16th Akbank Short Film Festival

Akbank Short Film Festival was held for the first time in 2004. It has developed further over the years into one of the leading arts and culture events in Istanbul with an increasingly diverse programme. The festival aims to encourage short film production, to deliver the films to audiences, to support new filmmakers, to champion short film internationally, to provide a debate platform for short film within a festival culture and to establish a festival for cinema-lovers to enjoy.

In addition to the national and international short film competitions, the festival includes various workshops, interviews and master classes and thus acts as an experience-sharing platform between cinema professionals and festivalgoers. Akbank Short Festival, which takes place in Akbank Sanat every year for ten days, is free of charge for all the events. The festival is composed of “Festival Shorts,” “World Shorts,” “Short to Feature,” “Experiences,” “Documentary Film,” “Perspective,” “Special Screening” and “Forum” sections. Films that have competed at world’s leading film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice are presented to audiences every year. The “Forum” section, which was opened for the first time in 2017, aims to support short films from the scriptwriting stage, organizes trainings for project development and a short film screenplay contest for production support.

So far the festival has featured valuable artists such as Abbas Kiarostami, Reha Erdem, Jessica Woodworth, Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Jafar Panahi, Ahmet Uluçay, Tayfun Pirselimoğlu, Coşkun Aral, Barış Pirhasan with master classes and film screenings.

Every year, with "Akbank Short Film Festival in Universities" event, the festival reaches various cities of Turkey other than Istanbul. The award winning films are screened to the students of universities in Turkey.

16 March - 26 March 2020

Akbank Sanat

Festival Booklet

16th Akbank Short Film Festival Selection

Short Film No body

No body is an autobiographical poetic short animation film This is an experimental charcoal animation story is giving a thought of City and me through 3 emotional chapter of excitement/ frustration/ hope.

Short Film Fun Factory

A Saturday afternoon at a Norwegian play-land a couple witnesses an argument between two mothers and the play-land manager. The couple are wondering if they should intervene, but the situation soon triggers underlying issues of their own.

Short Film Complex Subject

A mysterious teacher comes to a provincial town to work in the local school.

Short Film Journey Through a Body

Thomas, a Swiss-German musician, is stuck at home because of a broken foot. He wanders around his tiny Parisian flat, his leg in a plaster, busy composing a new piece. At sunrise, an unexpected female visitor is showing up at the door.

Short Film Aries

Leyla is a woman who defines herself through her boyfriend’s eyes and tries to fit in man’s world. After her boyfriend’s several psychological violence Leyla feels ignored and overwhelmed by the pressure.

Short Film Avarya

Embarked on a spaceship in the hope of finding a new habitable planet, the human trapped in his own ship after the robot overseer finds every single candidate planet unsuitable.

Short Film Tor

Ayşe is an elderly woman who lives in a town with her grandchild where she has a hard life. She makes her living by looking after Tor, the guard dog of a local rich family.

Short Film G.K.

An inspector comes on developing events to inspection a prison in which prisoners are predominantly pregnant gypsy women.

Conversation On Acting: Öykü Karayel

A conversation will be held with young and talented actress Öykü Karayel about acting profession, her career plans and industry experiences.

Short Film Superheroes without Superpower

Someone puts a VHS in a videorecorder. As soon as the videotape is played, television images of all kind appear on the screen.

Short Film Life Between the Exit Signs

A young man is standing in a hospital room inhabited by his mentally ill mother. She is asleep; instead of waking her, he leaves the room.

Short Film Monster God

God is now a Power Plant. On a misty night cows escape, a child is chosen, and a teenager tries to find freedom.