Filmekimi, an annual autumn film festival organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) for the 21st time, will meet with movie-buffs in Istanbul on Oct. 7-16 with its highly anticipated program.

The event will present movies that were screened and won awards at Sundance, Cannes, Venice and Toronto film festivals in Atlas 1948 Cinema in Beyoğlu district, City's Nişantaşı – CINEWAM Premium in Şişli district along with Kadıköy Cinema and Sinematek Cinema House in Kadıköy district.

Filmekimi is being held within the scope of the Beyoğlu Cultural Road Festival this year and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the festival, held at Soho House Istanbul on Sept. 27, IKSV General Director Görgün Taner said that they are pleased to organize Filmekimi, which brings together the highly anticipated and award-winning films of master directors that have been screened at leading festivals from all over the world every October since 2002, one more time this year.

In the program of this year's festival, Martin McDonagh's "The Banshees of Inisherin," which won the Best Screenplay Award and brought the Best Actor Award to Colin Farrell at the Venice Film Festival, Noah Baumbach's latest film, "White Noise," Paul Schrader's newest "Master Gardener," Emanuele Crialese's "L'Immensità" and Neil Jordan's "Marlowe" stand out.

Among the other movies to be screened at Filmekimi are Claire Denis' elusive Grand Prix-winning thriller "Stars At Noon" and "Close" by Lukas Dhont. "Le Otto Montagne" ("The Eight Mountains") by Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen, "Aİ" by Jerzy Skolimowski, which jointly won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, are also set to meet cinephiles in Istanbul.

While "Heeojil kyolshim" ("Decision To Leave"), which brought the Best Director Award to Park Chan-wook at Cannes, and Ali Abbasi's "Holy Spider," which brought Cannes' Best Actress Award to Zar Amir-Ebrahimi, are candidates to draw the attention of Istanbulite viewers the most, "Broker" by Hirokazu Koreeda and Tarik Saleh's "Walad min al Janna" ("Boy From Heaven") promise to open up the doors of the different worlds for the festival goers.

Charlotte Wells' "Aftersun," which won the French Touch Prize of the Critics' Week Jury at the Cannes Film Festival and Special Award for the Promotion of Gender Equality at the Sarajevo Film Festival; "Under the Fig Trees" by Erige Sehiri, which received EcoPro jury award in Directors' Fortnight; "War Pony" by Riley Keough and Gina Gammell, winning the Camera d'Or for best first feature; "Un Beau Matin" ("One Fine Morning") by Mia Hansen-Løve, which won the Europa Cinemas Label Award for Best European Film; Saeed Roustaee's FIPRESCI-winning "Leila's Brothers"; "Le Bleu du Caftan" ("The Blue Caftan") by Maryam Touzani, which won FIPRESCI Awards in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival; Maha Haj's "Mediterranean Fever"; "Les Pires" by Lisa Akoka, Romane Gueret and "Corsage" by Marie Kreutzer are also other productions that take place in the screening program of Filmekimi.

Besides, Romanian master filmmaker Christian Mungiu's latest film "R.M.N."; Gina Prince-Bythewood's "The Woman King," which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival; Sophie Hyde's "Good Luck to you, Leo Grande," starring Emma Thompson; Louis Garrel's "L’Innocent" ("The Innocent"); Michel Hazanavicius' "Coupez!" ("Final Cut"), which was the opening movie of the Cannes Film Festival this year; " Sara Dosa's "Fire of Love," which bagged awards at many prestigious film festivals like Sundance; Hlynur Pálmason's "Vanskabte Land" ("Godland") and Selçuk Metin's "Caniko," a biopic on the late Turkish actress Yıldız Kenter, will hit the festival screen.

Month of cinephiles

Realized under the sponsorship of Paribu, Filmekimi has determined its motto for this year as "October is Filmekimi month for cinephiles." The advertising campaign and poster and the commercial film of the festival are designed by Muhabbet Ajans, inspired by October being the indispensable month of film for enthusiasts.

The festival tickets will go on sale to the general public on Oct. 4 at 2:30 p.m. after discounted pre-sales for Tulip Card members, which is set to start on Sept. 30 at 10:30 a.m. Tickets can be purchased at passo.com.tr, from Passo retail points, City's Nişantaşı - CINEWAM Premium, Kadıköy Cinema box offices and IKSV main box office.

The visually impaired festival goers will be able to access the audio descriptions of 21 films in 21st Filmekimi free of charge via Turkcell's My Dream Companion application, as in previous years, regardless of their operators. The list of the films in question is available on the Filmekimi website.

For more detailed information on Filmekimi, you may visit filmekimi.iksv.org.