Despite the challenging year we have left behind, the Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival has determined its 24th edition dates with new hopes and innovations. The festival, which is held each year in the capital Ankara, will be organized between May 27 and June 3 this year.
As the first women’s film festival in Turkey, the event has been striving to bring more visibility to women’s work in the movie industry since its inception in 1998. The festival hosts directors and actors from around the world every year and has established a communication network between women who work in the industry.
The 24th Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival will be directed by Azize Tan, who previously directed the Istanbul Film Festival for nine years and the Başka Cinema Ayvalık Film Festival since 2018.
"2020 has been a year that many wanted to leave behind as soon as possible," Tan said. "While we are strictly observing the measures taken due to the pandemic, our biggest goal this year is to conduct the festival in a physical environment. While we have done all kinds of infrastructure work for online screenings, we are also working to hold the festival in movie theaters. Moreover, free outdoor screenings will be held in various quarters of Ankara during the festival."
The Flying Broom Foundation organized the first online festival in Turkey amid exceptional coronavirus-related conditions in 2020 under the theme "We have stayed at home." The foundation has set this year’s festival theme as "Getting out of limbo." During this period, everyone questioned their habits and tried to get used to the "new normal." We have been caught in a life of limbo much longer than we thought we would be. As people around the world have been confined to their homes, the importance of being able to be and remain free physically, mentally and spiritually in any situation and any place increases.
The Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival is a time for getting out of this limbo, Tan underlined, saying: "It is all about fulfilling the yearslong struggle; not only heralding that another life is possible but also living it, along with the freedom that we experience, in wherever we are and whatever body we are in. Change happens only if we make it. It is possible to get out of this limbo through solidarity, effort and, most importantly, continuing to do what we know is right. The struggle and achievements of women so far can inspire all of us in this regard."
Female filmmakers can apply to the festival with their short, long, medium-length fiction, experimental or documentary films until Feb. 26. Detailed information about the application is available on the festival's website.