The ninth edition of the Meetings on the Bridge organised within the scope of the 33rd Istanbul Film Festival takes place between 7-18 April 2014. In addition to the Film Project Development and Work in Progress Workshops which bring producers, directors, and screenwriters from Turkey together with international film professionals, Meetings on the Bridge is also offering 9 panels and master classes.

Meetings on the Bridge's Film Project Development and Work in Progress Workshops, featuring the first international presentations of 13 projects in development and 5 in-production films, will come to a close with an awards ceremony to take place on Thursday, April 17.

After receiving preliminary instructions on project development and presentation techniques during the workshop, the directors and producers of the 13 film projects selected to the Film Project Development Workshop will have one-on-one meetings with international professionals.
The international jury will decide which of the projects are to receive the awards. At the end of the seventh edition of the Film Project Development Workshop, following the jury's evaluation, the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Tourism and Culture Support Award of USD 10,000, the Melodika Sound-Post Production Award, and the CNC (French National Cinema Centre) Support Award of EUR 10,000 are given in order to use for the development of the winning films.

The 12 feature films and 1 documentary project selected from among this year's 88 submissions are as follows: 16 (Director and Producer: Melisa Önel), Aşk ve Matematik / Love and Math (Director and Writer: Can Evrenol), Balık / Fish (Director and Writer: Eset Akçilad), (Gayrı-) Ahlaki / (Im-)moral(Director and Producer: Hakkı Kurtuluş), Görülmüştür / Passed (Director and Writer: Serhat Karaaslan), Hamarat Apartmanı / Hamarat Apartment (Director, Writer and Producer: Hüseyin Karabey), Jarabulus (Director and Writer: Erdem Tepegöz), Körfez / The Gulf (Director: Emre Yeksan, Writers: Emre Yeksan, Ahmet Büke), Kronoloji / Chronology (Director and Writer: Ali Aydın), Parçalar / The Fragments (Director and Writer: Rojda Akbayır), Reprodüksiyon / Reproduction (Director and Writer: Atasay Koç), Senaryosuz / The One Without A Script (Director and Writer: Alpgiray M. Uğurlu), Sorgu / Interrogation (Director: Hacı Orman, Sedat Yılmaz, Writer: Hacı Orman).

The third edition of the Work in Progress Workshop is organized to support feature films and documentaries from Turkey in post-production stage. Within the scope of the Meetings on the Bridge, the directors and producers of the films selected for the workshop will hold private screenings and presentations open only to film professionals (distributors, festival directors, or fund managers, TV representatives). At the end of the workshop one film selected by the jury will be the recipient of the 1000 Volt Post-Production Award, covering post-production expenses for up to 150,000 TL.
In addition, this year for the first time, the Başka Sinema Award will be given in the Work in Progress Workshop. The film selected for this award will be screened in Başka Sinema theatres and will be exempt from the virtual print fee.

The 5 films selected from among the 14 submissions are as follows: Anayurdu / Motherland (Director and Writer: Senem Tüzen), Annemin Şarkısı / Song of My Mother (Director and Writer: Erol Mintaş), Azılı Yeşil / Violent Green (Director and Producer: Lale Müldür-Kağan Karacehennem-Franz von Bodelschwingh), Bağlar (Director and Producer: Berke Baş-Melis Birder), Toz Ruhu / Spirit of Dust (Director: Nesimi Yetik)

The awards from the Meetings on the Bridge workshops will be announced at the Meetings on the Bridge Awards Reception on Thursday, 17 April. The projects receiving support from the German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund, established in collaboration with Meetings on the Bridge, Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism for a fourth time, will also be announced at the same reception.

Meetings on the Bridge Panels and Master Classes

In addition to the Film Project Development and Work in Progress workshopsheld every year, the Meetings on the Bridge offers 9 panels and master classes aimed at cinema professionals. The Meetings on the Bridge panels and master classes will once again be focused on topics that will interest filmmakers, and will be held between 7-16 April, open and free of charge to all film professionals and cinephiles. The panelsand master classes, all but one of which will feature simultaneous translation, will be taking place at Akbank Sanat and Kadir Has University.

Who’s Afraid Of An Online Eurimages Application?

Monday, 7 April, Akbank Sanat

10.00-12.00 Master Class

Experienced producers Emine Yıldırım (Giyotin Film) and Nadir Öperli (Bulut Film) together with Susan Newman, project manager at Eurimages, will guide you through the new Eurimages on-line application system at the panel which is targeted especially to producers who are interested in co-productions. Speakers will also give you tips on preparing your preparation and insights into preparation of key documents, whilst they share their own experiences with you.

Digitalising Of Movie Theatres And Eurimages Distribution Support Program

Tuesday, 8 April, Akbank Sanat

10.00-11.30 Master Class

The main focus of the other panel by Eurimages is digitalising of movie theatres and how Eurimages support this process. Eurimages supports not only the co-productions, but also distribution and exhibition of films. Whilst Iris Cadoux will give you information about the conditions that are necessary to get support from Eurimages, Susan Bordo and Cengiz Çilek (Dcinex) will guide you to become a member of Eurimages/ Europa Cinemas network and explain the support for the purchase of digital projection equipment.

How, Where And Why We Pitch? 10 Tips On Piching Your Script

Thursday, 10 April, Akbank Sanat

10.00-11.30 Master Class

After Marten Rabarts (Head of Development of the National Film Development the National Film Development Corporation of India), Tobias Pausinger (Industry Consultant) and Gülin Üstün (Meetings on the Bridge) will give you information about co-production markets, distributions and marketing world, they will share 10 golden tips on pitching with you.

The Secrets To Get The Right Music Score For The Right Film Story

Sunday, 13 April, Akbank Sanat

13.30-15.30 Master Class

George Christopoulus (Director of Oticons Agency) will guide you to achieve the perfect filmmaker and film music composers collaborations. He will also give you some advice about how to create music that fits ideally every filmmaker’s vision, every producer’s budget and every story they want to tell. This panel also include the information about soundtrack budgeting, the change in film musics and the reasons for this change.

Shout, Resist, Shoot

Sunday, 13 April, Akbank Sanat

16.00-18.00 Forum

The forum that is moderated by Tobias Pausinger and Hilmi Hacaloğlu and with the participation of Arash T. Riahi (Director, producer “Everyday Rebellion”), Olli Waldhauer & Farid Eslam (Director, producer “Istanbul United”) and Reyan Tuvi (Director “Love Will Change The Earth”) aim to identify different approaches of filmmakers who create films between documentary and journalism and through this actively document and engage in resistance and peaceful rebellion. It further tries to map successful practices and activities to process moving images which can be also adapted and continued thoroughout ongoing events and developments.

Everyday Rebellion: Creating An Alternative Media To Tell Stories In Times of Resistance and Crisis

Monday, 14 April, Akbank Sanat

10.00-12.00 Screening 13.30-17.00 Workshop

At this workshop targeting especially filmmakers developing documentary projects on resistance,
Arash T. Riahi will talk about the production process of Everyday Rebellion, a multiplatform project about creative, nonviolent protest methods. He will share his approach on how to deal with storytelling and tackle traditional documentary and playful cross-media formats withouth losing sight of the core ideas.

Cinematographers At A Fireside Chat: Emre Erkmen Hosts Wojciech Staron

Tuesday, 15 April, Akbank Sanat

10.30-12.00 Discussion

Within the framework of the 600th Anniversary of Turkish- Polish Diplomatic Relations Celebrations, cinematographers from both countries are meeting at a fireside chat. Wojciech Staron, winner of the International Manaki Brothers Film Festival Cinematography Award with his last Black&White film Papusza and Emre Erkmen, the award winning acclaimed cinematographer from Turkey will be sharing their experiences with the filmmakers. Papusza will be screened the same day at Atlas at 16.00 as part of the Istanbul Film Festival International Competition.

Film And Literature – Hakan Günday ‘More’ and Orhan Pamuk ‘Museum Of Innocence’

Wednesday, 16 April, Akbank Sanat

10.00-12.30 Panel

In this panel which is moderated by Isabell Fauvel (Torino Film Lab) the main focus will be literature and cinema. Hakan Günday, the writer of More which was the first novel selected from Turkey at Books at Berlinale at the Berlin Film Festival, and Nermin Mollaoglu, the founder of Kalem Agency, who made the presentation of the book in Berlin, will share their experiences and views on the adaptation process. Director Grant Gee and producer Janine Marmot, inspired from Orhan Pamuk’s novel Museum of Innocence, will be talking about their journey that also includes the city.

Survival Kit For Making The Best Of Festivals

Wednesday, 16 April, Kadir Has University

15.00-16.30 Master Class

Ido Abram (Director of Presentation and Communications at Eye Film Institute Netherlands) will introduce the survival kit for making the best of a festival experience with a project in development. He also will talk about ways of effective pitching. The Master Class to be held in Kadir Has University will not be translated simultaneously.