Shorts with Akbank Sanat (Day 1) / Ayvalık International Film Festival
The highly anticipated "Shorts" section of the Ayvalık International Film Festival brings a blend of emerging and established names in cinema to Ayvalık this year with the contribution of Akbank Sanat! Reflecting diverse cultures from Türkiye and around the world, these special selections bring internationally acclaimed, powerful stories to the silver screen, serving as an inspiring meeting point for filmmakers and audiences alike. You can discover the films featured in the event, which will be enriched by director Q&As, under the Screening Program heading.
Screening Program
1. Graft versus Host
Germany, Georgia / 31' / DCP / Renkli / English, German, Georgian, Russian; English sub. / 2026
Drawing on his own experience with cancer treatment, Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze examines the deep economic and political transformations that took place in Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The visceral conflict he experiences with the new immune cells transplanted into his body directly parallels a country’s struggle to adapt as it shifts under a completely new system. Blending archival footage, animation, and a highly personal narrative, this film-essay uses a humorous approach to explore the lingering aftereffects of past transformations that are still actively felt today.
Director: Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze
Screenplay: Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze
Cinematography: Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze
Production: DotComm Production
Music: Tete Noise, Mikk Madisson, Giorgi Koberidze
Editing: Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze, Mahdokht Mahmoudabadi
Cast: Prof. Dr. Igor Wolfgang Blau, Nugzari Gagoshidze, Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze
World Sales: DotComm Production
2. Of Lights Ghosts (Von Lichtergeistern)
Austria / 27' / DCP / Colour / German; Turkish, English Sub. / 2026
Of Light Ghosts is a film about the Ebensee Bell Ringers’ Parade, a ceremonial procession held every year on the evening of January 5 at Lake Traunsee. In the film, we follow the only group of women participating in this tradition. Isabella Fellinger describes her film: “I wanted to explore light and the movement of light - from candles, flashlights, fireworks, and bonfires to the moon and the Bell Ringers’ own lanterns. As I captured these women’s light on film, I wanted to focus my attention on their stories, their images, and their voices.”
Director: Isabella Fellinger
Narrator: Inge Maux, Marie-Luise Stockinger
Cinematography: Viktor Maria Sommerfeld, Max Koller, Isabella Fellinger
Producer: Isabella Fellinger
Editing: Max Koller, Isabella Fellinger
Cast: Traditional Bell-Ringing Processioners of the Ebensee Region
3. Blisters
USA, United Kingdom / 13' / DCP / Colour / English, Turkish; Turkish, English Sub. / 2025
Summer of 1983, Manhattan. Moon, a fifteen-year-old girl with a Turkish father and a Korean mother who is no longer in her life, helps out at the grocery store her father runs. Moon does not think her entrepreneurial father’s plan to keep the store open twenty-four hours a day is a very "cool idea." She is instead dreaming about the David Bowie concert taking place in the city that night. Just like the rock star who constantly reinvents himself, she longs to transcend the identities and boundaries that cling to her - and create herself anew from scratch.
Greenpoint Film Festival 2026
Honorable Mention
Director: Alia Wilhelm, Callie Keels Ju
Screenplay: Alia Wilhelm, Callie Keels Ju
Cinematography: Adam Kolodny
Producer: Alia Wilhelm
Music: Kerim Wilhelm
Editing: Kate Pedatella
Cast: Ainur Zhanibek, Isa Camyar, Ryan Knowles, Rebecca Lauren
4. Shot Reverse Shot (Plan Contraplan)
Romania / 22' / DCP / Colour / English, Romanian; Turkish, English Sub. / 2026
American journalist Edward Serotta traveled throughout Romania between 1985 and 1987. He used his camera to document both the harsh realities of the country and the Jewish community in Romania. Forty years later, Radu Jude, who conceived this short documentary with Adrian Cioflâncă using Serotta’s archive, has a mischievous surprise in store for the second half of his film. During that same period, the secret service had also photographed Serotta’s every move.
Curtas Vila do Conde 2026
Manoel de Oliveira Award - Best Documentary
Director: Radu Jude, Adrian Cioflâncă
Screenplay: Radu Jude, Adrian Cioflâncă
Voices: Edward Serotta, Diana Mărgărit
Production: Saga Film
Editing: Cătălin Cristuțiu
Archive Photography: Edward Serotta
Research: Diana Mărgărit
* The event will take place at Fabrika Ayvalık.
Adress: Fevzipaşa - Vehbibey, Barbaros Cd. 4. Sk. No:3, 10400 Ayvalık/Balıkesir