Adana Film Festival kicks off in southern city

The 23rd International Adana Film Festival has opened in the southern province of Adana. 

The festival will see total of 250 films shown in 636 screenings, and will commemorate the late actor Tarık Akan, who died of cancer on Sept. 9. 

There will be special screenings for the 12 films competing in the festival’s National Feature Film competition, with the directors and actors of competing films attending screenings along with festivalgoers. 

Other categories for festival awards are the National Student Films competition, the Mediterranean Countries Short Film competition, and the Adana-Themed Script competition. 

The honorary awards of this year’s festival will be presented to theater actress Ayla Algan, actor Murat Soydan and writer Osman Şahin. 

The films to compete in the National Feature Film category are Erhan Tuncer’s “Ağustos Böcekleri ve Karıncalar” (Cicadas and Ants), Mehmet Can Mertoğlu’s “Albüm” (Album), Kıvanç Sezer’s “Babamın Kanatları” (My Father’s Wings), Handan Öztürk’s “Bana Git De” (Tell Me to Go), Hiner Saleem’s “Dar Elbise” (Tight Dress), Çağdaş Çağrı’s “Geçmiş” (The Past), Yüksel Aksu’s “İftarlık Gazoz” (The Soda Seller), Reha Erdem’s “Koca Dünya” (Big Big World), Güven Beklen’s “Mehmet Salih,” Çağan Irmak’s “Nadide Hayat” (A Unique Life), Derviş Zaim’s “Rüya” (Dream) and Cemil Ağacıkoğlu’s “Tarla” (The Field). 

The winner will win a prize of 350,000 Turkish Liras.

Awards will be announced and presented at the festival’s award ceremony on Sept. 24.