10 films to vie for Best International Film Award of 8^th Bosphorus Film Festival has been revealed.

Organized by Bosphorus Culture & Art Foundation with the contribution of Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism, General Directorate of Cinema, and support of Global Communication Partner; Anadolu Agency, 8^th Bosphorus Film Festival’s International Feature Film Competition’s line-up has been revealed, which will run from 23-30 October this year.

10 Films will be Competing for “Golden Dolphin”

Hosting 10 titles, this year’s International Feature Film Competition line-up “Bandar Band” by Manijeh Hekmat, world-premiered at 45^th Toronto Film Festival, focusing on the tough journey to Iran that an Iranian band has to take to attend a song competition; “Focus, Grandma”, Pjer Zalica’s film that he made after 17 years of silence, about a family strewn around the former Yugoslavia and their feud for inheritance; Ensar Altay's documentary “Kodokushi”, that will realize its world premiere at 8^th Bosphorus Film Festival, focusing -on the basis of a Japanese tradition- on the friendship of Norihito; a cleaner who is specialized in cleaning the apartments of the recently deceased and elderly Muramatsu who is in search of a reason to exist; Chiara Bellosi’s debut feature “Ordinary Justice”, focusing on the story of two criminals in an Italian courthouse, that world-premiered at 70^th Berlin Film Festival; Ahmet Sonmez’s “Just Different”, the story of a father with a high-functioning autism and his “normal” son, that will make its world premiere at 8^th Bosphorus Film Festival; Svetla Tsotsorkova’s “Sister”, that won Honorable Mention Award at 67^th San Sebastian International Film Festival where it world-premiered, about the survival struggle of a mother and her two daughters in Bulgaria; “The Best is Yet to Come”, world-premiered at 77^th Venice Film Festival, directed by Jing Wang and produced by Jia Zhang-Ke, scrutinizing the health industry in China through a journalist investigating post-SARS period; Ru Hasanov’s “The Island Within”, that world-premiered at 26^th Sarajevo Film Festival, focusing on the isolated and depressed world of Seymour; a chess grandmaster; Jeanette Nordahl’s “Wildland”, focusing on the story of Ida, who falls into the care of her estranged aunt and her three grown-up sons, and Antoneta Kastrati's “Zana”, that world-premiered at 44^th Toronto International Film Festival, based on the story of a Kosovan woman who comes to face her war-inflicted traumas under the pressures of pregnancy.

All the titles within the International Feature Film Competition will have their Turkey premieres at 8^th Bosphorus Film Festival.

Award worth 50,000 TL to the Best International Film!

Under the presidency of director, scriptwriter and producer Joanna Kos-Krauze, the jury members to judge the International Feature Competition films include director Ismet Sijarina; Anna Katchko, Chief Advisor of Kazakh Cinema Center; Nariman Aliev, winner of Best Director Award at 7^th Bosphorus Film Festival with “Homeward”, and Zlatko Vidackovic, FIPRESCI member and Artistic Director of Pula Film Festival.

International Feature Competition will grant 95,000 TL in total in 5 categories of Best Director worth 15,000 TL; Best Actress, Best Actor, and Jury Special Award, each worth 10,000 TL alongside with Best International Feature Film Award worth 50,000 TL. 

8^th Bosphorus Film Festival will be organized by Bosphorus Culture & Art Association from 23-30 October in Istanbul.

8^th Bosphorus Film Festival International Feature Competition Films

Bandar Band – Manijeh Hekmat, Iran

Focus, Grandma – Pjer Zalica, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Kodokushi – Ensar Altay, Turkey

Ordinary Justice – Chiara Bellosi, Italy

Just Different – Ahmet Sonmez, Turkey

Sister – Svetla Tsotsorkova, Bulgaria

The Best is Yet to Come – Jing Wang, China

The Island Within – Ru Hasanov, Azerbaijan

Wildland – Jeanette Nordahl, Denmark

Zana - Antoneta Kastrati, Kosovo