The second session of the Turkey – Holland Co-production Panel, the first of which was held on 12 April 2012 during the Istanbul Film Festival – Meetings on the Bridge, took place on Thursday, 27 September within the scope of the Holland Film Meeting. The speakers of the panel, which was hosted by Holland Film Meeting Director Signe Zeilich Jensen and Head of Meetings-on-the-Bridge Gülin Üstün, included İstanbul Film Festival Director Azize Tan, Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism Specialist Selçuk Yavuzkanat, TRT Television Department Vice Head Tuncay Yürekli, Director and Producer Semih Kaplanoğlu (Kaplan Film), Distributor and Producer Ersan Çongar (Bir Film), Netherlands Film Fund Director Ger Bouma, Director Netherlands Film Producers Association Marjan Van Der Haan, Netherlands Ministry of Culture Senior Advisor Maarten Mulder, Berlin Brandenburg Meidenboard Fund Representative Teresa Hoefert de Turegano, as well as Producer Nadir Öperli (Bulut Film) and Co-producers Titus Kreyenberg (Una Film) and Stienette Bosklopper (Circe Films) of ‘Bizim Büyük Çaresizliğimiz’ (Seyfi Teoman, 2010), one of the co-productions realised between the two countries. In the first section of the panel, co-production conditions and solutions to the existing problems were discussed and information on the Turkish film industry and production support issues was delivered. The event, which was open only to film professionals and representatives of institutions from Turkey and the Netherlands, was followed by one-to-one meetings with the producers of Dutch projects that are in search of co-producers from Turkey.

 The opening reception hosted by the Istanbul Film Festival – Meetings on the Bridge and the Netherlands Film Festival – Holland Film Meeting, held after the panel, entertained all international producers selected for the co-productions market, as well as festival guests.

 The directors and the producers of the projects Ana yurdu (Senem Tüzen), Güneye Bakan Duvar (Kutluğ Ataman) and Toz Bezi (Ahu Öztürk), which were selected at the Meetings-on-the-Bridge to participate in Holland Film Meeting co-production meetings conducted their sessions at the co-productions market.

The guest speaker of the Cinema Militans Lecture event, held within the scope of the Netherlands Film Festival since 1929, was director and producer Semih Kaplanoğlu this year. The panel attracted much interest of the international filmmakers and Kaplanoğlu replied the questions of the audience following the interview which will also be featured in the Sight & Sound magazine. The ‘Egg’(Yumurta), ‘Milk’ (Süt) and ‘Honey’ (Bal) trilogy by Semih Kaplanoğlu will be shown during the festival, and also to film academy students at a closed screening.

“Focus on Turkish Cinema” event realised through the support of the Government of the Republic of Turkey emerged as a major step forward in the development of the cultural relations between the two countries and heralded new co-productions to follow in the years to come.