By Aise Humeyra Akgun
ISTANBUL (AA) - The 3rd International Mythology Film Festival, which combines mythology with cinema, literature, music, and digital games, will begin on Saturday in Istanbul under the theme Mythology and Women.
Film screenings, talks, panels, and workshops will be held throughout the two-day festival, which concludes on Sunday.
The opening day will take place at Beyoglu Cinema, where the program begins at 2 pm (1100GMT) with a talk by Ozge Cevahir Yuksel titled Tracing Our Roots.
At 5 pm (1400GMT), there will be a screening of the 1923 Swedish cinema classic Gunnar Hedes Saga, which was directed by Mauritz Stiller.
Drawing from Northern European folklore, the silent film explores the conflict between natural forces and human passion through a mythological lens.
The screening will be accompanied by a live music performance from the Swedish duo YoJuliet, who combine strings, piano, vocals, percussion, and electronic beats to reinterpret the tradition of silent cinema with contemporary sounds.
At 7 pm (1600GMT), a panel titled About Selma Lagerlof will be held in cooperation with the Swedish Research Institute and focus on the works of the Nobel Prize-winning author and her relationship with mythology.
Moderated by Olof Heilo, the discussion will feature Anna Mariana Bohlin and Helena Bodin as speakers.
- Day two at Rami Library
The second day of the festival will take place at the Rami Library.
At 2 pm (1100 GMT), a talk titled Ancient Libraries and Philosophy will feature Hasan Keseroglu and Bulent Yilmaz and explore the relationship between knowledge production, memory, and cultural transmission from antiquity to the present.
At 4 pm (1300GMT), producer and consultant Aysegul Camur, casting director Tumay Ozokur, and director Kenan Dogru will participate in a panel titled From Story to Film, moderated by Buket Calp.
They will share insights on the journey from idea to production, the casting process, actor training, and the practical realities of filmmaking.
On the sidelines of the event, actor and screenwriter Omer Genc will lead a workshop at 3 pm (1200GMT) at Beyoglu Cinema titled How to Turn a Mythological Story into a Screenplay, offering participants a hands-on experience with mythological archetypes in contemporary scriptwriting.
At 4 pm (1300GMT), producer Burhan Ozkan will speak about the process of connecting a screenplay with a producer, followed by a lecture by archaeologist and author Ozlem Ertan on Mythology and Symbols at 5.30 pm (1430GMT).
The festival’s Istanbul program will conclude with the screening of Onder Sengul’s film Wisdom of the Whale at 6.30 pm (1530GMT), followed by a Q&A session with the film’s team.
- Closing events in Canakkale
After Istanbul, the festival will move to Canakkale on Sept. 29–30, culminating in a closing ceremony at the ancient city of Troy on Tuesday.
At the ceremony, the Ulgen (Goodness) Award will be presented to acclaimed director Dervis Zaim, and the Mergen (Wisdom) Award to Necmi Karul.
The festival is organized with support from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Directorate General of Cinema, the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency, and Turkish Airlines, in collaboration with the French Cultural Center, Goethe-Institut, Swedish Consulate, Italian Cultural Center, Efeler Municipality, Canakkale Provincial Directorate of Culture, and Marmara University’s Mx Incubation Center.
All screenings, panels, and workshops are free and open to the public.
For the full program and details, visit www.mitolojifest.com.