The 'Turkey-India Cinema TV Content Forum' took place as a part of the 18th Mumbai International Film Festival with Turkey in attendance as a guest country. Organized by the TV and Cinema Film Producers Guild, with the support of Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Arts, the event was overseen by Turkey's Ambassador to New Delhi Burak Akçapar. Speaking at the forum, Ambassador Akçapar pointed out the importance of the cinema industry and said, "Apart from building a bridge between two cultures, cinema tends to link two countries together permanently." Cinema leaves a long-lasting effect on people. Akçapar used the soundtrack example from the Indian actor and director Raj Kapoor's 1951 film "Awaara" and its popularity in Turkey, "Back then, the soundtrack of "Awaara" was playing in every taxi in Turkey and all the taxi drivers knew the song by heart. It takes time to create such an environment between two countries. Today, we reunited two sides of a long friendship."Akçapar further emphasized the cinema industry's potential, "Co-productions could be formed or Turkey and India might invest in and adapt productions for their own audiences. In time, they might even work together with third-party countries. This is a great start for amazing things to come and, God willing, our collaboration will continue in the future," Ambassador Akçapar concluded.Another Turkish official, Culture and Tourism Ministry's General Director of Cinema Erkin Yılmaz, offered insights on the Turkish cinema industry and the support that the Republic of Turkey provides for film makers. According to Yılmaz's account, the support provided by the state, currently $11 million, helped to increase the number of domestic film productions comparing the 29 domestic films shot in 2004 and the increase to 139 in 2015.Yılmaz stated that Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry offers financial support for scriptwriters, short and documentary film makers as well as film festivals. "The ministry funded the cinema sector with close to $20 million in 2015. While 252 films hit the Turkish theaters in 2010, it increased to 406 in 2015. In other words, the number of films that are screened in Turkey has doubled in the last five years. Even though film production rose, audience numbers lagged, with only a 50 percent increase. "Our goal is to increase the numbers of movie-goers from 60 million to 100 million by 2023," said Yılmaz.Yılmaz also added that Turkey is a popular destination for film makers, "Hollywood productions have preferred Turkey for filming in recent years. Apart from the famous places, Turkey also has many less-known locations waiting to be discovered by film makers. A considerable part of Inferno, starring Tom Hanks, was filmed in Istanbul's Hagia Sophia and the Basilica Cistern."Yılmaz further said that the ministry is currently working on a law draft focusing on the cinema industry and stated that the foreign or co-productions filmed in Turkey will be financially supported.The festival director, cinema critic, writer and journalist Anupama Chopra explained that the Turkish and Indian languages share 9,000 words. "I learned this information not long ago and I had no idea. We have a connection with Turks through words. Turkish people love Bollywood. The book, which I co-wrote with Shah Rukh Khan, has been translated into Turkish as well,"Chopa said. She continued explaining that Turkey is a featured country in this year's Mumbai International Film Festival, citing the 10 Turkish films having been screened as a part of the festival."Through this forum," Chopra continued, "we aimed to make a cultural exchange and develop our cinematic industry together. We hope that the meetings will be fruitful, reinforce our friendship and enable us to work together for better productions."Birol Güven, the chair of the TV and Cinema Film Producers Guild, said that they traveled to Mumbai to promote interest in Indian culture. "We are one step ahead of the Indians when it comes to TV productions. Turkish TV series have been sold to more than 100 countries around the world. Moreover, the biggest domestic TV series market in Europe is in Turkey," Güven added.Another representative of the guild, Burhan Gün, also offered insights about the TV and cinema industries in Turkey, how they produce new works, as well as the number of personnel who works in these industries.Following the speeches, the forum continued with a question and answer session with the attending Indian cinema industry representatives. After the forum, a mini-concert was given by Serkan Çağrı during the reception. The closing ceremony of the festival took place yesterday night in Mumbai.