IS LIFE FICTION? A SELECTION OF MARIO RIZZI FILMS
Project Commissioner: Ayşegül Sönmez
Participating to the 9th International Istanbul Biennial (9B) with Murat ve İsmail (2005) 1962-born video artists Mario Rizzi will be a guest director of the Istanbul Film Festival with a retrospective. Rizzi had a family-owned shoe store located in Beyoğlu in Murat ve İsmail, which he had especially produced for 9B. The 80-minute Murat ve İsmail was screened at the antrepo venue of the Biennial, with its poster and all, in a setting that resembled a small movie theatre. In his films NextDoor (2006), Neighbours (2007), and Impermanent (2007), Rizzi continues to question the border between fact and fiction, just like in Murat ve İsmail. Especially Impermanent takes the Ali Akilah interview which Rizzi had conducted in Amman. Winner of the Best Artist Award at the 7th Sharjah Biennial in 2005, Mario Rizzi explores the defects of neo-liberal globalisation on individuals and groups. An official guest of the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, Rizzi forces us to ponder upon the two disciplines while the distance between video art and cinema closes up.
THE CHICKEN SOUP
46'50" / 2008
GLING-GLO MEMO
9' / 2001
ASYLUM SEEKER TO THE EUROPEAN UNION
19'05" / 2001
AL-HUBB
7'40" / 2008
THE MISCONCEPTION
9'05" / 2009
impermanent
15'10" / 2007
Date: April 10, Saturday
Time: 10.00-12.00-14.00
Place: Akbank Sanat
İstiklal Cad. Zambak Sok. No. 1 Beyoğlu T: (212) 252 35 00
PANEL DISCUSSION: VIDEODRAMA = VIDEO ART OR CINEMA FILM?
Cinema and video-art have approached each other more than any time in the past. Video-artists are making films that are longer, even feature films. Hunger by Steve McQueen and Women without Men by Shirin Neshat are two excellent examples. And the International Istanbul Film Festival brings together video artists who have observed this trend closely.
Are the concerns of the video artist the same or different than the filmmaker's? Perhaps they do not both have the same concerns, but don't they have the same hope, the hope to invent a subjectivity? Do we have the same expectations from video art and cinema? Do video artists perceive cinema as a new valley of freedom? Do we, as Ulus Baker puts it, "watch cinema" but "see video"? Are video artists the saviours of the cinematic art? These are the issues that we, as video artists and filmmakers, would like to discuss, hoping that those who have shifted from video art to cinema will tell us about their experiences and that this will beckon new approaches to inventing subjectivities.
Date: April 10, Cumartesi Saturday
Time: 16.00
Place: Salon, İstanbul Kültür Sanat Vakfı, Sadi Konuralp Caddesi No. 5 Şişhane
T: (212) 334 07 00
PANEL DISCUSSION: FILM, A FACE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS?
Panelists:
Marco Bechis (Director), Roberto Olla (Director of Eurimages), Amira Hass (gazeteci journalist), Marja Ruotanen (Director of Cooperation, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs, Council of Europe), Sırrı Süreyya Önder (Scriptwriter, producer, director)
Moderator: Alin Taşçıyan (Film critic)
This workshop will focus on important human rights issues and concrete-historical events that have been highlighted in film. The underlying idea is that film is an important "face" for human rights, and that through it, important issues can be brought to the attention of the wider public.
Participants will have the opportunity to explore the subject of the film producer-director's responsibility when depicting issues and situations relative to human rights, and to what extent this limits their creativity and freedom of expression.
The event will start with a screening of a few shorts from the project "Stories on Human Rights" commissioned by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Date: April 16, Friday
Time: 16.30
Place: Akbank Sanat, İstiklal Cad. Zambak Sok. No. 1 Beyoğlu T: (212) 252 35 00
MASTER CLASS: PRIIT PÄRN-CONSTRUCTING THE STORY
To be a creative person we need two things, two different ways of thinking: Absolutely free fantasy and very calm, absolutely analytical way of thinking. What is fantasy? What is creativity? Is it possible to develop them? How to turn a very small idea into a finished story? My method of learning to construct a story is rather different from classical, character-based methods. During the course of this master class, with special exercises, Estonian master animator and graphic artist, caricaturist, illustrator Priit Pärt will explain the basic techniques for working with ideas and constructing the script.
Date: April 12, Sunday
Time: 16.00
Place: Akbank Sanat, İstiklal Cad. Zambak Sok. No. 1 Beyoğlu T: (212) 252 35 00
MASTER CLASS: ANDERS REFN
Coming from an artistic family, Anders Refn is best known with his collaboration with Lars von Trier as editor. Beginning his career as a prop designer, Refn went on to be trained as a director at the National Film School of Denmark. He directed four feature films and TV series, working in more than 40 films as editor. In his master class, Refn will be covering "Breaking the rules. The importance of challenging the visual language of contemporary cinema. Illustrated by examples from my own works and my works with Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville and Antichrist.)"
Date: April 15, Thursday
Time: 16.00
Place: Salon, İstanbul Kültür Sanat Vakfı, Sadi Konuralp Caddesi No. 5 Şişhane
T: (212) 334 07 00
MASTER CLASS: ELIA SULEIMAN
Often compared to Tati and Keaton, Elia Suleiman handles burlesque and sobriety with the same poetic sense in his films, with which he won numerous prizes. As an academic, a thinker, a poet and a Middle Eastern artist, Suleiman, during his master class at the Festival will delve into politics and art with a humorous and sombre approach. Awkward, the short film he directed in 2007 in the series "To Each His Own Cinema" produced for the Cannes Film Festival's 60th anniversary will also be screened during the master class.
Date: April 16, Friday
Time: 16.00
Place: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Mithat Alam Film Center,Southern Campus - Bebek
Reservations advised.T: (212) 287 70 76-86 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
MASTER CLASS: TODD SOLONZ
One of the most independent American writer-directors, the idiosyncratic Todd Solondz is best known for his coal black humour that he fits on the dysfunctional, broken American family. He is lauded as one of the best artists to reflect the underbelly of the suburban American middle class in film. With his films Welcome to the Doll House, Happiness, Palindromes and his latest Life During WarTime, Solonz will discuss the difficulties of being an independent filmmaker, low budgets, and storytelling, along with his sources of inspiration.
Date: April 15, Thursday
Time: 13.30
Place: Salon, İstanbul Kültür Sanat Vakfı, Sadi Konuralp Caddesi No. 5 Şişhane
T: (212) 334 07 00
EXHIBITION: PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAVURES OF DAVID LYNCH
David Lynch, by all means one of the most provocative directors of our time, worked for years as an abstract expressionist painter, long before he entered the world of cinema. In 1966 while he was studying art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, he saw a little part of the figure moving on one of his "dark" paintings and heard the wind blowing. His sudden urge to animate these figures was his first impulse that eventually lead him to filmmaking. Consequently he later made his first animation film Six Men Getting Sick. The predominant theme of Lynch's grotesque and brooding artwork is that of "innocence trapped in a corrupt world". The imagery is often of a single figure, such as a lone tree, a lost dog, or a shoddy house... David Lynch who hates slick and pretty things; who finds "colour" to be a little too real and sees beauty in the darker things; and who is inspired by the peculiarities unique to humankind; provides an extraordinary opportunity for all art appreciators and movie-lovers in Istanbul, to witness his unique prints and photogravures.
Date: April 9 - May 29
Time: Tuesday-Saturday 11.00-19.00
Place: Artane, Sanatkarlar Cad. Balaban Bey Çıkmazı Uzay Apt. No.1, Cihangir
T: (212) 249 25 63
SURPRISE FESTIVAL PARTY
A magnificent festival deserves a magnificent party. hayatafarklibakanlar.com presents a surprise surprise party at İKSV's brand new culture stop, Salon, a new stage in the cultural and artistic hub of İstanbul.
Date: April 13, Tuesday
Place: Salon, İstanbul Kültür Sanat Vakfı, Sadi Konuralp Caddesi No. 5 Şişhane
T: (212) 334 07 00
HİSAR SHORT FILM SELECTION 2010
International İstanbul Film Festival will once more be host to 10 best Turkish short films of the year. This year among 197 films submitted to the selection, 10 best short films were selected by Pelin Esmer (director of 10 to 11), FIPRESCI vice-president and film critic Alin Taşçıyan, and the director of the International Istanbul Film Festival, Azize Tan. The first screening of the Hisar Short Film Selection will be during the İstanbul Film Festival.
The main goal of the Hisar Film Selection is to introduce successful short films and short film makers already in the national arena to international festivals and film centres, therefore to take Turkish shorts from national to the international field.
Date: April 16, Friday
Time: 16.00
Place: Beyoğlu Movie Theatre, Tickets will be sold for TL 3.50.
For details: http://www.mafm.boun.edu.tr/ T: (212) 287 70 76-86
6th AKBANK SHORT FILM FESTIVAL: AWARD-WINNING FILMS
Taking place on March 1-11, the 6th Akbank Short Film Festival sought to present film buffs a pleasing festivity with participants from Turkey and abroad, new sections, workshops, and panel discussions.
As each year, the award-winning films of the 6th Akbank Short Film Festival were selected by juries in three different categories. The competing films were reviewed by the pre-selection committee that consisted of film critic Emine Yıldırım, producer Nadir Öperli, and the director of the Akbank Short Film Festival, director Selim Evci.
The fiction category jury consisted of film critic Yeşim Tabak, director Özcan Alper, actress Özgü Namal, Sabancı University Academic Assistant Professor Hasan Bülent Kahraman, and director of Akbank Sanat, Derya Bigalı.
The documentary category jury members of the 6th Akbank Short Film Festival were Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts, Film&TV Department Head Assistant Professor Bülent Vardar, director Savaş Güvezne, director Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun, documentary photographer Altan Bal and director of Akbank Sanat, Derya Bigalı.
The screenings are free of charge.
Date: April 4-11-18, Sunday
Time: 11.00
Place: Akbank Sanat, İstiklal Cad. Zambak Sok. No. 1 Beyoğlu
T: (212) 252 35 00
MEETINGS ON THE BRIDGE
April 12-16 Nisan
French Cultural Centre
T: (212) 334 87 40
For more information please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
In its fifth year, the Meetings on the Bridge Platform (MoB) continue to bring together Turkish and European producers, directors, scriptwriters and representatives of cinema organizations. The MoB platform consists of a series of seminars and workshops that will take place April 12-16, with a program consisting of a Script and Story Workshop, a Turkish-German Co-production Roundtable Meeting, a Feature Film Project Development Workshop, and seminars on co-production, distribution, film labs and sources of finance with the participation of international film experts.
The Script and Story Workshop is on April 12-14. The workshop is a collaboration of Sarajevo Film Festival, Israel Film Fund, Script Factory (London) and the Istanbul International Film Festival with the support of British Council, consisting of four sessions in one year bringing together five participants from each partner country (one year working progress). The purpose of the workshop is to provide high-quality training to the participants at script consulting by a program organized by Script Factory. Following the Sarajevo and London film festivals, the third workshop will be conducted in Istanbul. The workshop will be completed with the fourth and final session in July, in Israel. Information on applications for the 2011 Script and Story workshop will be announced on the Istanbul Film Festival website.
Feature Film Development Workshop in its third year is providing a platform for Turkish filmmakers to present their feature film projects to international film experts. The workshop will take place on April 14-15 at the French Cultural Center. Film professionals and representatives of cinema organizations such as Eurimages, Arte, Cinelink/Sarajevo Film Festival, Torino Film Lab, Binger Lab, Crossroads/Thessaloniki Film Festival, and the Irish Film Board will be the members of the jury to select the project that will receive the 10,000 USD Ministry of Culture Development Support Award.
Turkish-German Co-production Roundtable Meeting II organized in alliance with Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Film Fund will take place on April 15. At this second meeting, Turkish producers and directors are presenting their feature film projects to producers, distributors, representatives of broadcasting companies and film funds from Germany.
Meetings on the Bridge Seminars will take place at the French Cultural Center on April 14-15. The first day of seminars will begin with the Greenhouse Panel on Human Rights, Racism and Cinema with the participation of Bruni Burres (Greenhouse), Maciej Nowicki (Watch Doc), Taco Ruighaver (Movies That Matter) and Hüseyin Karabey (director-producer). In the afternoon sessions, the seminars will continue with Eurimages Executive Director Roberto Olla's "Reading between the Lines" and the introductions of Torino Film Lab by Savina Neirotti and Binger Film Lab by Ellis Driessen. Turkish-German co-productions and distribution will be discussed with experts from both countries with case studies on the second day. Seminars will be open to Turkish and foreign filmmakers with an admission fee of TL 50 for advance accreditation and TL 75 at the entrance.
