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Introduction
Other than the beginning of the short spring and somewhat more consistent temperatures throughout Istanbul, the beginning of april also announces the arrival of the most important cinematic event: the biggest film festival in the city. Films of almost any kind are sprinkled throughout the old and traditional theaters in Taksim (the regular hosts of the festival) for 2 weeks and 3 weekends. Films with such diversity that picking the ones you'll see is a major pain in the eye. Scheduling the selected ones is another.
It's a major attraction not only because of the high number of films and screenings involved but also because of the high and constantly-increasing attendance rate and numerous side events that heats the whole city up for a short time. Tickets for more than half of all the films are sold out pretty early and it's not uncommon to see additional screenings organized for the festival's 'hit' movies because of this early sell-out. Some of these 'hit's even make it to a wide commercial release throughout the country and up until the beginning of summer season and blockbusters, these are the movies that dominate the theaters and provide them quality material.
It's always interesting to observe the concepts that they come up with every year. Aside from the regulars like 'International Competition', 'National Competition', 'Human Rights in Cinema', 'From the World of Festivals', 'Documentary Time with NTV', 'Mined Zone', 'Midnight Madness' , 'Young Masters' and 'The World of Animation', this year the festival includes other interesting subjects such as '1968 and Its Heritage', 'Turkish Classics Revisited', 'American Independents', 'Lost in Illusions with Marc Caro', 'Glorify the Rebel with Milos Forman', 'From the Caucasus to the Mediterranean' and 'Woman is Her Name'.
This has been my fourth Istanbul Film Festival and will probably be the last for quite some time. After spending an entire night for selecting the movies I wanted to see, another for reducing the number from 68 to something more reasonable and another for scheduling them, I ended up with more than 20 movies from all around the globe and from nearly all the concepts that I mentioned above. I had originally intended to write short reviews for these movies just after seeing them every day, but it was when I returned after midnight at the very first day of my program that I realized this wasn't going to work out. After running around in Istiklal Street and seeing 3-4 movies in a row, I had not enough strength left in me to type let alone to think and gather my thoughts.
So here I am now, after a week full of movies and stuffing food in between them and nearly nothing else, ready to compress and type my humble opinions about everything I saw in the festival. The next entry will start from Day 1.
Other than the beginning of the short spring and somewhat more consistent temperatures throughout Istanbul, the beginning of april also announces the arrival of the most important cinematic event: the biggest film festival in the city. Films of almost any kind are sprinkled throughout the old and traditional theaters in Taksim (the regular hosts of the festival) for 2 weeks and 3 weekends. Films with such diversity that picking the ones you'll see is a major pain in the eye. Scheduling the selected ones is another.It's a major attraction not only because of the high number of films and screenings involved but also because of the high and constantly-increasing attendance rate and numerous side events that heats the whole city up for a short time. Tickets for more than half of all the films are sold out pretty early and it's not uncommon to see additional screenings organized for the festival's 'hit' movies because of this early sell-out. Some of these 'hit's even make it to a wide commercial release throughout the country and up until the beginning of summer season and blockbusters, these are the movies that dominate the theaters and provide them quality material.
It's always interesting to observe the concepts that they come up with every year. Aside from the regulars like 'International Competition', 'National Competition', 'Human Rights in Cinema', 'From the World of Festivals', 'Documentary Time with NTV', 'Mined Zone', 'Midnight Madness' , 'Young Masters' and 'The World of Animation', this year the festival includes other interesting subjects such as '1968 and Its Heritage', 'Turkish Classics Revisited', 'American Independents', 'Lost in Illusions with Marc Caro', 'Glorify the Rebel with Milos Forman', 'From the Caucasus to the Mediterranean' and 'Woman is Her Name'.
This has been my fourth Istanbul Film Festival and will probably be the last for quite some time. After spending an entire night for selecting the movies I wanted to see, another for reducing the number from 68 to something more reasonable and another for scheduling them, I ended up with more than 20 movies from all around the globe and from nearly all the concepts that I mentioned above. I had originally intended to write short reviews for these movies just after seeing them every day, but it was when I returned after midnight at the very first day of my program that I realized this wasn't going to work out. After running around in Istiklal Street and seeing 3-4 movies in a row, I had not enough strength left in me to type let alone to think and gather my thoughts.
So here I am now, after a week full of movies and stuffing food in between them and nearly nothing else, ready to compress and type my humble opinions about everything I saw in the festival. The next entry will start from Day 1.
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