Diaspora International Short Film Festival ends with award ceremony

By Fatih Turkyilmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) –The Diaspora International Short Film Festival ended Sunday with an award ceremony held at the Istanbul Cinema Museum.

The festival, an initiative of the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), was supported by the Culture and Tourism Ministry in cooperation with Turkish public broadcaster TRT and the Bosphorus Culture and Art Foundation.

Anadolu Agency was the global communications partner of the festival.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Serdar Cam stressed that over 3,000 applications from 120 countries were submitted to compete in the festival.

Abdullah Eren, the head of YTB, who also chaired the festival committee, noted that the festival aimed to serve as a platform for making the Turkish diaspora in Europe heard internationally and boost inter-diaspora relations.

The jury of the Turkish-speaking films competition category consisted of director Andac Haznedaroglu; the director of the Baku International Short Film Festival, Fehruz Shamiyev; and directors Haluk Piyes, Maryna Gorbach Er and Murat Seker.

The jury for the films in the foreign language category included producer Anthony Nti; the director of the Asian World Film Festival, Asel Sherniyazova; the director of the Sarajevo Film Center, Ines Tanovic; director Nariman Aliev and writer and producer Samed Karagoz.

In the Turkish-speaking films category, Yasemin Demirci's Climate Change was awarded best picture. It depicts the feeling of alienation experienced by a young girl named Iklim who moved to London from Istanbul.

Viv Li's I Don't Feel At Home Anywhere Anymore, a tragicomic story of an art student who lived abroad for 10 years, was awarded best picture in the foreign language category.

​​​​​​​*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk