Getting Started

We begin again, and we know that every film begins from a place rarely seen.

Sometimes from the edge of a dream, or the very heart of an emotion; sometimes from the rhythm of a shot or the gaze of an actor… Sometimes a voice, sometimes the opposite, a silence, reveals the sincerity of the narrative, forming heart-to-heart connections with the audience. By the time the word “The End” appears, those connections have already become deeply etched memories.

Because every story told is part of not only cinema, but also a city, a memory, a legacy.

Now, new sentences are being written into that legacy. We begin again, but this time more profoundly, more from the heart.

Because this year’s festival’s starting point is the emotion that leaves the most lasting impression in cinema: Sincerity.

This is the emotion befitting our 62nd year: Sincerely and Heartedly. Because we are the “first” film festival in our country, a country that has hosted nearly 100 film festivals! We are in the “Class A Festival” category, ranking among the oldest film festivals in the world and Europe.

This year, with 604 film submissions, 39 awards in 6 main categories, over 50 selection committee members in 13 categories, 109 Turkish and international films to be seen for the first time, and over 200 screenings in the city center and districts, we are connecting with and connecting millions of people. Furthermore, we will once again experience the justified pride of connecting our participating artists with the people of Antalya, and Antalya with them.

We will also take justified pride in evaluating the quality work of film students, encouraging them to produce new films, and contributing to their education.

And with our “From Borders to Borderlessness” film selections, part of our meticulously curated event schedule, we will take justified pride in remembering films that bear witness to the massacres in Palestine through the language of art, and sharing their pain.

We wish that our togetherness, our companionship, and all the beautiful things we share will continue sincerely and wholeheartedly, today and always…

Vahdet Narin
Managing Director