The 41st edition of the Istanbul Film Festival was kicked off with Rabiye Kurnaz Vs. George W. Bush. The festival, which is held from April 8-19, 2022, is a celebration of Turkish cinema as well as its international guests.

The Istanbul Film Festival had its grand opening on April 7, 2022, at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall and brought together prominent figures in Turkish as well as international cinema. The gala event was one of celebration of Turkish cinema. An enthusiastic audience applauded when the Turkish actor and host, Cem Davran, presented the two Turkish actresses, Gülsen Tuncer and Meral Cetinkaya, with Cinema Honorary Awards.

“This is a big surprise,” said the openly emotional actress Tuncer, when her husband, director Engin Ayça, presented her with his award. “At least, we should have brought our cats,” she added about the family affair.

Actress Çetinkaya was speechless on stage and instead of talking, she withdrew a chain of lights from her pocket and wrapped it around her neck, so she looked like an illuminated tree. The audience laughed at her heartfelt performance and appreciation of the award when she said, “I cannot speak,” and bowed to the audience.

One of the highlights of the Festival, which is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), was the opening film Rabiye Kurnaz Vs. George W. Bush by German director Andreas Dresen. It is a portrayal of a Turkish mother living in Germany who is determined to get her 19-year-old son out of Guantanamo Bay. The actor, Meltem Kaplan, won a Best Leading Performance award at Berlinale for her role as the main character, Rabiye Kurnaz.

“I want to remind you of the power of mothers, which is incredible,” said Kaplan from the stage before the screening of the film at the opening gala, which was co-sponsored by the HFPA. The real Rabiye Krunaz, who was also present at the opening gala, spent 5 years with human rights lawyer Bernhard Docke to make sure her son was released.

“It was a rather Kafkaesque situation,” said Docke, who took the case to Supreme Court. Krunaz added, “Turkey was not really interested. They saw it as a German issue.” That fact made the film’s screening at the opening night in Istanbul even more important to her, she pointed out.

The 41^st Festival has a rich program and will screen 135 features and 22 shorts by a total of 164 directors from 43 countries. 10 films are competing in the international competition with Norwegian director Bent Hamer, Romanian director Radu Muntean, French producer Marie-Ange Luciani, Iranian director Ali Asgari and Italian programmer Gaia Furrer. Winners will be awarded the top prize at the festival, the Golden Tulip.

Asked at a news conference before the Festival whether there will be films from Russia, Festival Director Kerem Ayan said that there would. “Besides, the Russian directors whose films we’re screening are also against war. We’re also showing Ukrainian films, and we believe in the unifying power of art,” he said. However, none of the films are in competition for the Golden Tulip.

The films in competition are Karim Ainouz’s Mariner of the Mountains (Brazil, France, Germany), Bertrand Bonello’s Coma (France), Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, UK, France, Finland), Dovile Sarutyte’s A Feature Film about Life (Lithuania), Hakkı Kurtuluş and Melik Saraçoğlu’s Together We Shall Die (Turkey, Germany), Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die (Philippines), Oleh Sentsov’s Rhino (Ukraine, Poland, Germany), Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari’s Land of Dreams (USA, Germany, Qatar), Gaspar Noé’s Vortex (France. Belgium, Monaco) and Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet (UK, USA, Hungary).

11 films are in competition for the national section: Four Walls directed by Bahman Ghobadi, The Last Birds of Passage directed by İffet Eren Danışman Boz, Klondike 

directed by Maryna Er Gorbach, Yaban directed by Maryna Er Gorbach, Tell Me About Your Darkness directed by Gizem Kızıl, A Night in Four Parts directed by Ali Kemal Güven, Ela and Hilmi with Ali directed by Ziya Demirel, The Resistance directed by Soner Caner, Before the Night directed by Ali Kemal Çınar, Kerr directed by Tayfun Pirselimoğlu and Zuhal directed by Elif Nazlı Durlu.

The Festival has organized national competitions for documentaries and short films as well. The sidebar sections include: Out of Competition, Turkish Classics Revisited, Documentary Time, Young Masters, among others.

The retrospective section presents seven feature films by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, whose films will be screened in re-mastered copies.

The winners will be announced at the closing and award ceremony to be held on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.