11. Seattle Turkish Film Festival 2023
11. Seattle Türk Film Festivali 2023
10. Kısa Film Yarışması
17 - 19
2023
Son Başvuru: 1 Ağustos 2023
İrem Gökçe Aydın
STFF Shorts
stff.org
shorts @ stff.org
info @ stff.org
@seaturkfilmfest
Seattle Turkish Film Festival
Bu sene 11.sini düzenlediğimiz Seattle Türk Film Festivali dahilinde gerçeklesen
10. Kısa Film programımızdaki ödül alan ve öne çıkan filmler su şekilde:
You All & I Alone - Grand Jury Award
Things Unheard Of - 1st Runner Up
Fatih the Conqueror - 2nd Runner Up
Game, Interrupted - Special Mention
Agora - First Time Filmmaker Award
Hell is Empty, All the Devils are Here - Unique Lens Award
Lipstick - STFFShorts Audience Award
Children of the White Mountain - STFFDocs Audience Award
İrem Gokce Aydın
on behalf of STFFShorts Program Committee
28 Kasım 2023
www.stff.org
shorts@stff.org
Announcing our 2023 STFFDocs Audience award winner Children of the White
Mountain, directed by Yalçın Çiftçi!
We always enjoy presenting our Audience Awards, knowing how much these films are
appreciated and loved by all of you. Thanks to everyone who joined us festival
weekend and shared their votes!
Burcu Görgün'ün yönettiği 2023 STFFShorts Seyirci ödülü kazanan Rujumuzu
açıklıyoruz!
Seyirci Ödüllerimizi sunmaktan her zaman keyif alıyoruz, bu filmlerin hepiniz
tarafından ne kadar takdir edildiğini ve sevildiğini biliyoruz. Festival
haftasonu bize katılan ve oylarını paylaşan herkese teşekkürler!
Announcing our Grand Jury Favorite award winner, Ben Tek Siz Hepiniz/You All & I
Alone, directed by Barış Kefeli and Nükhet Taneri!
You All & I Alone is a multilayered, darkly humorous exploration of several
complex ideas: the psychological burden of being the unwelcome exception in your
community, the political responsibility of the illuminated intellectual in a
society drowning in darkness, or perhaps the guilt of living with a privilege
you can neither fully endorse nor let go with ease. This clever film works on a
concrete level of social critique as well, presenting an increasingly intense
portrait of poor infrastructure, vandalism, and growing discontent.
We, as the STFFShorts jury, appreciated the intriguing central concept, the
uniformly excellent performances of the cast, and the visual creativity the
filmmakers displayed in building a near-dystopian world within the confines of
an ordinary apartment in Istanbul.
Announcing our Grand Jury 1st Runner Up award winner, Things Unheard Of,
directed by Ramazan Kılıç!
A truly cinematic film, Things Unheard Of weaves together themes of suppression,
communication, family bonds, and the power of imagination, played out against
the backdrop of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. The story revolves around a young
girl, Şevîn, in a small rural village and her link with her voiceless
grandmother. With creativity and determination, Şevîn circumvents a government
crackdown by restoring broken ties to her family and the outside world, and
providing her community another “window” -a vehicle for communication and the
continuity of culture. We look to movies to provide us with a visual
anthropology, stories of humanity, stories that involve us emotionally. This
film did that as it deftly steers away from potential maudlin pitfalls often
present in the artistic treatment of persecuted minorities.
Impressive camera work, gorgeous images, the attention to cultural detail, and
the overall technical expertise of the filmmakers, along with an excellent cast,
distinguished this film. The STFFShorts jury felt it to be *the stepping stone
for this director. As one juror put it, “Ramazan should make a feature now.”
Announcing our Grand Jury 2nd Runner Up award winner, Fatih the Conqueror,
directed by Onur Yağız!
Fatih the Conqueror caught the STFFShorts jury off guard with its warm humor,
relatability, and compassionate depiction of Turkish cultural sensibility. With
limited sets and budget, the filmmakers were able to evoke the span of Turkish
history from the lavish fifteenth century to the modern rented wedding halls of
France—all under 15 minutes.
I can see Fatih showing up in more situations where his mild-mannered meekness
could be juxtaposed with the fantastical hypermasculine Turkish history of the
modern imagination. Extra points go to Öcal’s wild veneers and his expert smoke
curls.
Huge news for STFFShorts 2023...one of these films stood out so much to our jury,
we had to create a new award! Congratulations to director İlayda İşeri for her
film Oyunbozan/Game, Interrupted, winner of this year's Honorable Mention award!
Game, Interrupted stood out to the STFFShorts jury for its unique vision and
unpredictable nature. The director, only 20 years old, clearly has a strong
imagination that does not seem bound to the conventional. The film had something
to say, but was also entertaining, and continually took us all by surprise with
its twists and turns, mixture of genre elements, and creative production design.
We feel it deserves to be recognized for being a unique and imaginative
achievement by a young and emerging filmmaker, who clearly shows great promise
and potential for the future.
STFFDocs selection
Emma
Yönetmen / Director Merve Kuş Mataracı
Beyaz Dağın Çocukları / Children of the White Mountain
Yönetmen / Director Yalçın Çiftçi
Minik, Annemin Kısa Öyküsü / Minik, My Mother's Short Story
Yönetmen / Director Mert İnan
Yaz Tatili / Summer Holiday
Yönetmen / Director Mehtap Şamiloğlu
Vakti Gelince / In Due Time
Yönetmen / Director Murat Yüksel
Kennedy'nin Doğuşu / The Birth of Kennedy
Yönetmen / Director Gülben Arıcı
STFFShorts selection
Oyunbozan / Game, Interrupted
Yönetmen / Director İlayda İşeri
Ruj / Lipstick
Yönetmen / Director Burcu Görgün
cehennem boş, tüm şeytanlar burada / hell is empty, all the devils are here
Yönetmen / Director Özgürcan Uzunyaşa
Agora
Yönetmen / Director Tolga Evgüzel
Fatih the Conqueror
Yönetmen / Director Onur Yağız
Ben Tek Siz Hepiniz / You All & I Alone
Yönetmen / Director Barış Kefeli, Nükhet Taneri
Sparks Lampini
Yönetmen / Director Rebecca O'Neill
Rutubet / The Moisture
Yönetmen / Director Turan Haste
Things Unheard Of
Yönetmen / Director Ramazan Kılıç
Can Suyu / Water of Life
Yönetmen / Director Sündüs Gören
The Maze
Yönetmen / Director Selçuk Ören
STFFShorts Program
STFFShorts Program is a part of the STFF Festival and a celebration of short
films of all genres. The jury primarily consists of distinguished voices in the
Seattle arts community.
Each year, during STFF, STFFShorts brings together a curated selection of shorts,
providing international exposure to exceptional filmmakers and connecting them
with Northwest audiences.
This year, STFFShorts and STFFDocs selections will be screened between November
18-19 at SIFF Cinema Uptown.
STFFShorts 2023 Selection
Agora
Tolga Evguzel | TURKEY | 2023 | 14 min
An agoraphobic writer, who is depressed of modern world contradictions, puts a
challenge on herself about getting out of her home to prove that she is free.
However her depression brings her to a point where she is completely detached
from reality.
Fatih the Conqueror
Onur Yagiz | FRANCE | 2023 | 15 min
This Saturday is a Turkish wedding day at Espace Venise (France). Huddled in a
car in the parling lot, Fatih, 21, wants to get married. He has set his sights
on Ipek, Recep’s sister. But neither Murat, his best friend, nor Recep, nor even
Ipek are aware of this yet.
Game, Interrupted
Ilayda Iseri | TURKEY | 2023 | 15 min
In 1979, during their winter break, two siblings aged 7 and 8 find their way out
of boredom by switching from one game to another in a small apartment in Ankara.
Their father passed away a few years ago, their mother is at work all day and
their grandmother is sleeping on the couch as usual. However, something goes
wrong that day. While trying to figure out what happened, they notice a strange
intruder at the door, who resembles Khomeini or Darth Vader. They must fix the
course of events before their mother returns home.
hell is empty, all the devils are here
Özgürcan Uzunyaşa | TURKEY | 2022 | 18 min
Aspiring actress Gülşah is preparing for the auditions of an acting school. She
also volunteers for a theatre and one day she is sexually assaulted by famous
actor Levent, who is also a jury member for the audition she is preparing. Daily
reality and the reality of the theatre world flow into each other and Gülşah has
to fight against several patriarchs in order to fulfill her dreams.
Lipstick
Burcu Görgün | TURKEY | 2022 | 12 min
Sabahattin, a ten-year-old, sells water and tea on the streets in order to help
his family earn a living. He surpasses the boundaries of the violent world that
he was born into, with the help of his imagination and the superheroes in the
comics he reads. When he understands the people are not aware of his existence,
he thinks that he is invisible. His only wish is to become visible. He believes
that when people notice him, his fate will change. And to become visible, he
finds out a childish and the simplest way to imitate the superheroes he reads in
comic books.
Sparks Lampini
Rebecca O'Neill | UNITES STATES | 2022 | 18 min
After hints of possible abuse, a Turkish-American woman confronts her teenage
sister’s boyfriend.
The Maze
Selçuk Ören | TURKEY | 2022 | 4 min
While searching for an exit in the corridors of the labyrinth, a middle-aged man
faces his past and through the cracks on the wall confronts his hidden
conscience.
The Moisture
Turan Haste | TURKEY | 2022 | 20 min
Teacher İshak, who is doing his compulsory duty in Anatolia, on the one hand,
trying to solve the child custody problem with his wife, on the other hand,
enters into a struggle for authority with Yusuf, the most prankish student in
the class, who distanced him from his ideals. When he decides to regain his
ideals, which he has become increasingly distant from, he soon realizes that
nothing will be the same as before.hile searching for an exit in the corridors
of the labyrinth, a middle-aged man faces his past and through the cracks on the
wall confronts his hidden conscience.
Things Unheard Of
Ramazan Kilic | TURKEY | 2023 | 15 min
A little Kurdish girl tries to put a smile back on her grandmother’s face after
the disappearance of her television, her only window into the world
Water of Life
Sündüs Gören | TURKEY | 2023 | 15 min
Sema lives in Babadağ district of Denizli. She is married and has a child. As in
many houses in Babadağ, they have to be evicted from the house they live in due
to landslides. Those who leave their homes will be allocated a mass housing flat
(an apartment) in Denizli. Sema could not cut the emotional bond between her
after her mother's death. Sema does not want to leave the house because of this
bond she established with her mother. Her husband, Osman, wants to go to the
apartment to be allocated because he sees moving to a mass housing flat as
ranking social status. Sema thinks that if she leaves home, her bond with her
mother will decrease. She is torn between environmental pressure and the bond
she established with her mother.
You All & I Alone
Baris Kefeli, Nukhet Taneri | TURKEY | 2022 | 14 min
A city - wide power outage strikes Istanbul. Deniz discovers he has electricity
in his apartment although his building doesn’t. Despite the chaos in the city,
he tries to resume his life as usual. However, as the blackout lasts, he finds
himself wrestling with uncanny feelings.
STFFDocs 2023 Selection
Children of the White Mountain
Yalcin Ciftci | TURKEY | 2023 | 20 min
We are at a village school in Anatolia in a cold and snowy winter. The village
school in the cemetery contains many mysteries.
Emma
Merve KUŞ MATARACI | TURKEY, UNITED KINGDOM | 2022 | 29 min
It is about the life of British Emma, who is engaged in animal husbandry and
agriculture, in her village in Turkey, and the inspiring 'deep bond' she
establishes with nature.
When Emma is a high school student in England, she and her girlfriend run away
from school to a wedding. This escapade changes her destiny when she falls in
love with Turk Mehmet, whom she saw at the wedding. When Mehmet, an illegal
immigrant, is deported, Emma follows him to Turkey.
She lives in Sarılar village with Mehmet and her 8 children. Emma, while
adapting to her life, focuses on the struggle of being a foreign woman and a
mother in the circle of financial difficulties.
In Due Time
Murat YÜKSEL | TURKEY | 2022 | 15 min
The quartz and feldspar mines located in the southeast of Aydın's Çine district
harm public health and ecological structure. Workers employed without job
security come down with lung diseases. Approximately six thousand workers work
in twenty-five mining companies in the area. On the other hand, the most common
disease is silicosis. While health impaired people have been struggling for life
in agony for many years, it is stated that at least fifty workers have passed
away so far. The director interviewed villagers, workers, health professionals,
environmentalists and representatives of the professional chambers; and also
imaged the encountered events and ecocide.
Minik, My Mother's Short Story
Mert Inan | TURKEY | 2023 | 8 min
My mother was taken out of school with excitement when she was just in the first
grade and was sent to religious courses at the mosque. Forced by family pressure
to attend the mosque until the age of 13, my mother later moved to a new
neighborhood, where she was able to take external exams thanks to a teacher, and
she completed her interrupted story by herself, finally obtaining her elementary
school diploma. "Minik, Annemin Kısa Öyküsü" is the story of my mother's
childhood, what she experienced, thought, and felt, as she narrates it to me in
conversation.
Summer Holiday
Mehtap Şamiloğlu | TURKEY | 2023 | 15 min
Beritan is 13 years old. He lives with his mother. His father goes to Istanbul
to earn money as a construction worker during the summer months. Beritan is the
child who wants to support her family and takes cows to graze in exchange for
money. Beritan talks about the burden-some conditions in the village and how
they spend their summer holidays with his family.
One day, he expresses his desire to become a veterinarian and dedicate himself
to animals, to buy back her horse, Kartopu, which he had to sell due to hardship
of financial during the pandemic, and to set an example for his friends with his
beautiful words.
The Birth Of Kennedy
Gülben Arıcı | TURKEY | 2022 | 16 min
The spirit of the American President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in
1963, resurrects in Mahmut Haklıgör's body. The entire neighborhood sincerely
believes that he is Kennedy. Kennedy Mahmut is currently a vegetable transporter
and also plays the organ at weddings. The perspective of the director's
neighborhood and his colleagues on this reincarnation event and Mahmut Bey's
colorful life are the subject of the documentary.The story is told in a natural
language and from a participant-observer perspective. The documentary "The Birth
of Kennedy" is about Mahmut Bey's journey to becoming a Kennedy and the stance
of his people on this journey.
Film Screeners
Burak Boyacioglu
Didem Demirkilinc
Duygu Aktas
Gokhan Duymaz
Guven Kara
Irem Gokce Aydin
Nural Sumbultepe
Sarah Anderson
Osman Ibis
Tugrul Cafer
Grand Jury
Eren Odabasi
Professor of Global Cinema
Dr. Eren Odabasi is an Associate Professor of Global Cinema in the English
Department at Western Washington University. He holds a PhD in Communication &
Film Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an MA in
Economics from Bogazici University. As a film critic, he has been writing
extensively for Altyazi (www.altyazi.net), one of the oldest and most widely
read film publications in Turkey, since 2008. He was invited to the Talents
Program of the Berlin International Film Festival twice and served as a jury
member in the Semaine de la Critique section of the Cannes Film Festival in
2013.
Jeff Ferrell
Filmmaker, Musician, Actor & Author
Jeff Ferrell is a Seattle-based filmmaker, musician, actor and author. He has
written and directed three feature films, including Holiday Hell starring horror
icon Jeffrey Combs, Dead West, which was available on Netflix and in Walmart
stores, and Ghostlight. He is currently preparing his fourth feature film, which
will be made in 2024.
Safiye Senturk
Producer & Production Designer
Safiye Senturk is a producer and production designer. Her recent film, Fantasy A
Gets a Mattress, opened Local Sightings Film Festival, Tacoma Film Festival, and
Silent City Film Festival, has screened to sold-out audiences at SIFF Film
Center, Northwest Film Forum, The Beacon and Grand Illusion Cinema, as well as
won Best Narrative Feature at the Seattle Black Film Festival. Apart from
Senturk’s work as a filmmaker, she has held positions at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, The Frick Collection, Pratt Institute, and Gagosian Gallery.
Virginia Bogert
Filmmaker, Producer & Curator
Virginia Bogert is the recipient of the 2023 recipient of the Mayor’s Film Award
for Outstanding Achievement in Film and has directed, written, edited and
produced award-winning film and media for three decades. Her company Laughing
Dog Pictures focuses on human rights and the Arts. Bogert has served as Director
of Film & Media at MoPop producing national and international programs. She
founded the Post Alley Film Festival, a woman-centric and eccentric film
festival, and is President of Women in Film Seattle. Her many credits include
documentaries for PBS: Pike Place Market: Soul of a City, which garnered six
Emmys and a Telly; the award-winning Healing a Soldier's Heart and Fields of
Plenty, and created documentaries for National Endowment for the Arts (American
Masterworks), and Spoonman for the United Nations, winning another 1st prize
Telly. Virginia’s romantic comedy The Delivery, a SIFF Fly Film, won Best Short
at Port Townsend Film Festival. Tootie Pie, her dramatic short, premiered at
Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), screened at Langston Hughes Black
Film Festival, and is broadcast on PBS.
Seattle Türk Film Festivali 2023
BASIN BÜLTENİ
Seattle Türk Film Festivali 10. Kısa Film Seçkisi Başvurulara Açıldı
Bu yıl onuncusu düzenlenecek olan Seattle Türk Film Festivali (STFF) Kısa Film
Programı, 22 Nisan 2023 tarihinden itibaren başvuruları kabul etmeye başladı.
Son başvuru tarihi ise 1 Ağustos 2023.
SEATTLE, WA – A.B.D.’nin Seattle kentinde her yıl Seattle Türk Film Festivali (STFF)
bünyesinde gerçekleştirilen Kısa Film Programı’nın (STFFShorts Program) onuncusu
22 Nisan 2023 tarihinden itibaren başvurulara açıldı. Son başvuru tarihinin 1
Ağustos 2023 olduğu program, bu yıl da Festival ve Belgesel seçkilerini 10. yıl
heyecanıyla birlikte seyircisiyle buluşturmayı hedefliyor.
Alanında uzman olan kişilerden oluşan büyük jürinin seçtiği filme 300 Amerikan
doları değerindeki Büyük Jüri Ödülü, her bir seçki için de seyircilerin
oylarıyla belirlenecek olan filmlere de 300 dolar değerinde Seyirci Ödülü
verilecektir. Bunların yanı sıra ön jürinin filmler arasından belirleyeceği
filmin yönetmeni de 250 dolar değerindeki İlk Film Ödülü İle desteklenecektir.
Son olarak, bu yıl ilk defa, ön jürinin seçtiği bir filme 250 dolar değerindeki
Özgün Bakış Ödülü takdim edilecektir. Büyük Jüri Ödülü’ne değer görülen filmin
yönetmeni festivale katılması için Seattle’a davet edilecektir.
2022 yılında düzenlenen programda, Aram Dildar’ın yönettiği “Adres” adlı kısa
film Büyük Jüri Ödülü’ne layık görülmüş, seyircilerin oylarıyla belirlenen
Festival Seçkisi Seyirci Ödülü’nün sahibi “Şêro” filmi ile Mustafa Efelti’nin,
Belgesel Seçkisi Seyirci Ödülü ise “Nosema” filmi ile Etna Özbek’in olmuştu.
Aynı yıl başlattığımız İlk Film Ödülü’nün sahibi ise, Mehmet Göksu’nun “Sıfır
Noktası” isimli filmi olmuştu. 2022 yılında ilk defa, kısa film programının bir
parçası olarak hayata geçirdiğimiz “Belgesel Seçkisi” de izleyici tarafından
ilgiyle karşılanmıştır.
2022 yılında 180’e yakın başvurunun yapıldığı programa bu yıl da yoğun ilgi
bekleniyor.
Yıl boyunca yaptıkları etkinliklerle ve yerel film organizasyonlarıyla
kurdukları bağlarla Seattle kültür ve sanat camiasının bir parçası olan Seattle
Türk Film Festivali, Kısa Film Seçkisiyle de Türkiyeli ya da Türkiye’den göçen
sanatçılarımızı Seattle seyircisi ve yapımcılarıyla buluşturuyor.
Program şartnamesi ve daha fazla bilgi için www.stff.org adresini ziyaret
edebilirsiniz.
Seattle Turkish Film Festival
İrem Gökçe Aydın
info@stff.org
