12th Boston Turkish Documentary and Short Film Competition Results Announced

Award recipients of the Boston Turkish Festival’s Documentary and Short Film Competition, which has been organized annually since 2006 have been announced.

The Competition is co-presented by the MFA Film Program, Boston University Howard Thurman Center and the Turkish American Cultural Society of New England.

Jury members of the competition were Peter Keough, Film Critic; Carter Long, Film Program Curator of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Jeremy Rossen, Curator of the Harvard Film Archive. In addition to the awards by the competition jury the audience also voted for their favorites for the audience awards. Film screenings took place at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Boston University.

This year around 400 submissions were received and a total of 42 documentary and short films were screened in the competition program. The Border (Hudut) by director Batuhan Kurt and Scrabble by director Merve Gezen received Best Documentary and Best Short Film Awards, respectively. Best Short Film Audience Award went to The Well (Kuyu) by Rıdvan Yavuz, while director Enver Arcak’s film Hermana received the Best Documentary Audience Award.

In addition to Best Film jury and audience awards, Special Mentions were also announced for both documentary and short film categories.

Special Mentions in the short film category are 3.5 Liras (3,5 Lira) by Hasan Ali Kılıçgün, All in Vain (Boşa Giden Herşey) by Vural Uzundağ, Asphalt (Asfalt) by Süleyman Demirel, Beyoğlu Cinema (Beyoğlu Sineması) by Ömer Ferhat Özmen, Cemile’s Obsession (Cemile’nin Takıntısı) by Deniz Özden, Elene by Sezen Kayhan, and I am Tsubasa (Ben Tsubasa’yım) by Bilal Korkut.

Special Mentions in the documentary category are Brothers of Silence (Sessizliğin Kardeşleri) by Taylan Mintaş, The Companion (Refakatçi) by Burçe Bahadır, Five Women on the Hill (Tepede Beş Kadın) by Ece Kınaci, Hatewalk (Gacı Gibi) by Serkan Çiftçi, The Last Leaf (Son Yaprak) by Handan Erdil, Stages with No Curtain (Perdesiz Sahneler) by Hakan Dursun, and Traveler (Gezgin) by Bulut Rénaz Kaçan.

A selection of award-winning films of this year’s competition will meet again with the cineasts at the 17th Boston Turkish Film Festival in March 2018.

The 13th edition of the competition will begin accepting submissions for next year on February 1, 2018.

The complete lineup of films in competition were as follows:

Short Films:

12 Hours / 12 Saat (Ercan Selim Öngöz), 3.5 Liras / 3,5 Lira (Hasan Ali Kılıçgün), All in Vain / Boşa Giden Herşey (Vural Uzundağ), Arin (Mizgin Müjde Arslan), Asphalt / Asfalt (Süleyman Demirel), The Balloon / Balon (Mehmet Oğuz Yıldırım), Beyoğlu Cinema / Beyoğlu Sineması (Ömer Ferhat Özmen), Blacksea / Karadeniz (Ulaş Karaoğlu), Cemile’s Obsession / Cemile’nin Takıntısı (Deniz Özden), Closed / Kapalı (Kerem Altın), Elene (Sezen Kayhan), Entropy / Entropi (Hüseyin Urçuk), First Person Singular / Birinci Tekil Şahıs (Mehmet Gülkanat), Goodbye Istanbul / Elveda İstanbul (Orhan Emek), Ground Level / Kot Farkı (Ayris Alptekin), I am Tsubasa / Ben Tsubasa’yım (Bilal Korkut), Scrabble (Merve Gezen), South Pole / Güney Kutbu (Emin Akpınar), The Wall / Duvar (Mustafa Koray Polat), Well / Kuyu (Rıdvan Yavuz)

Documentaries:

A Whistle Comes From Far Away / Işıklık (Burak Doğan), Actor / Aktör (Çağatay Çelikbaş), Aghacheri Turks: The Woodmen of Anatolia / Ağaçeriler: Tahtacı Türkmenleri (Elif Ertürk), Ah (Mustafa Ünlü), Attention / Hazır Ol! (Onur Bakır and Panagiotis Charamis), The Border / Hudut (Batuhan Kurt), The Boy with Camera / Kameralı Çocuk (İbrahim Yeşilbaş), Brothers of Silence / Sessizliğin Kardeşleri (Taylan Mintaş), The Companion / Refakatçi (Burçe Bahadır), Confrontation / Yüzleşme (Nejla Demirci), Five Women on the Hill / Tepede Beş Kadın (Ece Kınacı), Hatewalk / Gacı Gibi (Serkan Çiftçi), Hermana (Enver Arcak), Killit (Zeynep Altay), The Last Leaf / Son Yaprak (Handan Erdil), The Last Prayer for the Tigris: Journey to Lalesh / Dicle’ye Son Dua: Laleş’e Yolculuk (Mehmet Özgür Candan), Mana Mou Istanbul (Nihan Arısoy), Snow Touched Tea / Kar Gören Çay (Oğuzhan İhtiyar), Stages with No Curtain / Perdesiz Sahneler (Hakan Dursun), Traveler / Gezgin (Bulut Rénas Kaçan), Wardrobe / Gardrop (Haşim Sezgin Kılıç and Berkan Güler).

For more information about the documentary and short film competition please visit  http://www.bostonturkishfestival.org/competition/