The "International Dystopia Film Festival" taking place for the second time this year on Nov. 19-20 is bringing together dystopian feature films and directors with Istanbul audiences.

With the contributions of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Directorate General of Cinema, the festival will host moviegoers at Atatürk Cultural Center's (AKM) Yeşilçam Cinema Hall, aiming to create space for dystopian films in Türkiye by only featuring dystopia-specific productions to better understand the concept and draw attention to the genre.

Deriving from ancient Greek, a dystopia is an imagined state or society that is undesirable, characterized by fear and distress through tyrannical regimes or disasters, often leading to cataclysmic decline. Dystopian societies have been the focus of many great novels such as Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," George Orwell's "1984" and Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," stories in which individuals are repressed through the heavy enforcement of conformity.

Within the scope of the festival, the "International Short Film Competition" and the "National Short Film Script Competition" are being held this year to support new productions in the dystopian genre and ensure a balance in genre diversity while providing opportunities for films and directors that strive to reflect the zeitgeist.

Awards will be presented to the top three films selected by the jury in the International Short Film Competition. Open to participants from across the world, the films entered in the fictional, animated, experimental and documentary categories of the competition must be produced in 2021 and 2022 and have a duration of no longer than 30 minutes.