Flying Broom to fly in the capital

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

40 DAYS OF SILENCE. More than 100 films from 42 countries will be screened during the 17th Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival.

The 17th Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival will be held this year between May 7 and 15 in Ankara.

More than 100 films from 42 countries will be screened at the Kızılırmak Movie Theater and the German Culture Center throughout the week. With 15 screens, the audience will have the chance to see films that competed at international festivals such as Rotterdam, Toronto, Cannes and Berlin.

This year’s festival awards will be presented during the opening ceremony tomorrow at the State Opera and Ballet Stage. The Honorary Award will go to Muhterem Nur, an actress who has contributed to Turkish cinema since 1950s and who has appeared in more than 170 films.

The “Bilge Olgaç Achievement Awards” will be given to six different women: Film critic Alin Taşçiyan, editor Çiçek Kahraman, art director Natali Yeres, director Nezahat Gündoğan, actress Şebnem Sönmez and producer Zeynep Özbatur Atakan. The theme award will be given to LISTAG (Families of members of the LGBT community in Istanbul) and the documentary film “Benim Çocuğum” (My Child).

This year the festival broke a record by receiving 650 films from various applicants. Of the 650 films, only 107 were included in the final program.

The event will screen films from Iran, Germany, Sweden and Canada, as well as productions from Ghana, Tajikistan and Slovakia, where cinema is not globally well-known, alongside documentaries, features, short films and animations based on comedy, drama, true story and fiction. Some of the films will be screened with participation from directors and actresses.

The Flying Broom Women’s Film Festival has been screening its films iatn the Kızılırmak Movie Theater for many years. “The reason is that it is one of the last movie theaters left in Ankara. They are closing them one by one and replacing them with car parks, the only choice left are shopping malls. The protection of culture and art centers are in our struggle for equality and justice because women are using these places,” according to festival organizers.

Workshops for women

Atakan proved that women can exist in the field of producing as well as in the cinema sector; as one of the winners of the Bilge Olgaç Achievement Awards, she will be a guest of the festival. Within the scope of the festival program, Atakan will also moderate a “Workshop for Women” that aims to enhance their production skills.

Ramin Matin and Emine Yıldırım wrote the script for “The Monster’s Dinner” together in 201 and received awards for best film at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. Yıldırım will participate in the festival and moderate a scriptwriting workshop for women in Ankara.

Every day during the event, workshops will be organized with the support of the Buğday Derneği (Wheat Association). Some of the workshops organized for the festival include the following: “Organic Ointment Making,” “Cooking the Seed: Food History as a subject of desire,” “Laughter Yoga,” “Magical Dance – Feminine Energy Activation Workshop,” “Physical Movement and Dance” and “a Journey to self with Stories.”

Taşçıyan, the first female president of the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD), will also organize a film reading workshop for women during the week.

The festival, meanwhile, opens an exhibition every year and this year the festival will host an exhibition entitled: “Women of Resistance.” The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the SolfaSol newspaper, can be visited between May 10 and 14 at the Goethe Institute.

Date with Türkan Şoray

For the first time this year, the festival will provide free screenings during the morning. As part of the campaign, film lovers will be the guests of veteran Turkish actresses Türkan Şoray and Hülya Koçyiğit over the first two days of the festival.