90 533 256 10 04 Lale graduated in Film Studies from Yeditepe University. She festivals such as Berlinale, SXSW, Ann Arbor and DokuFest. Cansu Menlikli founded Filmada in 2013 to support innovative young film- She is a member of DAE (Documentary Association of Euro- [email protected] makers. Since then, she has produced several award-winning pe). SYNOPSIS +90 536 253 03 83 shorts and features, which have screened at international
Güneş’s attraction to women surfaces when she meets her intain a healthy relationship with Elif, nor leave Sarp. She then high-school friend, Elif, years later. The feelings that develop steels herself and comes out to her mother. The woman’s between them are both exciting and scary for Güneş. She response is a total disappointment: Füsun just sees her da- begins by telling her boyfriend, Sarp, what is going on with ughter as confused. Dealing with self-homophobic feelings Elif. Güneş is shocked when Sarp doesn’t take it seriously: he and accepting her transformation will not be an easy path for simply doesn’t see a woman as a rival. Güneş can neither ma- Güneş.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
This story is based on my own experience and a reckoning of herself and Elif are just an extension of the society into which sorts with my journey of growing up. I feel strongly motivated she was born. Turkey has become more conservative recent- to give voice to lesbian stories from Turkey because I feel a ly and Güneş’s experience is in jeopardy. I therefore want to part of them. Discovering her love for Elif encourages Güneş. contribute to the empowerment of LGBTIQ + individuals by However, in the process of connecting with her sexuality, Gü- making Güneş’s voice heard. neş faces guilt and shame. Güneş’s homophobic reactions to | 32 | | 33 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT
BESTE YAMALIOĞLU PRODUCER
Selected Filmography I’m Not Talking About That (2020) (Short) Producer Amina (2019) (Feature Documentary) Co-producer A Hard Day at The Empire (2018) (Short) Producer Fish Cracker (2018) (Short) Line Producer I Am the Truth (2018) (Short) Line Producer
Yamalıoğlu completed BA and MA degrees in Philosophy at ript Editors program in 2016. She is a trainer at the MoB Short Boğaziçi University. She has been the coordinator of Mee- Film Workshop and a PhD student at the Kadir Has Univer- tings on the Bridge (MoB), the industry arm of the Istanbul sity Department of Communications. FF, since 2012. She was selected for the 20th Sarajevo Talents Producers program and attended the MFI / Training for Sc-
CANSU MENLİKLİ PRODUCER
Filmography Negative Zone (2020) (Stop-Motion Short Animation) Producer The Hurt (2020) (Short) Co-Producer Rhizome: A Probable Love Story (2020) (Short) Co-Producer Cat in the Rain (2019) (Short) Producer
Menlikli graduated from the Cinema and TV Department of the industry sections of different festivals, including the An- Istanbul Bilgi University. She has worked as assistant director talya Film Forum, Crime and Punishment FF, Istanbul FF and and producer’s assistant in advertising. She was Media Coor- FilmLoverss Lounge. She has produced several short films. dinator for the KısaKes Short Film Festival and has worked in
| 34 | | 35 | FEATURE DEVELOPMENT FEATURE DEVELOPMENT
FEATURES WORK IN PROGRESS PLATFORM
CORRIDOR DIALOGUE SNOW AND THE BEAR TIME OF IMPATIENCE ZUHAL
| 36 | | 37 | FEATURES WIP FEATURES WIP CORRIDOR ERKAN TAHHUŞOĞLU DIRECTOR
Filmography Leftovers (2018) (Documentary) Director Verge (2016) Director Lights in Darkness (2016) (Documentary) Director Turning (2013) (Short) Director Listen to Lokman (2011) (Short) Director
In 1998, he went on to study Communication Design at He co-directed his debut film, Verge, in 2016. He lives and Braunschweig University. He founded Şiyara Film in 2013. works in Istanbul. ZEYNEP KORAY PRODUCER
Filmography The Pigeon (2018) Co-Producer The Particle (2012) Co-Producer
In 2009, she co-founded Kulefilm where she produced and ZKF in 2019 and focuses mostly on arthouse fiction and directed documentaries and TV programs. She founded documentary filmmaking. She is working on her new project. Director Producer Production Company Budget Erkan Tahhuşoglu Zeynep Koray Şiyara Film €200,000 İRİS TAHHUŞOĞLU PRODUCER [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] +90 533 690 4899 +90 537 691 9180 İris Tahhuşoğlu Filmography [email protected] Leftovers (2018) (Documentary) Director of Photography, Producer +90 533 373 3212 Lights in Darkness (2016) (Documentary) Producer Yunus Yunusoğlu Turning (2013) (Short) Director of Photography, Producer [email protected] SYNOPSIS +90 507 612 7663
Corridor is the story of two elderly sisters with opposite ironic drama in which two sisters attempt to come to terms In 2014, she attended the “Independent Film Production with Center. She graduated in Photography and Cinematography personalities who are forced to live together by with life, the past, their parents, hopes and expectations, but Nadir Öperli” certificate program at the Mithat Alam Film from Eskişehir University in 2019. circumstances. Although deeply lonely, the two women are have never found closure, nor ever will. The rancor that has unable to connect either with each other or with the outside progressively invaded their hearts and minds will ultimately world. In the end, they lapse into despair and malice, but take over their entire being. YUNUS YUNUSOĞLU PRODUCER never hurt anyone but themselves and each other. This is an Selected Filmography Groom Team (2017) Production Supervisor DIRECTOR’S NOTE Blood Money (2016) Production Supervisor Chaos (2016) Production Supervisor I have set out to understand these two women in the context to understand and portray how old age and the intense Yellow Heat (2015) Production Supervisor of their past lives without judging, idealizing or romanticizing loneliness that comes with it can cloud the perception of Lal (2012) Assistant Director them in any way. In so doing, I wanted to give visibility to the “family” and lead to casual malice and near-hysteria. world of the elderly, and elderly women specifically, who are too often ignored and neglected, but also to explore In 2012, he took dramaturgy classes from the writer-director, directing workshops at the Sinematek Association. the motivation for their behavior. Beyond that, I sought Semir Aslanyürek. In 2013, he attended scriptwriting and | 38 | | 39 | FEATURES WIP FEATURES WIP DIALOGUE ALİ TANSU TURHAN DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Selected Filmography The Second Night (2020) (Short) Director, Writer, Producer Don’t Get Me Wrong But (2020) (Short) Director, Writer, Producer The Local Coffee House (2014) (Short) Director, Screenplay Mitosis (2013) (Short) Director, Writer Some Maniac (2012) (Short) Director, Screenplay Adaptation
Born in Ankara in 1991, Turhan graduated from the Film and producer credits include his last two shorts and Turkish Television Department of Bahçeşehir University and went Gothic: Portrait of a Family, a 2020 short from director, on to work at PTOT Productions. His first short film, Portrait, Burcu Uğuz. He was also cinematographer on Derviş Zaim’s screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner. He followed Cycle (Devir). this up with the shorts, Some Maniac and The Local Coffee House, which were shown at international film festivals. His
BURCU UĞUZ PRODUCER
Filmography Turkish Gothic: Portrait of a Family (2020) (Short) Producer, Director, Writer Director, Producer Producer Productione Company Budget The Protector (2018) (Netflix Series) Script & Translation Coordinator Ali Tansu Turhan Burcu Uğuz Kırk Altıya Üç Film †800,000 ₺ [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] €90,000 +90 531 347 6917 +90 533 203 7110
Born in Ankara in 1992, Uğuz attended Tarsus American and cinema, translated books and edited Turkish poetry. She College and later TED Ankara College. She went on to earn directed her first short, Turkish Gothic: Portrait of a Family, a BA in Translation and Interpretation (French-English) from in 2020. SYNOPSIS Bilkent University. She has published essays on literature, art
A director Funda Eryiğit is working on the pre-production own reality becomes intertwined with that of Gunseli and of a feature film, Dialogue. She casts Ushan Çakır and Hare Veysel, the director’s film begins. Gunseli and Veysel argue, Surel as the characters, Veysel and Gunseli, a couple on the unleashing years of pent-up resentment in a noisy fight. The brink of separation. Hare and Ushan meet at the table read. director’s film ends. The house, which turns out to be a film During subsequent rehearsals, their deepening conversa- set, is dismantled. When Hare and Ushan notice the camera tions reveal an emotional connection. As Hare and Ushan’s still recording, they turn to each other and smile.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Flow leads to encounters; encounters to relationships; Although the film constantly questions the relativity of reality, relationships to balance; and balance to a new flow. Two the power of emotions over perception draws the audience actors form a deepening connection during the production of into the story. For as long as this interaction continues, it a film, Dialogue, which paradoxically tells the story of a couple remains a question mark as to whether it is life that shapes drifting apart. The cyclical geometry of getting acquainted films or films that shape lives. is portrayed through the interweaving of these two stories. | 40 | | 41 | FEATURES WIP FEATURES WIP SNOW AND THE BEAR SELCEN ERGUN DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Fimography A Sunny Day (2012) (Short) Director, Scriptwriter, Producer Kosmos (2010) Assistant Director Confrontation (2008) (Short) Director, Scriptwriter My Only Sunshine (2008) Assistant Director
After graduating from METU (Middle East Technical Sunny Day, screened and won awards at international film University) in Industrial Product Design, Ergun completed festivals. Ergun is currently working on her debut feature a Master’s degree in cinema at Istanbul Bilgi University. She film, Snow and the Bear, a Eurimages supported Turkish- is an alumna of Berlinale Talents and the Nipkow Artist-in- German-Serbian co-production. Residence program. Her short films, Confrontation and A
NEFES POLAT PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Penny Bank (2020) Producer Director, Producer Producer Production Company Budget The Adventures of Sukran The Lame (2019) Associate Producer Selcen Ergun Nefes Polat Nefes’films €500,000 As Life Goes On (2019) (Short) Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Sibel (2018) Co-producer +90 533 266 2766 +90 530 459 6386 Something Useful (2017) Associate Producer
Polat has a degree in filmmaking and is a Talents Sarajevo and She then moved to Mars Production, where she was head Berlinale Talents alumna. She was assistant to the producer of production from 2015-2018. In 2017, she won the VFF on Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Winter Sleep. From 2013-2015, she Highlight Award at the Berlinale Co-Production Market. She SYNOPSIS worked as project manager for Zeynofilm and Yapımlab. is a member of the European Film Academy.
In a small, snow-covered town in a remote part of Turkey, about Hasan’s sudden disappearance, many people point winter seems never-ending this year. Rumor has it that bears the finger at Samet, a young man who has had troubles with have come out of hibernation early and killed animals. Aslı Hasan before. Aslı finds herself caught up in a web of power is a young nurse recently appointed to the town. Hasan, a relationships, secrets and suspicion. townsman, goes missing the same night that Aslı has an argument with him. While everyone has different theories
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
This is the story of a young woman having to navigate her missing, the most complex aspects of human nature are laid way in an unfamiliar, ragged and remote rural community bare. In a way, the bear is the other main character of the film: shaped by patriarchal social structures and traditions. The an invisible enemy created by the fear of the townspeople. experience is a crash course in discovering that she has an And the fear of its imminent arrival in the town is greater than inner resilience as tough as the winter gripping the town. the enemy itself. As daily life unfolds around a man who has suddenly gone | 42 | | 43 | FEATURES WIP FEATURES WIP TIME OF IMPATIENCE AYDIN ORAK DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Filmography
Fail Better, 2020, Director The Legend of Yaşar Kemal, 2017, Documentary, Director, Producer Moses Without Rod, 2014, Director, Producer
Born in 1982, Orak studied Performing Arts and Stage Film Festival and Antakya Film Festival. He has earned several Direction at Istanbul Bilgi University for two years. In 2014, acting credits for his screen roles, as well as translating, his feature film, Moses Without Rod, screened at national directing and performing in numerous stage plays. In 2015, and international film festivals, returning with a number of he won Stage Actor of the Year at the Direklerarası Theater awards. He has been a jury member at festivals such as the Awards. Orak is also a published author and translator. Alexandria International Film Festival, Adana International
Director, Producer Production Company Budget Aydın Orak Orak Film †1,431,600 ₺ [email protected] [email protected] +90 535 685 2606
SYNOPSIS
In the searing heat of a Diyarbakır summer, two brothers from still doesn’t hit the spot. By now, the idea that rich people can a deprived neighborhood on the outskirts of the city plan to swim in a real pool when they have to make do with a fake scale the wall of a luxury gated community nearby and swim one turns into a consuming ambition. They put their plan into in the pool. Pools become an obsession for the boys, who are action and manage to get into the gated community. They already in trouble at school over related issues. They scrape have to swim in that pool whatever it takes. But there’s one together the money to buy a plastic pool and climb in, but it thing they’ve forgotten...
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
As someone who spent many years living in deprived neigh- tradiction through the feelings of a pair of twin brothers, borhoods, I have long dreamed of exploring this very human loosely basing the script on a story that I heard from a friend experience in the medium of film. I developed a story that who lived in one of these gated communities. It began hap- blended first-hand experience with observation. I have al- pily enough but soon turned into a terrible tragedy, affected ways been struck by the luxurious gated communities built me deeply. Some 15 years later, the seeds that were sown that right next to dirt-poor slums. I decided to express this con- day have produced Time of Impatience. | 44 | | 45 | FEATURES WIP FEATURES WIP ZUHAL NAZLI ELİF DURLU DIRECTOR
Filmography The Horse and the Nightingale (2013) Director Later (2012) (Short) Director Trust Me (2010) (Short) Director
Born in Ankara, Durlu studied Film and Television in the the Nightingale (2013). She teaches at the Film Department Netherlands and completed a Master’s degree at the of Istanbul Bilgi University. Alongside her debut feature, University of Utrecht. She has written and directed three Zuhal, she is working on her next project, Dark Forest. short films, Trust Me (2009), Later (2012) and The Horse and
ANNA MARİA ASLANOĞLU PRODUCER
Filmography Phases of Matter (2020) (Documentary) Producer Director Producer Production Company Budget Yuva (2019) Producer Nazlı Elif Durlu Anna Maria Aslanoğlu istos film €320,000 Splinter (2018) (Short) Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] The Gulf (2017) Producer +90 534 243 5651 +90 535 217 5210 Tuesday (2015) (Short) Producer
Born in Istanbul in 1984, Aslanoğlu studied political science the short film, Tuesday (2015), which screened in the official and history. She co-founded the production company selection Cannes. She is currently in post-production with and publishing house, istos publishing & film, in 2011. Her two features, Zuhal and Ela And Hilmi & Ali. Aslanoğlu is a producer credits include Yuva (2018), The Gulf (2017), member of EAVE and EWA. SYNOPSIS which world premiered at Venice Film Critics’ Week, and
Zuhal is searching for a cat that has been meowing for days enough, however, the cat is found stuck in a pipe behind a and keeping her awake at night. After checking with her wall. This triggers a whole new argument about smashing the neighbors, she realizes that she’s the only person hearing wall which remains unresolved. At midnight, Zuhal tiptoes out these meows. As she persists with her search, the neighbors with a hammer and begins to trash the next-door balcony. As start treating her as the “crazy cat-lady”. Her reputation is the battering continues, a cat meows... at risk, and she even begins to doubt her own sanity. Soon
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Zuhal’s organized life as a hard-working, well-educated with each other and approach problems in contemporary woman with a good job, a nice apartment and a stable long- Turkey. While using Zuhal’s pursuit of the cat as an element term relationship is disrupted by an inexplicable meow which of suspense, I set out to portray the personal struggle of a sends her on a quest for the cat inside her apartment building. woman, the cost she pays for doing whatever she thinks is The quest, which becomes absurd when she can’t locate the right, and her transformation at the end of this quest. source of the meow, shines a light on how people behave | 46 | | 47 | DOCUMENTARIES WORK IN PROGRESS PLATFORM
DRIFTING DUET LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN LIFE BEYOND BORDERS WHITEWASH WITCH TRILOGY 15+ WITHIN THE SHADOW OF MEMORIES
Postbıyık Postproduction Antalya Film Forum destekçisi olmaktan www.postbiyik.com 0 (212) 243 67 93 gurur duyar. DOCUMENTARIES WIP DOCUMENTARIES WIP DRIFTING SOMNUR VARDAR DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Distant (2014) Editor Beginnings (2013) (Documentary) Director Journey of the Cake (2013) (Documentary) Editor Istanbul in Berlin (2010) (Documentary) Director What a Beautiful Democracy! (2008) (Documentary) Co-director
Vardar studied English Literature and Media in Istanbul and works as a documentary director and editor, as well as New York. She went on to write, produce and direct many teaching seminars and courses on documentary filmmaking, documentaries for a national news channel. She currently oral history and project development.
Director, Producer Budget Somnur Vardar $74,800 [email protected] +90 532 506 3482
SYNOPSIS
Covered in dust and cement, the city seems to be drifting Emrah, who have both ended up working in construction— apart from its own sea and sky, almost to be erasing its though not by choice. Following in the footsteps of their memory and identity. The conspicuous “silhouettes” on fathers and grandfathers, they are now the third generation construction sites become real characters at night in their of builders in the family. They search for ways out of this sleeping quarters. Our eyes catch two Kurdish men: the vicious cycle. One hope is to find construction jobs in Algeria jobless teacher, Ferhat, and his cousin, an aspiring teacher, and get paid in US dollars.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The film was inspired by my observations of construction of buildings and well-defined shadows, which have come to sites. Throughout the shoot, we watched the action on con- define the landscape of Istanbul today. As we mirrored the struction sites from homes as a performance of sorts. As tension between man and the city, it was the workers who spectators, we hung out the laundry and drank tea on the gave life to this robotic landscape. They were like an antidote grandstands. In the visual texture of the film, we followed to the soulless dehumanization of the invading concrete; sharply defined geometrical forms, the overlapping surfaces they were a source of hope and optimism for the future. | 50 | | 51 | DOCUMENTARIES WIP DOCUMENTARIES WIP DUET EKİN İLKBAĞ DIRECTOR
Filmography: Day Street (2019) (Short) Assistant Director Titty Skittles (2018) (Short) Assistant Director Cosmos With Venus (2019) (Short) Editor Yours To Keep (2017) (Short) Editor We Are All Together (2017) (Short) Editor
İlkbağ completed a BA degree in Film Production at the assistant director and offline editor. She has been working University of the Arts London. As a student, she worked on the feature documentary, Duet, since 2016. She is also a on many international short film productions, both as first former synchronized swimmer.
İDİL AKKUŞ DIRECTOR
Selected Filmography The Locksmith (2019) (Short) Editor Director Producer Production Company Budget Raven (2019) (TV Series) Assistant Editor Ekin İlkbağ Ali Bilgin AB Film Prodüksiyon †237,000 Small Crimes (2018-2019) (TV Series) Assistant Editor [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Losers’ Club (2018) Post Production Assistant +90 531 221 3398 +90 533 429 8185 +90 533 429 8185 Black and White Love (2018) (TV Series) Post Production Assistant
İdil Akkuş [email protected] Akkuş studied Radio, Cinema and Television at Istanbul feature films and music videos. She has been co-directing +90 538 690 7417 University. After graduating, she worked as a post-production the documentary, Duet, with Ekin İlkbağ since 2016. Akkuş is assistant and editing assistant on TV shows, short films, herself a former national synchronized swimmer. SYNOPSIS
Mısra and Defne are two young national synchronized the Federation’s unexpected termination of Natalie’s swimmers from Turkey. After narrowly failing to qualify for employment, the adverse conditions of professional sports in the 2016 Rio Olympics, they begin to practice for the 2020 Turkey, and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic all combine Tokyo Trials. If they make it, they’ll be the first synchronized to turn their lives and ambitions upside down. Mısra decides ALİ BİLGİN PRODUCER swimmers to represent Turkey at the Olympics. Working to end her sports career and their duet unravels. The two girls with their coach, Natalie, they quickly rack up points. But each have to find new paths for themselves. Selected Filmography Call my Manager (2020) (TV Series) Director Şems (2020) (Short Documentary) Producer DIRECTOR’S NOTE One Love Two Lives (2019) Director Delibal (2015) Director We began to follow Mısra and Defne’s journey right after performing effortlessly and with an unflagging smile above Ebb and Tide (2013-2015) (TV Series) Director they failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Being ex- the surface. The sport itself provides a metaphor for the synchronized swimmers gave us the chance to explore struggle of being women. What we want to do with the film this journey more closely. We followed an observational is to ask the question: Is personal effort enough on its own Bilgin graduated from the Cinema and TV Department films. He has directed numerous episodes of TV series, as documentary style to highlight the challenging side of the to achieve success when the whole system doesn’t dare to of Ege University in 2003. After his degree, he moved to well as two feature films. sport: being forced to hide the real battle underwater, while change? Istanbul to work as a director’s assistant on TV series and | 52 | | 53 | DOCUMENTARIES WIP DOCUMENTARIES WIP LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN ÜMRAN SAFTER DIRECTOR
Filmography On the Wings of Hope (2019) (Documentary) Director The Sin of Being a Woman (2019) (Documentary) Director Through Ottoman Eyes (2018) (Documentary) Director Sevan the Craftsman (2017) (Documentary) Director The Eye of Istanbul (2015) (Documentary) Producer
A documentary filmmaker and journalist, Safter began her directed several feature documentary films. She is now filmmaking career in 2014. She has since produced and working on her first feature film, Final Hearing.
SURAJ SHARMA PRODUCER
Filmography On the Wings of Hope (2019) (Documentary) Producer Director Producer Production Company Budget The Sin of Being a Woman (2019) (Documentary) Producer Ümran Safter Suraj Sharma Ekim Medya $100,000 Through Ottoman Eyes (2018) (Documentary) Consulting Producer [email protected] [email protected] www.ekimmedya.com Sevan the Craftsman (2017) (Documentary) Consulting Producer +90 533 572 3340 +90 537 768 1441 [email protected]
Suraj Sharma was born in 1976 and educated in the UK, work there saw him cover the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Germany and India. He started his professional career as an He also worked at the New Delhi bureau of Associated Press. assistant producer at the BBC Tehran bureau and went on to He is now working on his first feature film, Final Hearing. SYNOPSIS work for Associated Press Television News as a producer. His
Two boys newly arrived in 1930s Washington D.C. are how a multicultural background, a refusal to toe the line on overjoyed at the prospect of being in the heartland of their racial discrimination, and above all a deep-rooted love of jazz idols and of regularly seeing them perform live. They jazz pushed two young Turkish boys to challenge socially are, however, dismayed at the rampant racial discrimination acceptable boundaries. that could derail their dream. But they’re resolute. Leave the Door Open provides an in-depth and intriguing look into
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
I was extremely touched and affected after reading an article what the Ertegun brothers did back then was an incredible in the US media about how Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun act and continues to be of immense significance. We live in broke the barriers of racial prejudice and hosted black a world where we can all draw inspiration from such stories musicians at a diplomatic facility during a very dark period of of courage and resistance to populist pressure in highly human intolerance. To this day, in fact, racism remains a major polarized societies. problem all over the world. With that in mind, I believe that | 54 | | 55 | DOCUMENTARIES WIP DOCUMENTARIES WIP LIFE BEYOND BORDERS HAYDAR DEMİRTAŞ PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Footstep (2018) (Short Documentary) Director Far From Homeland (2016) (Short Documentary) Director The Guest (2013) (Short Documentary) Director My Father is Making History (2010) (Short Documentary) Director Nalbant on Wheels (2008) (Short Documentary) Director
Demirtaş studied Communications at Kültür University and Besides shooting commercials and documentaries in Mar- attended filmmaking workshops organized by the BBC and din, he also organizes filmmaking workshops. His latest doc- Kültür University in Mardin. His documentary shorts have umentary Ayak İzi (Footstep) 2018, won more than 10 awards screened on the festival circuit and won several awards. and still continues competing in international festivals.
CAN DENİZ ŞAHİN PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Stranger in My Pocket (2017) Production Coordinator Director, Producer Producer Production Company Budget Bad Cat (2013-2016) (Animation) Executive Producer Haydar Demirtaş Can Deniz Şahin Ajans Ba $148,213 Ships (2010) Production Designer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Killing the Shadows (2006) Post Production Assistant +90 506 383 0617 +90 533 162 0960 2 Young Girls (2004) Assistant Director Hasan Demirtaş [email protected] +90 552 260 4721 After graduating from the Film and Television Department of was executive producer on the 3D animation, Bad Cat, and Istanbul Bilgi University, Şahin worked on Ezel Akay’s Where’s production coordinator on Serra Yılmaz’s directorial debut, Firuze?. She spent many years working as a post-production Stranger in My Pocket, which was co-produced by Ferzan SYNOPSIS coordinator and producer on television commercials. She Özpetek.
Life Beyond Borders turns the camera on the community Horses, portraying a young Kolber. Although he dreamed of of smugglers (Kolber) plying the Iran-Iraq border and gives a better life, luck has not been on his side and he has become voice to the struggle of their everyday lives. Due to long run- a real-life smuggler himself. We focus on Eyoub and the oth- HASAN DEMİRTAŞ PRODUCER ning border issues between Iran and Iraq, goods such as cig- er Kolbers we met through him: a boxer who can find no one arettes and fuel oil have continued to be smuggled. Eyoub to sponsor him, an art teacher whose arm was blown off by a Filmography played the lead in Bahman Ghobadi’s A Time for Drunken mine, out-of-work university graduates. You Name It (2019) (Documentary) Director Carry My Voice (2017) (Short) Director Tight Space (2013) (Short) Director DIRECTOR’S NOTE Not Handicapped (2012) (Short) Director
Up until now, my films have been concerned with way to put bread on the table. The one way to eliminate the documenting the cultural richness and diversity of Mardin. problem is to expose the everyday struggles of these people As I was telling the stories closest to me, I realized that worse and to invest in growth in the region so that no one needs to Demirtaş graduated with a BA from Marmara University and won awards at international festivals. His debut documenta- things have sometimes been happening across the border. risk their life to survive another day. earned an MFA in Documentary Media at Northwestern ry feature, You Name It, was shown at many festivals, among As much as the Iranian government claims to have “solved” University. His short film Carry My Voice was screened at them Florida and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. He the Kolber issue, for many people smuggling is still the only 42nd Atlanta IFF and at Short film corner at Cannes IFF and is currently working on his next feature film, Separation. | 56 | | 57 | DOCUMENTARIES WIP DOCUMENTARIES WIP WHITEWASH AHMET NECDET ÇUPUR DIRECTOR
Filmography Latin Babylon (2018) (Short) Director Boy and Bicycle (2015) (Short) Director Experience (2014) (Short) Director Alley Dancer (2014) (Short) Director
He spent three years working as a civil engineer in Iraq and Paris. After completing his short film, Latin Babylon funded Afghanistan during the war. With his growing interest in by CNC, he returned to the village of his birth after 20 years cinema, he decided to become a filmmaker and moved to with the idea of shooting a documentary film about his family. NADİR ÖPERLİ PRODUCER
Selected Filmography: A Tale of Three Sisters (2019) Producer Grain (2017) Producer Frenzy (2015) Producer Until I Lose My Breath (2015) Producer Our Grand Despair (2011) Producer
Co-founder of Bulut Film. In 2010, he was selected to join the European Film Academy and a board member of SEYAP producers’ network, ACE. Since 2014, he has been producing (Film Producers’ Association of Turkey). films with his company, Liman Film. He is a member of the Director Producer Production Company Budget Ahmet Necdet Çupur Nadir Öperli Liman Film (İstanbul) €290,000 DELPHINE MOREL PRODUCER [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] †2,465,000 +33 761 38 4635 +90 533 661 7737 TS Productions (Paris) [email protected] Selected Filmography Jyoti Film (Hamburg) La Ronde (2016) (Documentary) Executive Producer [email protected] Raoul Ruiz: Contre l’ignorance fiction!, (2016) (Documentary) Producer Internal Combustion (2014) (Documentary) Producer Che Guevara, The Making of an Icon (2014) (Documentary) Producer SYNOPSIS City of Dreams (2013) (Documentary) Producer
In Keskincik, a village situated near Turkey’s border with and study at university. Mahmut and Zeynep become the Producer and filmmaker. She joined TS Productions in cinema which have been shown in such festivals like IDFA, Syria, a young man, Mahmut, wishes to divorce his newly- center of a genuine conflict both in the family and the 2009. She produced various documentaries for TV and DokLeipzig, Cinema du Réel and IFF Rotterdam. wed wife. Mahmut’s sister, Zeynep, has recently ended her community. As resentments and dilemmas surface, the film engagement too. Wanting out of the village, Zeynep enrolls sets out to shine a spotlight on the younger generation in in an open high-school program and finds a job in a factory. their endeavor to escape child marriages and create a new ANKE PETERSEN PRODUCER Against her father’s wishes, Zeynep plans to leave the village way of life of their own.
Filmography Lift Like a Girl (2020) (Documentary) Co-Producer DIRECTOR’S NOTE Nocturnal Breath (2017) Co-Producer Calle del Arte (2012) (Documentary) Producer Everything began when my brother, Mahmut, took the outcome of documenting these events, and since 2018 have decision to divorce his newly-wed wife and my sister, Zeynep, visited my village for longer periods to film this process of was ready to end her engagement. I took my camera and transformation. I set out to document the young generation’s went back to the village after many years. My intention solidarity against their parents and the community elders, was to film my siblings and the people around them while as well as the transformation of old values into new ones. In 2012, she produced her first documentary, Calle del Arte, is focused on international documentary co-productions, trying to find a solution. After a short time, I realized the with ZDF/ARTE. A year later, she established Jyoti Film, which short films and digital projects. | 58 | | 59 | DOCUMENTARIES WIP DOCUMENTARIES WIP WITCH TRILOGY 15+ letters from prison CEYLAN ÖZGÜN ÖZÇELİK DIRECTOR
Selected Filmography Ankebût (2020) (Documentary Short) Director, Co-Producer Witch Trilogy 13+ (2019) (Short) Writer, Director, Co-Producer Inflame (2017) Writer-Director-Co-Producer By Any Means Necessary (Short) Writer, Director, Producer So Called Love Story (2009) (Short) Writer, Director, Producer, Editor
Özçelik is an Istanbul-based filmmaker who studied Law at and won the Gamechanger Award at SXSW 2017. For her Marmara University. Between 2003-2015, she produced new project she has been selected for the Medienboard arts and culture shows for TV and radio. Her debut feature, Artist in Residence program and awarded a San Francisco Inflame, world premiered at the Berlinale Panorama Special Film Society SFFILM grant.
ARMAĞAN LALE PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Witch Trilogy 13+ (2019) Producer Director Producer Production Company Budget Inflame (2017) Co-producer Ceylan Özgün Özçelik Armağan Lale FİLMADA †740,000 ₺ The Stone (2017) Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Yellow Heat (2017) Line Producer +90 533 247 2333 +90 532 676 7903 Watchtower (2012) Associate Producer, Assistant Director
Lale graduated in Film Studies from Yeditepe University. international festivals such as Berlinale, SXSW, Ann Arbor She founded Filmada in 2013 to support innovative young and DokuFest. She is a member of DAE (Documentary filmmakers. Since then, she has produced several award- Association of Europe). SYNOPSIS winning shorts and features which have screened at
The story of two women who killed their violently abusive they see as benevolent forces. In bringing together the husbands... 29-year-old Aylin and 38-year-old Havva are fragments of Aylin and Havva’s memories, the documentary clinging to hope in different Turkish prisons. As the women meanders between genres, from thriller to drama. This is share their love, anger, dreams and nightmares in a series of a hopeful story about the cycle of violence which knows letters, 15+ listens to them talk about their childhood, their neither time nor place. children, their neighborhoods, and the plants and animals
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Made up of the fiction short 13+, feature documentary 15+ the very start. Through the two women’s voices, I set out to and feature fiction 18+, the Witch Trilogy uses different explore ‘victimhood’ and ‘witchcraft’. 15+ is meant to be a genres to explore violence against women and girls. In 2016, healing ritual that chases away two women’s most common inspired by women in my own family, I began to develop nightmares. stories where the characters bare their souls. I met with many convicted women. It was different with Aylin and Havva from | 60 | | 61 | DOCUMENTARIES WIP DOCUMENTARIES WIP WITHIN THE SHADOW OF MEMORIES ŞAFAK ŞAHİN DIRECTOR
Born in Hopa, Şahin graduated from the Economics a member of Vova, a project dedicated to collecting and Department of Kocaeli University. He went on to earn a recording Hemshin songs, he contributed to the dramaturgy Master’s degree in Economics from Marmara University. of the project’s second album, Garmi Doç. He co-founded He has written three short film scripts. He has attended the Hopa Cinema Community and works as an expert for a workshops on literature, philosophy and photography. As government enterprise.
EMEK YILDIRIM ŞAHİN PRODUCER
Director Producer Budget Şafak Şahin Emek Yıldırım Şahin †290,000 ₺ [email protected] [email protected] +90 0541 504 2947 +90 534 289 2665
Born in Ankara, Şahin graduated from the Middle East Public Administration at Ankara University. Since 2012, she Technical University (METU) in 2004 with a major in has been working in the Department of Political Science Philosophy and minor in History. She has a Master’s degree and Public Administration at Artvin Çoruh University. Her in Political Science and Public Administration from METU research focus is on political sociology and gender. SYNOPSIS and a Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science and
Time reveals the past and the present; the future, however, Hemshin heritage. Songs are a powerful bond in the Hemshin is uncertain “for now”! The Hemshin people face their fair community. By playing them to the older generations, share of this uncertainty in that their language and culture the songs become a memory trigger, eliciting different are quickly dying out with the passing of older generations. recollections from each individual. In the process, the older In seeking out this disappearing generation, Within the folk listening to those songs each become a storyteller Shadow of Memories hopes to retrieve the fading memory of journeying into the past. DIRECTOR’S NOTE
When the idea for this film was born, I was in a music studio. one of Anatolia’s ancient communities, and I feel driven to As we rehearsed for an album project that I was a part of, contribute in some way to preserving the Hemshin language the sound reverberating from the speakers transported me and culture from extinction—which is how the idea for the into the past, bringing back the faint memory of old songs. film took shape. My aim with the film was to hold a light to When I left the studio, the first question that sprang to mind the social process and so open a window on the past. At the was: Will these echoes from the past lapse into silence? I same time, it would be a sort of personal quest, a chance to have inherited the cultural codes of the Hemshin people, take a journey into the culture I belong to. | 62 | | 63 | DOCUMENTARIES WIP DOCUMENTARIES WIP
| 64 | | 65 | SERIES / SHORT SERIES PITCHING PLATFORM
A SLOW COOKED HEART BERLINIST GIVING BIRTH TO A CRIMINAL KEYS & THE STORY OF ERA MATRYOSHKA MEN OF ISTANBUL SERIES / SHORT SERIES SERIES / SHORT SERIES A SLOW COOKED HEART CAN EVRENOL CREATOR, DIRECTOR
Selected Works Çıplak (2020) (TV Mini-Series) Writer, Director Girl with No Mouth (2019) Writer, Director The Field Guide to Evil (2018) Writer, Director Housewife (2017) Writer, Director Baskın (2015) Writer, Director
Born and raised in Istanbul, Evrenol studied Film Studies and and features in the horror genre. His films have been official- Art History at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Since gra- ly selected for more than 40 genre film festivals around the duating, he has written, directed and often produced shorts world, as well as winning him several international awards.
JAMIE GREFE WRITER
Selected Works The Last Roommate (2020) Writer It Hungers (2019) Writer Creator, Director Writer Producer Budget The Wishing Forest (2018) Writer Can Evrenol Jamie Grefe Bora Yüksel $350,000 Shark Babes (2015) (TV Movie) Writer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Episode Farther Than Sheep (1997) (Short) Writer +90 535 564 59 24 +90 533 551 18 15 8 Duration Production Company 30’ Postlab Grefe is a multifaceted writer who creates richly structured Martin, Kurando Mitsutake, John Lee, Gregory Hatanaka Bora Yuksel [email protected] works of suspense, horror and psychological drama. He has and more. His produced cinematic works have sold to major +90 533 551 1815 collaborated with directors such as Jim Wynorski, Johnny networks as well as niche independent platforms. SYNOPSIS
The beautiful and career-loving Carla Ravini loses her job the realizes the adventure won’t be as easy as she thought. The very day of a difficult break-up with her lover. That night, at school’s elitist and mysterious atmosphere envelops Carla the bedside of her dying mother, she receives a letter to say the moment she steps through the door. Soon, the first corp- that she has been given a place at a mysterious, nameless co- se appears, and more murders follow one after the other. BORA YÜKSEL PRODUCER oking school deep in the mountains of northern Turkey. Carla arrives in Turkey but, not speaking the language, she quickly Selected Works Gazapizm: Pisliğin Üstüne Basmışlar (2020) (Music Clip) Producer The Field Guide To Evil (2018) Line Producer Taken 2 (2012) Assistant to Director DIRECTOR’S NOTE 976766 (2011) (Short) Director Ara (2009) (Short) Producer The series will be characterized by a Lynch-like visual style and in style but designed to appeal to an international audience, an aesthetic appropriate to new-generation mystery series. The the series’ original music will blend the melodies of the mod- visual world will be informed by the allure of beauty, dreams, ern horror/mystery genre with myriad sub-genres. As the story the pleasure of peeping, the shadows created by darkness, and continues apace, each episode will focus on the week’s menu Born in Ankara in 1984, Yüksel is a graduate of the Istanbul shorts, he has also appeared in various films. He currently mottled tones of deep red and blue. Splendid interiors, a time- for one-two minutes and feature a recipe. This will reinforce the Bilgi University Cinema and TV Department. He also studied works at his own production company. less school décor and engagingly eccentric students... Turkish food theme and bring a playful tone. at the Seattle Film Institute. Besides directing a number of | 68 | | 69 | SERIES / SHORT SERIES SERIES / SHORT SERIES BERLINIST SERDAR KÖKÇEOĞLU WRITER, CREATOR, PRODUCER
Works Mimaroğlu (2020) (Documentary) Director Listening Through İstanbul (2018) (Short Documentary) Director
Kökçeoğlu studied Directing at the Film Department of 9 Through Istanbul, in 2018. His first feature documentary, Mi- Eylül University in Izmir. A member of the Turkish Film Criti- maroğlu (2020), premiered in the Burning Lights Competi- cs’ Association (SİYAD), he is a researcher on short films. He tion at Visions du Reel. directed his first film, a short documentary titled Listening
LEVENT ÇETİN DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Works Ali’s Nature (2020) Writer, Director, Producer Creator, Writer, Producer Director, Producer Production Company Budget Civilian (2014) Writer, Director, Producer Serdar Kökçeoğlu Levent Çetin Plot Film €468,544 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] †4,000,000 +90 532 255 8708 +90 536 494 0113 Episode 8 Duration 30’ Born in Istanbul in 1975, Çetin studied at the Film and TV channels. He completed his first feature, Civilian, in 2014. Department of Marmara University and graduated from the Ali’s Nature, which was supported by the Turkish Ministry of Film & Television Master’s program at Istanbul Bilgi Univer- Culture, is his second feature film. SYNOPSIS sity. He has worked as an editor and producer for various TV
İpek is a music guru who works as a manager, critic and DJ Enis, to go and live with him in Berlin. Given her work and fu- on the independent music scene and lives in Yeldeğirmeni, ture plans in music, İpek resists and tries to keep going in her a bohemian neighborhood of Kadıköy on Istanbul’s Asian homeland. She then meets Ali, a musician who captures the shore. She finds it difficult to handle the changing conditions spirit of the times in his song lyrics and is unlike any of the of the country in general and the music industry in particu- aggressive men around her. The changes in her life give İpek lar. At the same time, she is regularly urged by her boyfriend, hope to hold on.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Berlinist is a project that endeavors to reflect the spirit of les, and of the challenge of making a living from doing what its time. It presents the story of a woman trying to stand on you love. At a time when life is becoming harder, the debate her own feet amidst the changing conditions of the culture around whether to leave the country or stay has become a industry. She’s strong at times, weak at others, heartbroken prevalent one, and one that Berlinist also addresses. yet happy, always hopeful, curious and enthusiastic. Her si- tuation is a reminder of the precarity of life in bohemian circ- | 70 | | 71 | SERIES / SHORT SERIES SERIES / SHORT SERIES GIVING BIRTH TO A CRIMINAL DENİZ BAYRAKTAROĞLU CREATOR, WRITER, PRODUCER
Works Seagull’s Fall (2020) (Play) Writer, Producer Taste of the Peak (2019) (Short) Writer Chair (2019) (Short) Writer My Husband’s Family (2014-2015) (TV Show) Script assistant Liminal Space (2013) (TV Show) Creator
Bayraktaroğlu studied Writing at the Müjdat Gezen Arts on program run by Zeynep Atakan. She works as an academic Center Conservatory, Scriptwriting at the University of Ca- in Social Psychology at Bilkent University. She has recently lifornia, Santa Barbara, and Industrial Engineering at Bilkent won a Fulbright scholarship to study Cinema and Psycho- University. She also earned an MBA from Boğaziçi University. logy at Columbia University. She has attended workshops at Yapımlab, the film producti-
AHMET İLKER COŞKUN CREATOR, WRITER
Works Seagull’s Fall (2020) (Play) Writer, Director Creator, Writer, Producer Creator, Writer Production Company Budget Taste of the Peak (2019) (Short Film) Writer, Director Deniz Bayraktaroğlu Ahmet İlker Coşkun Deha Film †3,212,149 Chair (2019) (Short) Writer, Director [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Episode Hero of My Tale (2018) Writer +90 537 520 2787 +90 551 708 3493 +90 537 520 2787 7 Duration 40’ Coşkun studied scriptwriting at the Müjdat Gezen Arts Cen- he worked as an assistant to the film critic, Sevin Okyay, and ter Conservatory, Communication Design at Başkent Uni- also as a cameraman and scriptwriter. He works at MGA Film, versity, directing at Sinematek, and pitching at Yapımlab, a while also producing his own projects as a writer-director. SYNOPSIS film production program run by Zeynep Atakan. As a student,
As she prepares to take a break from her profession to get nocent child should also be cured. Esra decides to investiga- married, psychologist Esra learns that one of her ex-patients, te the murderer’s past and to confront the people involved Leyla, was killed by her boyfriend. The killer has been arres- in the creation of the criminal. At the same time, she opposes ted and the case is closed. However, Esra cannot accept this her own “fate’’ and discovers her inner strength. death as “fate’’. She doesn’t think it enough to arrest the per- petrator; the society that gave birth to a criminal from an in-
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The rapid increase in violence against women signals that me and its perpetrators are known from the outset and the society needs healing. We react to femicides instantaneous- mystery is based on how an innocent person can become a ly, but avoid exploring the factors that push a man to commit criminal... I wholeheartedly believe that this project will inspi- violence; we also avoid confronting our own mistakes. I the- re society to raise their children as individuals with a heighte- refore wanted to create a project that deconstructs violence ned sense of awareness. and reminds women of their power. A project where the cri- | 72 | | 73 | SERIES / SHORT SERIES SERIES / SHORT SERIES KEYS & THE STORY OF ERA DOĞACAN AKTAŞ CREATOR, WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Works Parmenides “Hidden Room” (2020) (Short) Director Tülütabaklar “Immortal Heroes” (2020) (Short Documentary) Creative Producer Finding Mother 2 (2019) Line Producer There is Hope (2019) (Documentary) Line Producer Quince Heart (2015) (Short Documentary) Director
Born in Alanya in 1990, Aktaş graduated from the Erciyes contributes as a producer, supervisor and director to proje- University Department of Radio, Television and Cinema. He cts developed within the initiative. His films have screened completed a Master’s degree in Cinema at Akdeniz Uni- at national and international film festivals, winning more than versity. He went on to lecture in filmmaking at the Akdeniz 70 awards to date. He also works as a line producer and ad- University Faculty of Communications from 2014-2018 and vertising and music video director. In 2019, he published a latterly at Antalya Akev University (2019-2020). He is the book, Senin Sineman (Your Cinema) on alternative cinema founder of Antalya Film Crew, an initiative to support inde- techniques. pendent filmmakers in Antalya. He leads workshops and
Creator, Writer, Director, Producer Production Company Budget Doğacan Aktaş Antalya Film Ekibi †2,000,000 [email protected] www.antalyafilmekibi.com Episode +90 534 554 7981 [email protected] 7 Duration 20’
SYNOPSIS
Human beings have succumbed to their fears after the glo- return to an abandoned world in search of the keys. An al- bal pandemic and begun to live in ultra-isolated areas un- legorical narrative is built around each character that leaves derground. Fears have escalated so much that doors have their isolated area, echoing the seven days of creation. been built and locked in every area. The keys to the doors are hidden somewhere above ground. This series tells the story of seven characters who emerge from the underground and
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
It is arguably the first time in modern history that people have tion, arrogance, and the kind of individualism that doesn’t faced such huge fear. Beyond the physical restrictions, peop- allow for sharing. The contrast I create through the image of le have had to deal with “mental” isolation. I strongly believe a young child among abandoned modern tower blocks will that the pandemic has given humanity the chance to reflect prompt us to consider moral and spiritual barriers. I believe on, and reconsider the conditions we live in. I want to draw that this project will bring critical insight into the world sys- attention to a world system built on destruction, consump- tem created and developed by modern man. | 74 | | 75 | SERIES / SHORT SERIES SERIES / SHORT SERIES MATRYOSHKA MUSTAFA HAKTANIR CREATOR, WRITER, DIRECTOR
Selected Works 91.1 (2016) Writer, Director, Executive Producer İler Güler (2012) (TV Series) Assistant Director Hile Yolu (2011) Assistant Director Bir Bulut Olsam (2009) (TV Series) Assistant Director Kapalı Carsı (2009) (TV Series) Assistant Director
Born in Balıkesir in 1979, Haktanır graduated from Uludağ screened at national and international festivals, winning vari- University with a degree in Business Management. Between ous awards. He began teaching scriptwriting and filmmaking 2005-2007, he took classes in directing and scriptwriting at workshops in Kadıköy in 2016. He has recently begun wor- the Türker İnanoğlu Foundation Film and Television Scho- king on his second feature, A Small Token (Çam Sakızı Ço- ol. He has been working in the film industry since 2006. In ban Armağanı). 2016, he wrote and directed his first feature film, 91.1, which
YONCA ERTÜRK PRODUCER
Selected Works Passed By Censor (2019) Producer Creator, Writer, Director Producer Production Company Budget Siren’s Call (2018) Line Producer Mustafa Haktanır Yonca Ertürk Pati Film †4,422,600 Something Useful (2017) Executive Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Episode The Last Schnitzel (2017) (Short) Executive Producer +90 532 497 7311 [email protected] 7 Where’s Firuze (2004) Producer +90 533 768 7370 Duration 45’ Ertürk is a film, commercial and TV producer. She began A co-founder of the animation association, Canlandıranlar, her career at the production company, IFR. She has lectu- Ertürk is member of SEYAP (Film Producers’ Association of red at different universities. She is the founder of Pati Film, Turkey) and the industry union, Sinema-TV Sendikası. SYNOPSIS and producer and co-creator of Rimos and Zimos (2014).
Azra was stuck in her house trying to protect her seven dau- re, Kumru’s escape from the 1999 Marmara earthquake and ghters while her village was burned to the ground. The seve- finally Arzu’s story in the Covid-19 pandemic of today. Matr- re trauma she experienced leaves deep scars first on her ol- yoshka is presented in reverse chronology and so begins its der daughter, Türkân, and then on subsequent generations. journey through the seven generation with Arzu’s suicide We see the perpetuation of these scars in Rahim’s flight from live on air. Each episode sets out the background to the pre- the Gallipoli War, Umay’s experience of the 1955 Istanbul ceding episode, while also portraying the atmosphere of the pogrom, Şadi’s presence at the May 1 Taksim Square massac- events that leave their mark on each different period. DIRECTOR’S NOTE
While I was writing Matryoshka, it felt like I was designing a dents; it also has a universal quality. In building this Matryos- puzzle. My aim is for the audience to enjoy assembling the hka universe of seven colors, I have made a point of creating pieces and to achieve catharsis by the end. I have long been a project that audiences from all seven continents can relate interested in the theory of family constellations, which es- to in some way. sentially holds that psychological disorders are the product of inherited trauma. Matryoshka is a project with few prece- | 76 | | 77 | SERIES / SHORT SERIES SERIES / SHORT SERIES MEN OF ISTANBUL ALİ KEMAL GÜVEN CREATOR, WRITER, DIRECTOR
Works Falcon Crest (2018) (TV Series) Writer Come on My Son (2018) Writer Cahide’s Open Marriage (2016) (Short) Writer, Director 6 Months and 4 Days (2014) (Short) Writer, Director The Queen Is in the Factory (2008) Writer, Director
Güven graduated from Long Island University with a BA in of Sand, which he wrote and is now directing, has been per- Media Arts in 2014. His play, Men of Fatima, was staged by forming since February 2020. Güven is the co-founder of the Istanbul State Theater. His short film, Cahide’s Open Mar- ProjectAS Theater Company and Witchcraft Films. riage, was picked up by BluTV in 2019. His stage play, Grains
SEDA ÖZKARACA PRODUCER
Works The Pit (2019) (Short) Producer Creator, Writer, Director Producer Production Company Budget Cahide’s Open Marriage (2016) Producer Ali Kemal Güven Seda Özkaraca Witchcraft Films †4,000,000 And (2015) (Short) Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Episode Gallipoli: End of the Road (2012) Executive Producer +90 533 416 6804 +90 535 894 3430 +90 535 894 3430 8 The Queen Is in the Factory (2008) Executive Producer Duration 40’ In 2013, Özkaraca executive produced the film, Gallipoli: End streamed on BluTV. Currently a television commercial pro- Of The Road, a co-production with Warner Bros. The short ducer at PPR Istanbul, Özkaraca is also one of the founding film, Cahide’s Open Marriage (2016), which she produced, partners of ProjectAS Theater and Witchcraft Films. SYNOPSIS screened at various national and international festivals and
Men of Istanbul tells the story of overt and covert queer men, within and without. When a movie extra who has brutally who, although they live very different lives in the same city, murdered a famous director pens a letter to young queer are bound to one another by invisible threads. An injurious, journalist, Aral, from prison, we enter into the dark, deleteri- tantalizing, and dark tale, the series depicts how the homop- ous, and alluring queer world of Istanbul. hobia that has pervaded and settled in every part of the city like a layer of fog affects Istanbul’s LGBTI+ world from both
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
As an openly gay filmmaker, I set out to depict queer life in bed. There are those who think we’re crazy to even think that Istanbul without romanticizing it. Everything in the script is we can produce a gay themed show in Turkey. Sometimes it’s truthful: I have been in that cab, I have marched with that good to believe in crazy things. It helps you change the flow. crowd for freedom, I have listened to a psychologist telling me I was not gay –and I believed it– and I have had friends held at knifepoint and those whose houses have been rob- | 78 | | 79 | SÜMER TİLMAÇ ANTALYA FILM SUPPORT FUND PITCHING PLATFORM
APOLLON BY DAY ATHENA BY NIGHT BEFORE THE DARK SUMMER DREAMS SÜMER TİLMAÇ AFSF SÜMER TİLMAÇ AFSF APOLLON BY DAY ATHENA BY NIGHT EMİNE YILDIRIM WRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Siren’s Call (2018) Producer Androktones (2018) (Documentary) Producer, Director The Impeccables (2013) Screenwriter, Producer The Monsters’ Dinner (2011) Producer 3 Hours (2008) (Belgesel) Co-Producer
After graduating from METU Business Administration, she enplay Award from Ankara Film Festival and the Bilge Olgaç attended the Istanbul Bilgi University Cinema Studies MA Women’s Achievement Award from Flying Broom Internati- Program. She produced films such as Siren’s Call (2018), The onal Women’s Films Festival. Androktones (2018), the short Impeccables (2013), The Monster’s Dinner (2011), Ziazan film she directed was showcased at the Pera Museum. She (2014), Mother Virgin No More (2015). She wrote the scre- teaches screenwriting at Kadir Has University. enplay of The Impeccables which garnered her a Best Scre-
DİLDE MAHALLİ PRODUCER
Selected Filmography Queen Lear (2019) (Documentary) Producer Chronology (2019) Executive Producer Writer, Director, Producer Producer Production Company Budget Something Useful (2017) International Sales, Associate Producer Emine Yıldırım Dilde Mahalli Giyotin Film †3,900,000 The Impeccables (2013) Associate Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] A lighthouse in Şile (2000) (Short Documentary) Writer, Director +90 532 646 1907 +90 532 631 5280 https://www.giyotinfilm.com/
Born in Istanbul, Mahalli graduated from Visual Arts and (2019) by Pelin Esmer and Chronology (2019) by Ali Aydın. Communication Design and holds an MA in Art and Design Currenty she’s working on Emine Yıldırım’s debut film and Program from Yıldız Technical University. She works as a film Pelin Esmer’s new fiction film along with her personal and producer and graphic designer. She started producing with corporate visual art projects. SYNOPSIS The Impeccables (2012) by Ramin Matin. She took part in the production of Something Useful (2019) and Queen Lear After a small accident in her flat in Istanbul, unsociable com- the ancient Greco-Roman port town of Side. In this journey, puter programmer Defne starts seeing ghosts. Having to deal she will have to deal with ‘humankind’, be it dead or alive, and with dead people while already trying to constantly avoid the struggle with the ‘humanity’ in herself. living ones, is the last thing Defne wants in life… Neverthe- less, she decides to take advantage of this new gift-curse and search for her long/dead mother’s ghost in the ruins of
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
While you live, shine / have no grief at all / life exists only for It is about guilt, grief and the search for belonging in a world a short while / and time demands its toll. (Seikolos Epitaph) that is both cruel and compassionate. I intend to make a fe- This is a quirky story about hope and friendship. 200,000 el-good film in a time when feeling good seems almost im- years of human history, and still true solidarity in all its forms possible. gives us the most basic feeling of meaning. Even in a world that’s currently breaking. This is also an absurd ghost story. | 82 | | 83 | SÜMER TİLMAÇ AFSF SÜMER TİLMAÇ AFSF BEFORE THE DARK İSMET AKGÜN WRITER, DIRECTOR
Filmography The Helix (2017) (Short) Director Think of A Number (2014) (Short) Director Square (2013) (Short) Director Sequence (2011) (Short) Director Tomato (2009) (Short) Director
Born in Istanbul, Akgün holds a Bachelor’s degree in Grap- short films have screened at national and international festi- hic Design from Akdeniz University and a Master’s from the vals. He continues his career as a producer and director. Kadir Has University Department of Film and Drama. He has worked in the film and advertising sector since 2009. His
OKAN ÜZEY PRODUCER
Filmography Plaza (2019) Producer Writer, Director Producer Production Company Budget Helix (2017) (Short) Producer İsmet Akgün Okan Üzey Kalavara Film €276,596 My Suburban Stories (2017) (Mockumentary) Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] †2,450,000 +90 530 528 7026 +90 530 093 8246 $327.697
Üzey graduated from the Film & Television Department of administrative manager at PAZ Film since 2015. He founded Kadir Has University. He worked as the general coordinator Kalavara Film in 2017 to bring together his areas of exper- at Başka Sinema from 2013-2016, then moved to Kurmaca tise—film acquisitions, marketing and distribution, PR and SYNOPSIS Film to head up theatrical distribution. He has also been the events management—under one roof.
Captain Orhan, a former intelligence operative in his mid- Ejder. Until a mother and son move in across the street... Or- 60s, runs daily boat tours in a holiday town on the Mediter- han’s new neighbors are in trouble and although he doesn’t ranean. Whether it’s because of his age or his little-known want to get involved, his protective instincts kick in. Finding one-time profession is unclear, but the captain is a quiet, wit- himself dragged into the affair, Captain Orhan will have to hdrawn man somewhat lacking in common courtesy. He lea- come to terms with his true identity once again, just when he ds a modest, solitary and uneventful life with his ageing dog, thought that he’d covered it up.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Before the Dark is a film project inspired by the idea that how tify with the protagonist and accompany him on his journey. we record events in our memory and choose to remember I have chosen to set the story in a seaside town with a rhythm them shapes who we are today. Built around the film noir and atmosphere of its own, rather than in the more familiar formula, the story follows the protagonist as he finds himself bustle of a big city or the stillness of the countryside. In doing having to face his traumatic past as he’s unwittingly caught so, I plan to create an authentic visual style. up in all kinds of events. My aim is for the audience to iden- | 84 | | 85 | SÜMER TİLMAÇ AFSF SÜMER TİLMAÇ AFSF SUMMER DREAMS AYTAÇ UZUN WRITER, DIRECTOR
Filmography Good Night (2020) (Short) Director The Kid (2016) (Short) Director
Born in Zonguldak in 1986, Uzun graduated in English Lan- tional and international festivals. He completed his second guage and Literature. He went on to earn a postgraduate short, Good Night, this year. He has been working on his first degree in Cinema from Istanbul Bilgi University. His debut feature film, Summer Dreams, for some time. short film, The Kid (2015), screened and won awards at na-
NERMİN AYTEKİN PRODUCER
Filmography Cold of Kalandar (2016) Producer Writer, Director Producer Production Company Budget Emicem Hospital (2015) Line Producer Aytaç Uzun Nermin Aytekin Sade Sinema €350.000 The Kid (2016) (Short) Producer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] †3,000,000 Nobody Shall Hold Your Hand (2016) (Short) Line Producer +90 534 729 0905 +90 544 235 7815 +90 544 235 7815 Uzak (2013) (Documentary) Producer
Aytekin graduated from the Radio and Television Depart- (2016), a Eurimages supported co-production with Katapult ment of Cumhuriyet University. After working as an editor Film (Hungary) and TRT. She is now working on her second on different advertising and documentary films, she began feature film, Summer Dreams. Aytekin is a member of the line producing documentary, advertising and feature films. Asia Pacific Screen Academy. SYNOPSIS She earned her first producer credit with Cold of Kalandar
Mehmet is a 62-year-old, well-to-do widower who lives in a friend since childhood and a loyal companion in his later lo- small village in a remote part of Antalya province. As a man nely years, and Mehmet is counting on him as a fellow trave- who has barely traveled beyond the provincial borders ex- ler. Like two young men, they make plans and dream of fa- cept to do military service, Mehmet’s biggest dream is to raway places. However, when a woman unexpectedly enters leave his monotonous village and go to Muğla to visit an Ali’s life, all their plans are thrown upside down and Mehmet old friend for an extended vacation. Ali has been his closest is driven into even deeper loneliness.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
My main motivation for making a film about someone who doing so, my aim is to paint a portrait of mankind’s pursuit of wants to leave a remote part of Antalya for a different part of meaning by way of this search for paradise. In all faiths and my- the same region is mankind’s tendency since the beginning of thologies, paradise is always viewed as somewhere far away. time to think of paradise being somewhere other than where Mehmet, who loathes the village where he lives, is actually he is and then to go in search of it. In the film, I depict the main perpetuating an old human tradition as he dreams and thinks character, Mehmet’s adventures as he sets off on this quest. In wishfully about Muğla, a place where he has never been. | 86 | | 87 | SÜMER TİLMAÇ AFSF EVENTS
MASTERCLASS WITH CHARLOTTE SIELING
One of the side events at this year’s Antalya Film Forum is a Masterclass with Charlotte Sieling, the celebrated Danish director of numerous popular and award-winning drama series in the last few years, among them The Bridge, Homeland and Lovecraft Country. Sieling has just fin- ished shooting the historical epic, Margrete - Queen of the North, starring Trine Dyrholm. The Masterclass will focus on the following areas: - Creating a high-end drama series: from idea through development to realization; - Career transitions between the film and series sectors or how to straddle both: the pros and cons; - Narrative storytelling in series and films: the flash points and differences. EVENTSEVENTS Date: 7th of October Time: 12:00 Language: ENG @Zoom
SUPPORT FOR CO-PRODUCTION AND CASH REBATE
Selçuk Yavuzkanat the Vice General Director of the Cinema Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will present the new funding opportunities in Turkey as per the updated cinema law. The new law allows funding for Turkish minority coproductions. Cash rebates of up to 30% on all eligible expenses incurred in Turkey.
Date: 6th of October Time: 13:30 Language: ENG @Zoom
INFO ON THE ISAN TURKEY REGISTRATION OFFICE
The project coordinator of the ISAN Turkey Registration Office, producer Serkan Çakarer, will give a presentation on the project to Forum participants. ISAN (International Standard Audiovisual Number) is a global numbering system compli- ant with ISO standards. They system is used for the identification of audiovisual content. As a unique and permanent identifier, the ISAN is useful in a wide range of digital and automated contexts such as overseeing the development, production and distribution of content, using in funding applications, monitoring rights and royalties, and dealing with piracy.
Date: 5th of October Time: 13:30 Language: TR @Zoom
| 88 | | 89 | AWARDS AWARDS
Pitching For Feature Films In Development Feature Film Pitching Award (2 Projects) 30.000 TL Film Standartları Post Production Award
AWARDS Features Work In Progress Platform Features Work In Progress Award 80.000 TL Features Work In Progress Special Jury Award 40.000 TL
Pantone 185 Features Work In Progress, TRT Award 50.000 TL C.0 M.100 Y.85 K.0 Başka Sinema Distribution and Promotion Award Pantone Pro Black C.0 M.0 Y.0 K.100
Documentaries Work In Progress Platform Documentaries Work In Progress Award (2 Projects) 30.000TL Postbıyık Sound Post Production Award Başka Sinema Distribution Award
Series / Short Series Pitching Platform Series / Short Series Pitching Platform, BluTv Award 30.000 TL Color Up Color Correction Award
Sümer Tilmaç Antalya Film Support Fund Pitching Platform Sümer Tilmaç Antalya Film Support Fund Award 150.000 TL Fono Film Post Production Award
| 90 | | 91 | FESTIVAL TEAM
FESTIVAL TEAM
Featival President Muhittin Böcek
Festival Executive Director Cansel Tuncer
Festival Director Ahmet Boyacıoğlu
Art Director Başak Emre
Head of the Forum Olena Yershova Yıldız
Forum Coordinator Candan Dağ
Festival Coordinator Pınar Evrenosoğlu
Sümer Tilmaç Film Support Fund Coordinator Burak Göral
Guests Coordinator Kateryna Uğuş
One to One Meetings Coordinator Nur Çakır
Digital Event Management Kamra Interactive
Graphic Applications Muzaffer Durukan Ogün Koçak
Although this project was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, its content in no way reflects the views of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism; sole liability for the content lies with the 57th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.