 |
| Director Ahmet Albakri with his prize for Best Documentary at GIIFF 2014 |
CULTURE / FILM
Borderless! and Brink were among the winning films
announced at the Closing Gala of the very first Golden Island InternationalFilm Festival (GIIFF), which took place last Thursday. The filmmakers
were presented their prizes of €2,000 each by Creditwest Bank, the Festival’s
main sponsor, at Le Chateau Lambousa in Girne. The Festival closed with the
screening of the winning films along with a film created by young British and
Cypriot filmmakers who worked together as part of the Erasmus Plus project
during the Festival.
Following selection by jury, the
directors of the Best Documentary (Borderless!,
directed by Ahmet Albakri), and Best Short Film (Brink, directed by Fardad Mottarjemi Khodadad and Kürşat Sekmen),
along with the two Best Newcomers (Arınç Arısoy for Evolution and Sholeh Zahraei and Kamil Saldun for The Olive Tree at The Border) were each
presented their prize by Creditwest Bank’s CEO Dr. Süleyman Erol and Executive
Vice-President Mazher Zaheer. The awards followed a competition for shorts and
documentaries in the Cyprus
 |
| Dr. Süleyman Erol and Mazher Zaheer (both on far left) with GIIFF 2014 winners |
In her speech, GIIFF director Yeşim
Güzelpınar recalled comments made to her by Oscar award-winning producer and
director Peter Fudakowski, who attended GIIFF 2014 for the screening of his
latest film Secret Sharer. Fudakowski
said: “Cyprus
Güzelpınar continued, “When we decided to set up the festival we
set certain targets. We wanted to open the doors for Northern
Cyprus to the worldwide film industry, bring some great films to
audiences here, provide [ethnic] minorities with screenings from their
homeland, and to play a role in inspiring Cypriot directors…to produce new
quality work and attract the attention of international film festivals.”
Over 65 features, documentaries and
shorts were screened in eight venues across North Cyprus
and the UN Buffer Zone, along with director-led Q & A’s throughout the
week-long inaugural Golden Island International Film Festival, which closed on
13 November. Among the films selected
for this year’s GIIFF programme were several that have been put forward for the
2015 Oscar Academy Awards, including Nihat Seven’s Uzun Yol (Long Road),
nominated by BAFTA, with documentary Plot for Peace another contender for next
year’s Oscars.
 |
| Yeşim Güzelpınar (c) with two jurors from GIIFF 2014 |
The Closing Gala also screened the
collaborative works of young Cypriot and Film Beyond Borders/ Erasmus Plus
project participants, where they shot, edited and presented a 20-minute film
they had made in Cyprus Britain to travel to North
Cyprus to take part in the project and to gain valuable work
experience as volunteers at GIIFF.
GIIFF is backed by a number of partners
including the Independent Film Trust, Raindance Film Festival, Detmold
International Short Film Festival, Datça International Short Film Festival, the
University of East Anglia (Film Dept), the Home for Co-operation (Cyprus),
Movies that Matter, the Turkish Cypriot Community Association (UK), and Youth
Power (Cyprus). Along Creditwest Bank, the festival was sponsored by Girne American
University and
Güzelpınar ended by acknowledging the teething
problems at the inaugural festival and thanked the Festival’s sponsors,
organising team and filmmakers for their efforts: “During our first year we experienced many amazing things, but also
some difficulties and problems. As the GIIFF team, we have learnt from our
experience and we will work on creating an even better Festival for next year.
We firmly believe that through cinema, you can realise your dreams.”
RELATED ARTICLES:
No comments:
Post a Comment