19th Boston Turkish Film Festival

Now in its 19th year, the Boston Turkish Film Festival continues its tradition of highlighting leading and new Turkish filmmakers. The festival’s film program, originally scheduled in March 2020,  is set to run from November 22nd to December 15th  online due to Covid-19 environment.

The festival highlight is A Tale of Three Sisters (Kızkardeşler) by acclaimed director Emin Alper. The film made its world premiere at the Berlinale—where it competed for best film—and won the Heart of Sarajevo Award for best director at the Sarajevo Film Festival and the CICAE Art Cinema award. Many of the films in the program will make their US or East Coast premiers such as Steppe (Bozkır) by director  Ali Özel, Breath (Soluk) by director Özkan Yılmaz, Yuva by director Emre Yeksan, The Door (Kapı) by director Nihat Durak, Hive (Kovan) by director Eylem Kaftan,

In the online program there are also special screenings of award-winning films of last year’s Documentary & Short Film Competition, which celebrates its 15th year in 2020. Sevan the Craftsman: Breathing Istanbul’s Magic into Jewels (Sevan Bıçakçı: İstanbul’u Mücevhere Sığdıran Usta) by director Ümran Safter is the winner of Best Documentary Audience Award. Meeting Jim by director Ece Ger is the winner of Best Documentary Jury Award.  Stone by director Alican Yücesoy is the recipient of both Best Short Film Jury and Audience Awards.

Feature films in the program are accessible in New England states while Docs and Shorts in the program are accessible in the entire United States.