Istanbul Film Festival when film will meet the city for the 39th time in April

A 12-DAY FEAST FOR FILM LOVERS:

ISTANBUL FILM FESTIVAL’S 39TH EDITION WILL RUN 10-21 APRIL

Most anticipated films, long-awaited highlights, brand new productions will be showcased at the Istanbul Film Festival when film will meet the city for the 39th time in April.

Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), the 39th Istanbul Film Festival will be held from 10 to 21 April 2020. The largest, most established and most influential international film event in Turkey, the festival screens more than 150 feature films, and boasts the biggest audience in Turkey.

The festival comprises five major competitions within its programme: International Competition, National Competition, Human Rights in Cinema Competition, National Documentary Competition and National Short Film Competition. The festival will once again present a selection of the bests of the fests to cult films, the foremost showcase of films from Turkey, along with retrospectives, new discoveries, and masterpieces. 

This year, the festival commemorates legendary director Alfred Hitchcock on the 40th anniversary of his death. One of the special sections of the 39th Istanbul Film Festival, Hitchcock in Color beckons the fans and younger generations who haven’t watched the films of this influential director to the movie theatre to the silver screen experience. Remastered copies of 15 color feature films directed by “Master of Suspense” Alfred Hitchcock will be screened, thus presenting the director’s timeless classics.

The poster of 39th Istanbul Film Festival was designed by Istanbul-based comics writer, scriptwriter and director Cem Özüduru, who was inspired by the breathtaking influence of cinema to combine his feelings and artistic aesthetic in his work. In the poster, Hitchcock-loving exotic birds circle around a sorcerer, who simultaneously curses and blesses us. The whole scene reminds us of a dream in a sleep fallen into, after seeing a film.

The complete programme of the 39th Istanbul Film Festival will be announced in March 2020.