The Ayvalık International Film Festival Begins on September 14!
Organized by the Eye Society, the Ayvalık International Film Festival will begin with an opening ceremony at the Ayvalık Municipality Grand Park Amphitheater on the evening of Thursday, September 14. During the opening ceremony, the Yeni Bir “Rising Star…” Prize will also be presented to an emerging filmmaker who has attracted attention through their achievement in a feature-length fiction film released theatrically or screened at national festivals during the past year. With the support of Mey|Diageo, a prize worth 50,000 TL will be presented to the filmmaker selected by a committee consisting of director, screenwriter, writer, producer, and painter Tayfun Pirselimoğlu; producer Dilde Mahalli; editor and director Eytan İpeker; film critic and programmer Nil Kural; and actress Selen Uçer.
Following the opening ceremony, May December, directed by Todd Haynes and starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, will meet with film lovers as the festival’s opening film. It had its world premiere in the main competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
A total of 57 films will be screened at the Ayvalık International Film Festival in the sections titled International Selection, Filmmakers Trying to Make Films, First Films, And Ayvalık, Tribute to Godard, In Memoriam, and Films from Turkey, which features feature-length films, short films, and documentaries. Post-screening discussions will be held with the participation of film crews, particularly directors, screenwriters, and producers. Detailed information about the films in the festival selection is available here, while the festival schedule can be accessed through the Ayvalık International Film Festival website.
TALKS
As part of the Ayvalık International Film Festival, talks will also be held that draw inspiration from the films being screened, explore the question of what constitutes the material of cinema, and address the environmental struggle in Ayvalık. During the talk titled The Age of Struggle and Memory, which will take place at ASKEV SERA at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, September 15, Nebahat Dinler—who has actively participated in campaigns through platforms such as the Ayvalık Nature Platform and the Ayvalık Independent Women’s Initiative—academic Esra Başak, and curator, educator, and writer Vasıf Kortun will discuss the turning points of civil resistance against environmental destruction and the place that documenting this struggle occupies in collective memory today.
Following the screening of The Taste of Things, which is included in this year’s festival program and earned Trần Anh Hùng the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival, sociologist Ferda Erdinç—the creator of Zencefil, which introduced Istanbul to vegetables, artisanal bread, and spices—will hold a conversation about food, passion, flavor, and pleasure. The talk titled From the Stove to the Table will take place at KRAFT at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 16.
Following the screening of Maffy’s Jazz—director Deniz Yüksel Abalıoğlu’s portrait-documentary about Muvaffak “Maffy” Falay, one of the finest jazz musicians to emerge from Turkey—Sibel Köse, one of Turkey’s leading jazz vocalists and a master of improvisation, and jazz pianist Kürşad Deniz will give a concert in memory of “Maffy.” The concert will take place at ASKEV SERA at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 16.
Following the screening of Contempt—adapted by Jean-Luc Godard, the groundbreaking director whom we lost last year, from a novel by Italian writer Alberto Moravia and starring Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, American actor Jack Palance, and German director Fritz Lang—a talk inspired by the film will be held. Literary scholar, art theorist, and academic Zeynep Sayın will deliver the talk titled Reflections on Contempt: Nonconformism at KRAFT at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 17.
The recently deceased multidisciplinary film critic Cüneyt Cebenoyan will be commemorated with a talk and a film screening during the festival. Named after Cebenoyan’s radio program Erguvani İstimbot—in which he spoke with guests from within and beyond the world of cinema about their favorite films on Açık Radyo, and which was later adapted into a book—the talk will take place at Küçük Han at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, September 18. Following the route of Erguvani İstimbot, Çiğdem Öztürk and Yeşim Burul will discuss what we can expect from radio and cinema in our efforts to understand the world. At 8:30 p.m. on the same day, The Hustler, directed by Robert Rossen, will be screened free of charge at the Old Village Market in memory of Cüneyt Cebenoyan. The Erguvani İstimbot book will also be available for purchase following the talk at Küçük Han.
The festival will also feature a series of talks under the heading The Material of Cinema. During the talk titled The Editor and the Material, which will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 17, Çiçek Kahraman—editor of films including Our Grand Despair, Toll Booth, The Announcement, Sisters, and Snow and the Bear—will discuss how editors approach images, the material of their work. At the talk titled The Actor and the Material, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, September 18, actress Tilbe Saran will discuss the process of preparing for a film with Fatih Özgüven. On September 19, Yunus Roy İmer, cinematographer of the festival selection Black Night and Nora Fingscheidt’s System Crasher, will join Florent Herry, cinematographer of all Reha Erdem films except the festival selection Snow and the Bear, for the talk titled The Cinematographer and the Material, moderated by Çiçek Kahraman.
EYE SOCİETY CHILDREN’S DAY AND YOUNG CINEMA
As part of the Ayvalık International Film Festival, Eye Society Children’s Day will be held at the Sabancı University Küçükköy Creative Technologies Workshop on Sunday, September 17. Seeking to bring audiences of all ages together with cinema, the festival has not forgotten its younger viewers and will organize a full day of activities under the sponsorship of the QNB Finansbank – Little Hands, Big Dreams corporate social responsibility platform and with the support of the Consulate of the Netherlands. All printmaking, painting, archaeology, and animation workshops, storytelling sessions, concerts, and film screenings featured in the Eye Society Children’s Day program will be free of charge. Special events will also be available for parents. The complete workshop program can be found at www.ayvalikff.org/cocuk. Registration forms for the limited-capacity workshops are also available through the same address. At the end of Eye Society Children’s Day, the Dutch film Bigman will be screened with Turkish dubbing.
As part of the Ayvalık International Film Festival, which places particular importance on projects involving young people, the Young Cinema program will be organized under the sponsorship of Ay Yapım for students who want to develop their skills in cinema—particularly those studying film or belonging to university film clubs. Thirty students selected from among the applicants will receive training from industry professionals while gaining experience by working with the festival team. This year, a total of 44 students from 26 different universities across 11 provinces—including students living in Ayvalık—will be able to attend workshops led by professionals in fields such as producing, writing, directing, editing, and post-production. They will also become an important part of the festival by taking on responsibilities across different areas of its organization. With their transportation, accommodation, and meal expenses covered by the festival, the students will have opportunities to watch some of the year’s most notable and anticipated festival films, attend panels and talks, and meet and converse with filmmakers. In addition to attending the program’s workshops, they will gain experience and develop their skills by volunteering as part of the festival organization. This year, priority was given to applications from students in provinces affected by the February 6 earthquakes.
FESTIVAL VENUES, TICKETS, AND SUPPORTERS
Festival screenings will take place at the Ayvalık Municipality Vural Cinema Nejat Uygur Stage, Sanat Fabrikası, ASKEV Sera, the Ayvalık Municipality Grand Park Amphitheater, and the Old Village Market. Full-price tickets for the Ayvalık International Film Festival are available for 80 TL, while discounted tickets for students and people aged 65 and over cost 50 TL. Tickets are available through Biletix and at the festival box office at Küçük Han. Screenings at the Old Village Market and ASKEV Sera will be free of charge.
The Ayvalık International Film Festival will take place with the valuable contributions of Ayvalık Municipality, CultureCivic, Bilginer-Melin Ayvalık Art, Culture, and Education Foundation, Kürşat Ayvalık, Paribu Cineverse, O3 Medya, OGM Pictures, Gold Film, Kendine Has, Boyner, MUBI, Manzara Ayvalık, Nil House, Çamlık Gazinosu Aile Çay Bahçesi, Esra Başak–Ela Başak Atakan, Eren–Alptekin Coşkun, Fatma–Mustafa Kürşat, İnci Vural, Ayvalıkzade, Çöp(m)adam, and the Ayvalık Chamber of Commerce.
The press sponsors of the Ayvalık International Film Festival are Ajandakolik, Altyazı, Ayvalık Magazine, Bant Mag, Bianet, Birgün, Dadanizm, Dizidoktoru, Gazete Duvar, KRT, Kutsal Motor, Lavarla, Radyo ODTÜ, T24, TELE 1, and Üretim Kaydı.