Ayvalik International Film Festival kicks off

Ayvalik International Film Festival kicks off on September 14

The countdown for Ayvalik International Film Festival, which is going to be held by Seyir Association from September 14 to 19, has begun. The festival will make the audience to enjoy cinema to the fullest, not only through screening of the highly-anticipated Turkish and foreign productions of this year, which have made a splash in world's festivals, but also through talks and panels to be held on current issues after the film screenings. As part of the Genc Sinema (Young Cinema) program, students from different universities across Türkiye will come together with cinema professionals and have the opportunity to gain experience by working at the festival, where a Children's Day event, packed with all-day-long activities, is also going to be held on September 17, with the supports of the Consulate of Netherlands.

Ayvalik International Film Festival, which is going to be held under the directorship of Aziza Tan and consulted by Fatih Ozguven, is going to take place with the valuable contributions of the Municipality of Ayvalik, the Metropolitan Municipality of Balieksir, CultureCivic, Bilginer-Melin, Ayvalik Art, Culture & Education Foundation, Kursat Ayvalik, Paribu, OGM Pictures, Komili, Mey I Diageo, Ayvalik Chamber of Commerce, Ayvalikzade, Cop(m)adam, Consulate of Netherlands and French Cultural Center.

The Poster of the Festival is Ready!

Aiming to emphasize the bonds established between the festivals and the cities where these festivals are held, Ayvalik International Film Festival, continues to include the works of the artists, who live in Ayvalik, on the festival poster, as it did last year. The festival is going to be promoted to the audience with a poster, which was created with the visual design by Erdem Yilmaz who was inspired by a work from the solo exhibition "Bedbahtliklar ve Yeni Hazlar" by the artist Tunca from Ayvalik.

The works of Tunca, who has been coming together with art lovers at the solo exhibitions he has been holding at various museums and institutions since the early 2000s, are included in the collection of several art museums, such as Istanbul Modern Art Museum, Proje 4L Elgiz Contemporary Art Museum, Baksi Museum, Museum Evliyagil, Odunpazari Modern Museum, and his work on the the poster is inspired from a photograph, which he saw at an auction that was held years ago and was supposedly taken at the studio of Georg Gerlach, who had been producing souvenir postcards in Berlin since the 1880s. It is told that Mahir, who is shown on the photographs with the name Sabri Mahir and supposedly became known with the nicknames Der Schreckliche Türke (The Terrible Turk) and Der Gegen Vier Männer Kämpft (The Man Who Fights Against Four People) over the years, opened a boxing studio, where he even hosted Bertolt Brecht, Egon Erwin Kisch, Vladimir Nabokov, etc., and this studio turned into a place where literary discussions took place. Moreover, it is recorded in written history and supported by photographs that Mahir was the coach of Vicki Baum and Marlene Dietrich at this studio; but at some point, it turns into a myth. The work is to be exhibited at Yuri GastroBar in Kucuk Han throughout the festival, for those who want to know more about the story of Mahir, who is thought be born in Diyarbakir in 1890, and and see this work more closely. 

The Award “A New…”, Granted with the Support of Mey|Diageo, Celebrates Its 2nd Year!

This year, Ayvalik International Film Festival is, once again, going to grant the award "A New..." that was granted for the first time last year with the contributions of Mey|Diageo, which acts by being aware of the fact that it has inherited a 150-year-old legacy. The award, which nourishes the festival's purpose of training and encouraging young people who are engaged in cinema, is going to be granted, regardless of the category, to a new director, actor/actress, scriptwriter, editor, sound designer, etc., who makes a splash with his/her success in film-making during that year and is thought to need to be encouraged. The winner of the award, amounting to 50.000 TL and to be granted with the contributions of Mey|Diageo, which believes in the importance of culture and art in our lives, is going to be announced on the opening night of the festival.

This year, the selection committee of the Award "A New ..." consists of the director, scriptwriter, writer, producer and painter Tayfun Pirselimoglu, the producer Dilde Mahalli, the editor Eyten Ipeker, the actress Selen Ucer and ..... (Eksik isim eklenecek)

Ayvalik International Film Festival is going to screen the film Le Mépris, in cooperation with French Cultural Center and Sinematek/Sinemaevi, to commemorate Jean Luc Godard, who passed away last year at the age of 91, by leaving behind a great cinema treasure.

Le Mépris is one of the most important films of Godard that was adapted from a novel of Alberto Moravia, directed by the German director Fritz Lang and starring Bridgette Bardot, Michel Piccoli and the American actor Jack Palance. Godard tells about love and how it ends, in parallel with money and art, in the film.

The opening ceremony to be held on the evening of September 14 at Buyuk Park Amphitheater of the Municipality of Ayvalik is going to be followed by film screenings, talks and a special all-day-long event for children to take place at Vural Sinemasi Nejat Uygur Sahnesi of the Municipality of Ayvalik, Ayvalik Sanat Fabrikasi, Kucuk Han, Askev Sera, Kraft and Creative Technologies Workshop of Sabanci University. The films to be screened as part of Ayvalik International Film Festival are going to be announced in the upcoming days.