Accessible Film Festival has expanded and brought the festival to the audience in three cities this year: Eskişehir (May 5-7), İstanbul (May 12-14), and Ankara (May 18-23). On May 23, the festival has ended its run for this year with an Award Ceremony organized at Goethe-Institut Ankara.
The festival was hosted by Taşbaşı Culture and Art Center in Eskişehir, Boğaziçi University Movie Theater SineBu in İstanbul, Çankaya Municipality Contemporary Arts Center and Ulucanlar Prison Movie Theater in Ankara.
As always, the Festival presented a program that is accessible for everyone. All the films were screened with audio description, sign language translation and detailed subtitles while Q&A sessions after the screenings were assisted by a sign language translator. Also, all Festival venues were specifically selected from accessible ones.
COMPETITION WITHOUT BARRIERS
In its fifth year, Competition Without Barriers program have included five films this year: Mehmet Can Mertoğlu’s Album, Kıvanç Sezer’s My Father’s Wings, Reha Erdem’s Big Big World, Rıza Sönmez’s Don’t Tell Orhan Pamuk That His Novel Snow Is in The Film I Made About Kars, and Seren Yüce’s Swaying Waterlily.
The Festival audience have voted for the Special Audience Award with voting ballots available in Braille.
Festival Jury, comprised of director and screenwriter İlksen Başarır, movie critic Mehmet Açar, and author&actress Nazan Kesal, has given the awards in Best Film, Best Director, Best Script.
FOUR AWARDS WERE GIVEN
During the Award Ceremony, presenter Levent Kol was assisted by sign language translator Oya Tanyeri on stage and the ceremony was simultaneously interpreted with audio description by Nezahat Şalkamcı.
Competition Without Barriers awards were presented by Maggie Moore, the wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey and Engin Yılmaz, the director of GETEM (Assistive Technology and Education Laboratory for Individuals with Visual Disabilities).
In Competition Without Barriers, Reha Erdem’s BIG BIG WORLD has won the Best Film award while REHA ERDEM has won the Best Director award. MEHMET CAN MERTOĞLU has been awarded with Best Script award for his film Album. Also, Rıza Sönmez’s DON’T TELL ORHAN PAMUK THAT HIS NOVEL SNOW IS IN THE FILM I MADE ABOUT KARS has won the Special Audience Award.
The Award Ceremony has ended with the screening of the short film, Anatole’s Little Saucepan.