ISTANBUL - The 27th International Istanbul Film Festival will kick off on April 5th with a Lebanese-French co-production film "Caramel" -- directed by Nadine Labaki.
The opening film of the festival -- organized by Istanbul Foundation for Culture & Arts -- will be screened at Emek Movie Theater in Beyoglu.
This year`s festival will feature 200 films, including prominent films of 2007 and 2008, unforgettable classics and films by eminent directors.
Seminars, workshops, exhibitions, parties and concerts will also take place on the sidelines of the festival.
The opening gala of the festival will be at Lutfi Kirdar Congress & Exhibition Hall on April 4th.
Other venues of the festival will be Fitas 1, Atlas 1, Atlas 2 and Rexx movie theaters in Beyoglu, and Rexx movie theater in Kadikoy.
Alexander Sokurov of contemporary Russian cinema will receive "cinema honorary award" during the closing gala of the festival on April 19th. "Alexandra" -- Sokurov`s film on Chechen problem -- will be screened at the festival. The director will also give a seminar at the Bogazici University on April 19th.
-COMPETITION-
On the other hand, 12 films will compete in this year`s festival that will end on April 20th. The winner will get the "Golden Tulip" award, while the Michael Ballhaus, prominent director of photography, will preside the jury.
"Ben X" of Nic Balthazar, "Darling" of Christine Carriere, "The Wave" of Dennis Gansel, "Be Kind Rewind" of Michel Gondry, "Jar City" of Baltasar Kormakur, "Hope" of Stanislaw Mucha, "Gone With the Woman" by Petter Nass, "XXY" of Lucia Puenzo, "Honeydripper" of John Sayles, "Erik
Nietzsche The Early Years" of Jacop Thuesen, "Egg" of Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu, and "My Marlon and Brando" of Huseyin Karabey are the contestants.
-FACE AWARD-
Also, a film competing in "human rights in cinema" section will receive the film award of the Council of Europe (FACE).
Competing films are "Chop Shop" of Ramin Bahrani, "Battle for Haditha" of Nick Broomfield, "Disengagement" of Amos Gitai, "Hidden Faces" of Handan Ipekci, "Blind Mountain" of Li Yang, "The Visitor" of Thomas McCarthy, "The Mark of Cain" of Marc Munden, "Night Bus" of Kiumars Pourahmad, "Lucky Miles" of Michael James Rowland, and "PVC-1" of Spiros Stathoulopoulos.
-OTHER SECTIONS OF FESTIVAL-
Also a number of films will be screened in "Turkish Classics Revisited", "Akbank Galas", "Challenging the Years", "From the World of Festivals", "Young Masters", "American Independents", "Documentary Time with NTV", "Midnight Madness", "The World of Animation", "In Memoriam", "Mined Zone", "The Best of 40 Years", "From the Caucasus to the Mediterranean".
(BRC-ULG)