SEATTLE TURKISH FILM FESTIVAL
ARCHIVE 2012 - 2017
STFF 2016
The opening gala film for the 2016 festival was Ozan Aciktan's My Mother's Wound. In addition to that, ten feature length films were screened. Short film competition finalists have also been screened, in the third year of the short film competition, opening with Hakan Hücüm's film The Obsolete One.
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The festival also hold a tribute night for Tarik Akan, who was among the country's leading actors in the 1970s and 1980s, to honor his memory and contributions to the cinema.
Director: Ozan Aciktan
Screenwriter: Ozan Aciktan, Ozan Guven, Fethi Kantarci, Uygar Sirin, Mehmet Turgut, Funda Çetin
Stars: Bora Akkas, Belçim Bilgin, Mehmet Ergen, Ozan Guven, Meryem Uzerli, Okan Yalabik
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Upon turning eight-teen, Salih leaves the orphanage to go on a journey that uncovers bitter truths of a war-ridden past. Click for the trailer.
Films
Director: Ümmiye Koçak, Yasin Korkmaz
Screenwriter: Ümmiye Koçak
Stars: Seher Çuvadır, Seher DaÄŸdur, Ümmiye Koçak
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The life of Elif, who is a Yuruk girl living on the peak of Toros mountains, sticks with in the mountains and her house in which her oppressive grandmother also lives with them. Click for the trailer.
Director: Çagan Irmak
Screenwriter: Ali Demirel, Çagan Irmak, Volkan Sümbül, Emre Özdür
Stars: Demet Akbag, Yetkin Dikinciler, Sevil Aki, Batuhan Begimgil
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A widow, who recently lost his husband goes back to college to graduate after 30 years.
Director: Emin Alper
Screenwriter: Emin Alper
Stars: Mehmet Özgür, Berkay Ates, Tülin Özen
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Amid the intense political violence of Istanbul, Kadir is released on parole two years early on the condition that he become an informant for the police gathering terrorist informations, activities, and searching for bombs on trash cans.
Director: Ali Bilgin
Screenwriter: Siyah Kalem
Stars: Çagatay Ulusoy, Leyla Lidya Tugutlu, Hüseyin Avni Danyal
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Two young people figure out how to shape their future according to love or career. Then one of them finds himself to decide whether to live happily with his beloved wife with a risk of giving harm to her or sacrifice himself for her safe.
Director: Özcan Alper
Screenwriter: Özcan Alper, Ahmet Büke
Stars: Onur Saylak, Sofya Khandemirova, Mustafa Ugurlu
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For Aram, an Armenian painter and poet, life in Istanbul is growing more dangerous by the day. In the winter of 1943, he flees to the Turkish-Georgian border, where Mikhail and his young wife MerEyem give him shelter in a hut in the forest. Here, Aram waits for the papers he needs to escape to the Soviet Union. But the city-dwelling intellectual can't handle life in the woods.
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Tarik Akan starred in over 100 films and directed documentaries and television series in a career spanning more than four decades. He was among the country's leading actors in the 1970s and 1980s and earned an Honorable Mention at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival in 1985 for the film "Pehlivan."
Akan was imprisoned for 2½ months following Turkey's 1980 military coup after giving a political speech in Germany. He chronicled his days in prison in a book, "Mother, I Have Lice."
"Yol", which earned the top prize at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, dealt with the coup's aftermath and was banned in Turkey until 1999.
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Director: Emre Sahin
Screenwriter: Emre Sahin, Inan Temelkuran
Stars: Cezmi Baskin, Sinan Bengier, Selim Erdogan
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Takim is the story of a group of street soccer players from all walks of life in Ä°stanbul who come together to enter a tournament to win the prize money. The story taps into a very real phenomenon happening in big cities in Turkey where corrupt construction giants bully the poor out and build immense buildings instead. Turgay and Tufan are up against the wall when they are threatened by the construction companies to sell their large plot of land where they own and operate an hourly rental soccer field.
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Director: Tolga Karaçelik
Screenwriter: Tolga Karaçelik
Stars: Nadir Saribacak, Hakan Karsak, Kadir Cermik
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When the ship's owner goes bankrupt, the crew learns there is a lien on the ship and that key crew members must stay on board. Six men trapped aboard a ship sailing to Egypt.
Director: Zeynep Kilic
Screenwriter: Zeynep Kilic
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A Turkish immigrant in the U.S. explores her identity through her homeland foods in an excursion to Istanbul, Turkey.
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Director: Yunus Emre Aydin, H. Ozlem Sariyildiz
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'Istanbul Makami' is a cinematographic improvisation with 5 musicians from abroad who fall in love with the Maqam Music (Classical Ottoman Music) and decide to live in Turkey believing that music might best be learned in the lands it was born and performed. Each has different stories but the desire to find their own path despite modern times' obligations intersects their roads. Constructing three layers -music, Istanbul and combination of both in the filmic platform- the film is a modern times fairytale in praise of Istanbul and its classical music; a film about obstinacy, desire, looking for one's own raison d'etre, travelling, being a world citizen and the power of music to understand the other and express oneself in the pursuit of intertwining stories following passion. It tells unique stories about the common dreams we are afraid to approach, and thus, tries to give inspiration to us to free ourselves.
Sponsors
Festival Schedule
Friday, November 4th
6:30pm – Opening Night Gala* – Gordon Biersch Brewery at Pacific Place
8:30pm – Opening Film* – Annemin Yarasi (My Mother's Wound) – Pacific Place
Saturday, November 5th
2:00pm – Yun Bebek (The Wool Doll) – SIFF Film Center
5:00pm – Abluka (Frenzy) – SIFF Film Center
9:00pm – Nadide Hayat (A Unique Life) – SIFF Film Center
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Sunday, November 6th
1:00pm – Kısa Film Seansı - Animasyonlar (Short Films - Animation Selection) – SIFF Film Center
4:00pm – Delibal – SIFF Film Center
7:00pm – Ruzgarin Hatiralari (Memories of the Wind) – SIFF Film Center
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Saturday, November 12th
5:00pm –Tarik Akan Tribute Session – UW Smith Hall
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Saturday, November 19th
12:30pm – Kısa Film Seansı - Finalistler (Short Films - Top 10) – SIFF Film Center
2:30pm – Mahalle Askina (Team) – SIFF Film Center
6:00pm – Sofra Sofra Istanbul (Tables of Istanbul)* – SIFF Film Center
8:30pm – Istanbul Makami (Istanbul Notes)** – SIFF Film Center
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Sunday, November 20th
5:30pm – Closing Film – Sarmasik (Ivy)** – Kirkland Performance Center
8:15pm – Closing Night Gala – Kirkland Performance Center
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*Screenwriter and Director Zeynep Kilic attended the Q&A after the screening, together with some snacks from Turkish cuisine and drinks.
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**Q&A with Director H. Ozlem Sariyildiz after the screening of Istanbul Notes
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***Q&A with Actor Nadir Saribacak after the screening of Ivy.
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Credits
Festival Director
Emek Eraslan
Film, Festival, and Gala Logistics
Huseyin Erdim, Erol Balevi, Ebru Yildirim, Feral Gokcen, Demet Kitis
Community Engagement, Sponsorship, and Budget
John Gokcen, Huseyin Erdim, Ozgur Koc
Technology and Multimedia
Ozgur Arman
Visual Design
Kerem Ozcan
Social Media
Banu Erdim, Ozgur Arman
Short Film Competition Director
Ozgur Arman
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Short Film Competition
Rana San, M. Burak Senol, Ozgur Arman