The Meetings On The Bridge Platform within the scope of the Istanbul Film Festival organised for the
seventh time this year, has continued to offer opportunities for initial international presentations of new
feature film projects, bringing together producers, directors, script writers and organisation representatives
from Europe and Turkey, this year as well. The awards of the selected projects in the Film Development
Workshop and the Work in Progress under the scope of the Meetings On the Bridge presented at a
ceremony, which was held on Thursday, 12 April at the General Consulate of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands.

Awards Distributed to Project Owners at the Film Development Workshop

12 projects elected from among the113 applications for the Film Development Workshop held for the fifth
time within the scope of the Meetings On The Bridge Platform of İstanbul Film Festival met with the jury
consisting of Nilgün Öneş, Reis Çelik, Seyfi Teoman, Ahmet Boyacıoğlu and Gülin Üstün.

The projects selected for the Film Deveopment Workshop in the Meetings On The Bridge are as follows:

Ana Yurdu / Motherland (Senem Tüzen), Aksak Ritm / Syncopated (Denis Durul Metin), Büst /
Bust (Mizgin Müjde Arslan), Güneye Bakan Duvar / South Facing Wall (Kutluğ Ataman), İyilik / Goodness
(Özgür Sevimli), Madımak (Kazım Öz), Mavi Bisiklet / Blue Bicycle (Ümit Köreken), Sakız ve Benişt /
Benişt and Gum (Savaş Baykal), Siyah Kar / A Ionesome Girl in a Foggy Town (Zehra Derya Koç), Toz
Bezi / The Dustcloth (Ahu Öztürk), Yalnız Çocuk / Lonely Child (Tolga Karaçelik), Yitik Kuşlar / Lost Birds
(Aren Perdeci).

The owners of the 12 projects elected from among the applications met with the jury consisting of 11
members, including the representatives of organisations such as Alessia Sonaglioni (Eurimages), Bianca
Taal (Cinemart), Holger Stern (ZDF / ARTE), Katriel Schory (Israel Film Fund), Maria Pierre Macia (MPM
Film), Michel Reilhac (ARTE France Cinema), Gamila Ylstra (Binger Filmlab), Nadia Dresti (Festival Del
Film Locarno), Teresa Höefert De Turegano (Medianboard), Titus Kreyenberg (Una Film), Signe Zeilich-
Jensen (Netherlands Film Festival), on 11-12 April.

With her project “Motherland", Senem Tüzen was presented with the Republic of Turkey Ministry of
Tourism and Culture Support Award of USD 10,000, as well as Melodika’s Audio Post-Production
Support Award.

Ahu Öztürk was awarded with the Support Award of EURO 10,000 presented by French National
Cinema Center (CNC), the backbone of the French film industry, with her project “The Dustcloth”.

Tolga Karaçelik’s project “Lonely Child” was awarded with the Binger Lab Script Consultancy
scholarship of EURO 2,500, given for the second time this year. This scholarship started to be provided as of
last year by the Dutch film institution Binger Lab, an organisation reputable in the international film industry
and specialized in script doctorate and project consultancy, involves a one-to-one study with the Binger
Lab script consultant over skype.

Mizgin Müjde Arslan’s project “Bust” was awarded with the Special Mansion.

The awards were presented to the selected projects by Republic of Turkey Ministry General Director of
Cinema, Cem Erkul, French Consulate Culture Attaché Fanny Aubert-Malaurie, Binger Lab General
Director Eda Arıkan and Melodika’s co-founder Taylan Oğuz.

The Awarded Project of the Work in Progress:

The Work in Progress, which is open for feature films and documentaries that have completed 50% of
the shooting or in post production in the aiming to support the completion of the films, was held at the first
time this year under the scope of the Meetings On The Bridge. 5 films are selected from among the 13
applications received by the Advisory Board of the Meetings On The Bridge

The projects selected in the Work in Progress of the Meetings On The Bridge are as follows:
Cennetten Kovulmak / Fall From Eden (Director: Ferit Karahan, Producers: Ferit Karahan, Serdar Temel),
Devir / The Circle (Director: Derviş Zaim, Producer: Derviş Zaim)
Evdeki Yabancılar / Strangers in the House (Director: Dilek Keser, Producer: Özkan Yılmaz)
Kumun Tadı / Sea Burners (Director: Melisa Önel, Producers: Yamaç Okur, Melisa Önel)
Sev Beni / Sense of Sex (Director: Mehmet Bahadır Er, Producers: Olena Yeshova, Mehmet Bahadır Er)

After the evaluation of the project presentations, the international jury, consisting of IFP-(Independent
Film Maker Project) the Assistant Director and Programme Manager Amy Dotson, independent producer,
director Behrooz Hashemian and Director of The Match Factory Michael Weber , selected Dilek
Keser’s project “Strangers in the House” which received 1000 VOLT Post Production Award by
1000 VOLT. The award, which consist of the online editing and all the sound processing of the film, was
presented by Eda Arıkan, director of 1000 VOLT, to Dilek Keser.

Turkish-German Co-Production Fund

During the ceremony, the projects to be supported by the Turkey-Germany Co-Production Development
Fund aiming at providing a further incentive for co-productions between the two countries, established
last year through the cooperation of the İstanbul Film Festival Meetings On The Bridge Platform,
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund were also announced.

The 6 projects elected unanimously by the jury consisting of representative of institutions from
among the 13 submitted projects will be supported with a fund. The representatives of all the
three institutions noted the high quality of the projects and expressed that they were excited for
new Turkish-German co-productions to arise in the futur and that they were much pleased to have
worked together.

The 6 projects to be supported by the Turkish-German Co-Production Fund are as follows:

-

Derviş Zaim - Balık Fish
Co-Producers: Marathon Film (TR) Numan Acar Filmproduktion (DE)

-

Ilker Catak / Johannes Drucker - Spatkauf
Producer: Rix Film (DE) Bulut Film (TR)

-

Orhan Eskiköy - Hayaller Dreams
Producer: Perişan Film / Una Film (DE)

-

Emre Yeksan - Orada There Outside
Producer: Yeksan Film / Kund chafter Produktion (DE)

-

Erkan Tahhusoğlu - Eşik Verge
Producer: Salar Film Prodüksiyon / Siyara Film Produktion

-

Axel Koenzen - Patara
Producer: Axel Koenzen (DE) / Arti Films (TR)

-

Özgür Sevimli - İyilik Goodness
Producer: Yeni Sinemacılar (TR) / Bredok Film Produktion

Turkish-Holland Co-Production:

The Co-production Meetings and Panel was held through the cooperation of the Istanbul Film Festival
- Meetings on the Bridge and the Netherlands Film Festival - Netherlands Film Meetings organised
within the scope of the celebrations for 400 years of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and
Turkey. Mesut Cem Erkul, the General Director of Cinema of the Republic of Turkey, and Zeynel Koç, TRT
Assistant General Director, attended the Co-production Meetings and Panel, aiming at bringing together film
industry professionals from the two countries so as to lay the ground co-productions with the participation of
Ger Bouma, head of co-productions, Netherlands Film Fund; Marjan van der Haar, director Netherlands
Film Producers Association; Signe Zeilich-Jensen, Head of Holland Film Meeting; and, Nick Muys from
Contact Film, distributor of “Once Upon A time in Anatolia” (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011). The activities will
continue in Utrecht in September 2012.

The Meetings On The Bridge platform aims at standing by our filmmakers during their international
excursions and supporting new prospects in our film industry. Offering film makers an international platform
for presenting their projects and providing them the means for locating the support required for initiating
their production stages, the Meetings On The Bridge Platform will continue to bring together European
institution representatives and Turkish filmmakers within the scope of Istanbul Film Festival in the years to
come.

For further Information: film.iksv.org/en

For the hi-res images from the Award Ceremony: www.iksvpress.com/film2012