Hosted by Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and delivered by the Middle East Cinema Academy and Sinebîr, the 3rd International Amed Film Festival will bring cinema audiences 84 screenings from 7 to 14 December.
First launched in 2012 under the leadership of the Middle East Cinema Academy and Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, and held for a second time in 2016 in alternative venues following the appointment of government-appointed trustees, the festival returns for its third edition after an eight-year break. With preparations complete, the festival will offer a packed seven-day programme featuring film screenings, masterclasses, workshops, and Q&A sessions with directors and film teams.
Held under the slogan “The world comes together through stories – Dinya bi çîrokan tê ba hev”, the festival will include screenings in both national and international selection categories. In addition, to support Kurdish-language screenwriting, 15 scripts will compete for the Sînebîr Project Fund.
‘The Journey of Kurdish Cinema’
The festival will also feature feature-length films, documentaries and short films produced within Kurdish cinema over the past eight years. This section will also include Kurdish films that have screened at other festivals, reflecting the Amed Film Festival’s inclusive approach. It will offer an overview of the past eight years and mark a renewed return to the world of cinema and the arts.
Under the National Selection section titled “The Journey of Kurdish Cinema”, 16 feature films, 7 documentaries and 13 short films will compete, alongside additional curated screening programmes. After an eight-year hiatus, the festival will once again meet audiences in Diyarbakır with renewed excitement.
Türkiye and world cinema in Diyarbakır
One of the festival’s key strands will be devoted to Turkish and international productions outside Kurdish-language cinema. The International Selection will feature 10 feature-length films, 11 documentaries and 14 short films.
The programme will also include masterclasses by director Kazım Öz on “Directing in Cinema” and by director Touraj Aslanî titled “The Difference Between Looking and Seeing”. Q&A sessions with directors and film crews will also take place as part of the festival.
In addition, to contribute to the development of Kurdish cinema and encourage screenwriting, 15 finalist projects selected for the Sînebîr Project Fund will compete: five feature-film screenplays, five documentary screenplays and five short-film screenplays. At the end of the festival, one project from each category will receive an award.
Opening film: ‘Kardeş Türküler’ documentary
On the opening day, an exhibition titled “Ji Rê..Yol’dan” will be launched. This group exhibition, built around Yılmaz Güney and the journey of the film Yol, will bring together works by many prominent artists.
The festival’s opening film will be the documentary Kardeş Türküler, directed by Çayan Demirel and Ayşe Çetinbaş.
Workshops and panel discussion
Three workshops will be delivered during the festival: “Kurdish Cinema: The Decentred Camera of a Dispersed Geography” by director Arîn Înan Arslan; “Telling Our Own Stories in Our Own Language: Women’s Cinema” by Hülya Uğur Tanrıöver; and “Independent Documentary Filmmaking” by director Ayşe Çetinbaş.
A panel discussion titled “Fanon at 100” will also be held, moderated by Evrim Kaya, with Dilawer Zeraq, Hakan Karaş and Ezgi Duman as speakers.
Screening venues
Festival screenings will take place at Çand Amed Culture and Congress Centre, Amed City Theatre and the cinema halls at Ceylan Shopping Mall.
