The International 7 Saints 7 Cities Short Film Festival, organized for the ninth time by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Directorate of Cinema, the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO) and the Competent Art Cinema and Culture Association, will focus on the stories of literary figures of the Turkic world this year.

The event, which is the first Sufi film festival in the world, is held in the northwestern Turkish province of Bursa, which was also the first capital of the Ottoman Empire before the conquest of Istanbul.

Highlighting that the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY) selected Bursa province as the "2022 Turkic World Capital of Culture," the festival committee announced that the theme of the festival's screenplay category this year is the lives of important literary figures from the Turkic world.

Submissions of scripts that look into the lives, work, philosophy and thoughts of any of seven selected Turkic literary figures have been accepted into the festival's screenplay competition. The literary figures the festival has chosen to focus on this year are Uzbekistan's Abdulhamid Sulaymon oʻgʻli Yunusov, Kazakhstan's Akhmet Baitursynov, Chinghiz Aitmatov and Toktobolot Abdumomunov from Kyrgyzstan, Huseyn Javid from Azerbaijan, Magtymguly Pyragy from Turkmenistan and Süleyman Çelebi from Turkey. The seven best screenplays will be made into films with a professional team.

Applications are closed for the screenplay segment of the competition, however, the festival will continue to accept submissions for its short film contest until July 31. The festival has not set a theme for the short film category and welcomes all work that celebrates people and human values. In the short film competition, the seven best short films will be screened.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Eda Sürmeli, the head of the festival committee, said Bursa's selection as the cultural capital is one of the main components of the festival. "We will carry the literary figures of the Turkic Republics to the cinema with six countries," she added.

The seven new scripts will be shot in Bursa and turned into films, Sürmeli explained, adding that they plan to film in the Iznik district and famous spots like Gölyazı, Misi and Cumalıkızık.