Claire Denis heads jury of 30th Istanbul Film Festival

French director Claire Denis will head the jury of the Istanbul Film Festival, which is organising a number of special events and awarding additional prizes to celebrate its 30th edition.

12 films, including Anh Hung Tran’s Norwegian Wood, Lech Majewski’s The Mill And The Cross and Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies will compete for the Golden Tulip, the main prize in the festival’s International Competition section.

The festival has yet to announce the full jury.

Among the special events at this year’s festival will be a concert by the band Tindersticks - a regular collaborator on Claire Denis films; a retrospective of 19 of the best films to have screened at the festival; and additional sections, including one curated by the curators of the 12th Istanbul biennale.

The fourth edition of the Meetings on the Bridge seminars will take place on April 13 and 14, with representatives from the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Eurimages, Arte, Cinelink, Torino Film Lab, Fortissimo, and Binger Lab expected to attend.

Two chosen projects from Meetings on the Bridge will receive a $10,000 award from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Republic of Turkey, a $16,000 (25.000TL) post-production support award from Melodika, and $14,000 (€10.000) support award from CNC. For the first time this year, the Binger Lab will award a project a $3,500 (€2,500) script development prize and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism will announce the creation of a Turkish-German co-production film development fund of $210,000 (€150,000).

The FACE Award (Film Award of the Council of Europe) – a $13,800 (€10,000) prize created five years ago - will be presented to one of the films screened in the Human Rights in Cinema section. This year, the FACE jury is headed by Scandar Copti, one of the directors’ of last year’s winner, Ajami, with films in the section including Abdellatif Kechiche’s Black Venus, Iciar Bollain’s Even the Rain and Jim Loach’s Oranges and Sunshine.

The festival will also award a $30,000 FIPRESCI prize.

The Cinema Honorary Awards will be presented to four major figures in Turkish cinema: director Yusuf Kurçenli, cinematographer Ertunç Şenkay, and actors Metin Akpınar and Zeki Alasya. Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr will also receive an honorary award, with his last film, The Turin Horse also screening in the World of the Festivals section.

The Turkish Cinema section, featuring films produced in Turkey over the past year, showcases 46 fiction and documentaries, while 14 films will compete in the National Competition, the jury of which is headed by Turkish director Reha Erdem.