Filmist and “The Other Turkey” project on Arte

A 51 min. updated version of “What a Beautiful Democracy!” entitled “Démocratie au Féminin” was screened on Arte, on 23 January 2010. “The Other Turkey” is a collaborative documentary project of ARTE and Article Z. The project aims to hear the voices of directors from Turkey and hear their perspectives on the realities of this geography. The documentary “Démocratie au féminin” by Belmin Söylemez, Berke Bas, Hasmet Topaloglu and Somnur Vardar, follow some women MP candidates in their struggle to secure themselves some space in the political arena. And in the documentary “ConcretePark” Berke Bas follows some young men in rural Turkey, trying to make sense of the burden of masculinity which the society

http://www.arte.tv/fr/semaine

The Visitors begins its festival journey

Filmist member Melis Birder has finalized her documentary “The Visitors”. The Visitors had its world premier at the Full Frame Film Festival on April 3rd 2009. The film depicts the story of the journey of women who take the prison charter buses every weekend to visit their loved ones in prisons located in the far corners of Upstate New York.

http://www.fullframefest.org/

This year, the festival is also honoring St. Clair Bourne the late executive producer of “The Visitors”
and the mentor to the filmmaker, with the 2009 Career Award.

The film will then be screened at the Istanbul Film Festival on April 15th 2009.

http://www.iksv.org/film/english/


"X" in Meetings on the Bridge

Hasmet Topaloglu’s feauture film project “X” will take part in “Meetings on the Bridge”, a project development workshop organised by the International Istanbul Film Festival on 15-17th April 2009. “X” is among the 12 film projects selected for the workshop, meeting with international producers, distributors and film-fund organizations such as Fortissimo, the Match Factory, CineMart, Eurimages.

http://www.iksv.org/film/

“What a Beautiful Democracy!” screenings at the Pera Museum, Istanbul

A series of screenings of “What a Beautiful Democracy!” took place in the Pera Museum, Istanbul, between March 24th-28th. A panel discussion on women and politics was held in the same museum on the 28th.

http://www.peramuzesi.org.tr/

Hush on Arte Thema evening

Filmist member Berke Bas’s documentary “Hush” /“La Chanson de Nahide” (co-produced by Le Films d’ici, France) was screened on ARTE on March 24th on the thema evening.

http://www.lesfilmsdici.fr/moteur/

“What a Beautiful Democracy!” at the 7th Filmmor Women’s Film Festival

“What a Beautiful Democracy!” was screened at the 7th Filmmor Women’s Film Festival, in Istanbul on March 10th at the French Cultural Center, and on March the 11th, at the Istanbul Modern Museum. The festival also travels to different cities in Turkey including Manisa in the Aegean, Urfa in the south east, and Trabzon in the Black Sea region.

http://www.filmmor.org/default.asp?sayfa=11

“Present Tense” at Belgrad B2B Film Industry Meetings>

“Present Tense” the feaure film project in progress by filmist members Belmin Söylemez and Hasmet Topaloglu was among the 12 film projects selected for the Belgrade B2B Film Industry Meetings in the Belgrade Film Festival. The participating projects from Balkan and Eurasian countries met with
European producers as well as representatives of Eurimages, Rotterdam Film Festival, Medienbaord Berlin, Austrian Film fund, EAVE, Fortissimo. The pitching forum followed by one to one meetings which took place on February 28th-March 1st.

http://www.fest.rs/2009/en/vest_029.html

“What a Beautiful Democracy!” screening at the Bosphorus University

A screening of the documentary took place in Bosphorus University, Mithat Alam Film Center, on February 19th, followed by a panel discussion with the directors.

http://www.mafm.boun.edu.tr/

Filmist and “The Other Turkey” project in !f Istanbul


Filmist members took part in a round table discussion entitled “Tell Your Own: The Other Turkey
Project” within the !f Istanbul Independent Film Festival on February 18 Wednesday, 17:00, in Lokal, Tünel, Istanbul. The Other Turkey is a collaborative documentary project of ARTE and producer Patrice Barrat. The project aims to hear the voices of directors from Turkey and hear their perspectives on the chaotic realities of this geography. Emre Akay's Bosphorus in Every Way takes the Bosphorus as a starting point and analyzes the gamut of variety and contradiction in the country. In In the Limelight Doga and Can Kiliçoglu try to comprehend the country by taking a peek at at what comes off of the TV screen, especially in women's TV programs. Bingöl Elmas journeys with her own camera for A Letter, following the tracks of a macho society. In ConcretePark Berke Bas follows some young men in rural Turkey, trying to make sense of the burden of masculinity which the society imposes upon them. The documentary What a Beautiful Democracy by Belmin Söylemez, Berke Bas, Hasmet Topaloglu and Somnur Vardar, follow some women MP candidates in their struggle to secure themselves some
space in the political arena.


http://2009.ifistanbul.com/events/activities.aspx


“What a Beautiful Democracy!” at the Göteborg International Film Festival, Sweden

Istanbul based filmmakers collective filmist’s feature documentary "What a Beautiful Democracy!" was invited to the Göteborg International Film Festival, which took place between January 23rd and
February 2nd 2009, in Sweden. The festival will screened 13 films from Turkey for its special section – Turkey: Country in Focus. Two of the four directors, Belmin Soylemez and Somnur Vardar were
present for QA after the screenings of “What a Beautiful Democracy!”.The Göteborg International Film Festival, launched in 1979, is now billed as the biggest film festival in the Nordic region and one of the important public film festivals in the world.

http://www.filmfestival.org/filmfestival/info/en/press/nyheter?itemId=163549

Filmist at DocsBarcelona

filmist member Elvan Kivilcim’s project “River People” was selected to participate at the DocsBarcelona pitching forum which took place in January 29-30, 2009. The project was selected as one of 24 projects to attend the pitching forum out of 165 that applied by filmmakers from 35 countries worldwide. Meanwhile, filmist member Berke Bas’s new documentary in progress “BetonPark”, and filmist’s first collective documentary “What a Beautiful Democracy!” also participated in the forum within the framework of the ARTE/Article Z project “The Other Torkey”.

http://www.docsbarcelona.com/en/index.php

Filmist at the Festival on Wheels

Filmist will be attending the 14th Festival on Wheels,which will take place in Kars between November 7-13th, 2008, as part of a series of discussions on film. Filmist members will hold a discussion on
collective filmmaking, giving examples from their latest documentary “What a Beautiful Democracy!”.  

http://www.europeanfilmfestival.com/EN/

Scenes from "What a Beautiful Democracy!" in Holland

Scenes from the film will be shown in the conference organised by the Turkije Insituut in Holland, on the position of women in Turkey,entitled “women’s activism”. The conference will host guests and speakers such as memners of Ka-der, Yakin Erturk and MP Emine Bozkurt. It will take place in the Hague and Amsterdam on November 7th, 2008. The screening of scenes from the film will be followed by a QA
with Belmin Soylemez.

http://www.turkije-instituut.nl/Agenda/2008/november/

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" in Berlin

“What a Beautiful Democracy!” will be screened in a meeting on “Women’s Participation into Politics” organised jointly by ABI – August Babel Institut and Bildungswerk Berlin of Heincrich Böll Foundation
on October 24th, 2008.

Filmist will be represented by Somnur Vardar in the event.

http://www.bildungswerk-boell.de/

Critics Award for "What a Beautiful Democracy!" 

filmist documentary "What a Beautiful Democracy!" about the struggle of Turkish women in politics,
won the “critics award” by SIYAD (Association of Turkish Film Critics), in the 5th Bodrum İnternational Film Festival which took place between September 16-20th, 2008. "What a Beautiful Democracy!"
shared the award with “3 hours”, a documentary which questions the Turkish education system.
The critics stated that both films “tackled important contemporary issues such as politics and education in Turkey with a collective insight, as well as telling the true stories behind the subjects in dramatic film style”. They also said that  “The documentary “What a Beautiful Democracy!” displays the practice of politics in Turkey by showing different candidates from all fractions of the political spectrum while focusing on the inequalities of democracy”.

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" at the Sarajevo International Film Festival

Filmist’s feature length documentary "What a Beautiful Democracy!" was invited to the official selection of the 14th Sarajevo International Film Festival, which was held between 15th and 23rd of August 2008. The film’s international premiere took place on the 18th of August 2008 and was met with great interest from the audience. The screening was followed by a QA with the directors.

http://www.sff.ba/

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" nominated for “Best Documentary” "What a Beautiful Democracy!" nominated for “Best Documentary”

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" has been nominated by SIYAD (Association of Turkish Film Critics) for the “Best Turkish Documentary Award”.
It wes shown in DOCUMENTAR-IST Documentary Days, in the section of “SIYAD’s Selection of Turkish Documentaries”. The films in this section were chosen from among 65 documentaries that participated
in various festivals throughout 2008.

The screening took take place on July the 10th 2008, in Istanbul Pera Museum.
 
http://www.documentar-ist.org/

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" met with Women politicians from Europe

Extracts from "What a Beautiful Democracy!" were shown in a seminar entitled  “European Women in Politics” organised by İKAM (İstanbul Women’s Research Center) on June the 5th, 2008 in Ankara. The screening was attended by young women politicians from Europe, and was followed by a QA session
on the topic of gender and politics.

about ikam

http://www.ikam.org/demo/default.php?sayfa=hakkimizda

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" in Diyarbakır Festival of Arts and Culture


The screening of the documentary in Diyarbakır on May 31, 2008 was followed by a panel discussion
on “Women and Politics”, attended by the DTP mp Gultan Kışanak (who is one of the candidates portrayed in the documentary), journalist Evrim Alataş and director Somnur Vardar. 

http://www.diyarbakir-bld.gov.tr/newsDetail.aspx?id=1524

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" at Bilgi University


"What a Beautiful Democracy!" was screened at Istanbul Bilgi University, on May 23, 2008, followed by
a QA with the directors. Two of the candidates portrayed in the film, CHP mp Necla Arat and independent candidate Ayşe Tükrükçü also attended the screening. Ms Arat received a lot of questions from the audience concerning her experience in the parliament.        

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" in the Political School for Women

Extracts from "What a Beautiful Democracy!" were shown in the Political School for Women organised
by Ka-der (Association for Promoting Women’s Candidacy), on May 2nd, 2008 in Istanbul Dedeman Hotel. The screening was attended by women from different backgrounds, training for a future career
in politics. The participants stated that the film provided them with important insight about politics in practice.     

about ka-der:

http://www.ka-der.org.tr/

The premiere of "What a Beautiful Democracy!" was held in the 27th Istanbul
International Film Festival

"What a Beautiful Democracy!" a feature length documentary by the Istanbul based filmmakers collective filmist,  about women candidates struggling for the Turkish Parliament, had its first screening on April 18th, 2008, in the 27th İstanbul International Film Festival.
The film was met with great interest from the audience, and was followed by a Q&A session with the
four directors.   

http://www.iksv.org/film/english/program.asp?Content=Film&SID=7&FID=43

Press Screening of "What a Beautiful Democracy!" at the Consulate General of Sweden, Istanbul

A press screening of "What a Beautiful Democracy!" was held in the Consulate General of Sweden, on April the 22nd 2008. The screening which was followed by a cocktail in the Consulate was attended by members of press as well as NGOs such as Ka-der (the Association for Women’s Candidacy in the Parliament). The Consulate General of Sweden has contributed to the post-production of the film.  

Filmist at Meetings on the Bridge

The Meetings on the Bridge series of seminars organised by the International Istanbul Film Festival continued to bring together Turkish and European producers, directors, scriptwriters and representatives.
Filmist member Somnur Vardar was a panelist during a panel discussion which took place on the 15th April 2008. The subject of the panel was “The Mediterranean Documentary Cinema”, and other
panelists included Ally Derks (Director of IDFA and the Jan Vrijman Fund), and John Appel
(Greenhouse partner & mentor). A 10 minute excerpt from "What a Beautiful Democracy!" was shown during the panel as an example of Mediterranean Documentary Cinema.

Meanwhile, Filmist member Belmin Soylemez took part in the “Meetings on the Bridge” project development workshop with her feature film project “Present Tense”.
“Present Tense” was among the 13 film projects selected for the workshop, which met with
international producers, distributors and film-fund organizations such as Fortissimo, CineMart and Eurimages. The project development award for “Meetings on the Bridge” was given to “Zephir”, a feature film project by Belma Bas.

http://www.iksv.org/film/english/press_release.asp?cid=325#7

“Visitors” in IFP Rough Cut Lab

Melis Birder’s documentary in production “Visitors” has been selected for the IFP Rough Cut Lab
that will take place between 6-9 May, 2008 in New York. The workshop brings together the
documentaries in progress as rough-cuts with the mentors of the industry. Upon the sudden death
of former executive producer late St. Clair Bourne in December 2007, Sam Pollard, who is currently teaching at NYU Film School in New York, has become the new executive producer of the “Visitors”.

http://market.ifp.org/newyork/labs/

http://admin.tisch.nyu.edu/object/PollardS.html

“The Tenth Planet” in Online Festival

Melis Birder’s documentary “The Tenth Planet: A Single Life in Baghdad”  participated in the Online Festival of International Museum of Women in November 2007.

http://imaginingourselves.imow.org/pb/Story.aspx?G=1&C=0&id=1442&lang=1

SHE-J Screenings

Elvan Kıvılcım’s 2007 documentary “SHE-J” is meeting with its viewers in a series of screenings. The
film was premiered during the 10th International 1001 Documentary Festival in Istanbul in October 2007. The second screening was during !f Istanbul Independent Film Festival in February 2008,
followed by a party with the performances of the two DJ characters of the film, Beyza and Natasja. “She-J” was also screened in Bogaziçi University Mithat Alam Film Center  on March 7th, within the framework of March 8th – World Women’s Day, and in Ankara International Film Festival on March
18th, 2008.

SHE-J  - links:
http://www.1001belgesel.net/filmler.html
http://sokakveduvar.blogcu.com/9853731/
http://www.ifistanbul.com/etkinlikler/default.aspx

Greenhouse Seminar, October-2007<

Berke Baş and Somnur Vardar have pitched their documentary project “Will You Marry Me?” in the pitching forum organised within the framework of Greenhouse Documentary Development Seminar. Held between 24th-27th October, 2007, in Istanbul, the seminar brought the filmmakers together with the professional leaders of the industry who evaluated the pitched projects.

http://www.ghfilmcentre.org/siteFiles/1/38/3580.asp

“34 Taxi” in Slovenia  

Belmin Soylemez’s documentary “34 Taxi” was screened in “Sites of Imagination”, an event which brought together Mediterranean artists of various disciplines in Ljubljana in18-20 October, 2007.

http://www.bunker.si/contact.htm

“In Transit”, “Waves” and “34 Taxi” in Istanbul Modern

Berke Baş’s documentary  “In Transit” and  Belmin Söylemez’s  films “Waves” and “34 Taxi” were screened in Istanbul Modern’s film theater as part of Ulis Photography Festival, on June 21st 2007. Belmin Söylemez also participated in the panel discussion “City and Art” on June 2nd, 2007.

 http://www.ulisphotofest.org/tr/takvim.asp

“34 Taxi” on Arte

“34 Taxi” directed by Belmin Soylemez and produced by Haşmet Topaloğlu was broadcasted on the French-German TV channel ARTE on May 23rd, 2007.

http://www.arte.tv/fr/semaine/244,broadcastingNum=677349,day=5,
week=21,year=2007.html

Belmin Söylemez films in “Turkische Filmtage”

“34 Taxi”, “Waves”, “Windows” directed by Belmin Soylemez and “How Beautiful Istanbul is Today” co-directed by Belmin Soylemez and Haşmet Topaloğlu were screened in Munich Turkish Film Festival – Turkische Filmtage in Germany on April 29th, 2007. 

http://www.sinematuerk-muenchen.de/

...Filmist member Melis Birder's work-in progress documentary "The Visitors" received a grant
from Sundance FIlm Institute.
For more information on Sundance Institute's first round of documentary grants for 2006 you
can visit;

http://www2.sundance.org/press.html

..."Poyraz", a short film directed by Belma Bas and edited by Filmist member Berke Bas have been selected for the Short Films Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, 2006

...Berke Bas' documentary "In Transit" won the "best documentary" award at the Nurnberg Turkish
Film Festival, Germany, 2006.

..."How Beautiful Istanbul is Today" a short film directed by Belmin Soylemez and Hasmet Topaloglu
was selected for the Hamburg International Short Film Competiton, 2006. "How Beautiful…" and "34 Taxi" by Belmin Soylemez were also screened in Eco Films Festival, Rhodes, 2006.

...Melis Birder's The Tenth Planet "A Single Life in Baghdad" had its US premiere on February 9th 2006. "Tenth Planet" was the opening film at "The Documentary Fortnight Series at MOMA", New York. The documentary that depicts the life of a single woman who lives in Baghdad was shown again on March 11th at MOMA's Titus 1 theatre.

...Elvan Kivilcim attended with her project "She-J" at Cinemart, Rotterdam Film Festival, where her project met with producers from all over the world.

..."She-J" and "Visitors" were selected for the Project Development and International Co-Production Workshop organized by the Association of Documentary Filmmakers in Turkey.