Istanbul Rainbow Films 2015

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February 12, 2015

March 1, 2015

!f Istanbul International Independent Film Festival (Rainbow Films) – The !f Istanbul International Independent Film Festival was founded in 2001 and every February and March, it hosts some 70,000 film buffs and celebrated filmmakers from around the world. Turkey – Istanbul – Feb 12-22, Ankara – Feb 26 – Mar 1, Izmir – Feb 26 – Mar 1, 2015

Dedicated to showcasing the best in contemporary film, !f believes that the shared experience of cinema is a form of activism that has the power to connect people across borders and boundaries of all description. The festival is curated and based on thematic sections, some of which change every year to reflect issues that are gripping the world’s – and filmmakers’- imagination. Through !f ², a ground-breaking alternative film distribution and sharing project, !f shares the festival spirit with more than 30 cities in Turkey and neighboring countries.

In 2008, !f launched an international film competition – !f Inspired- designed to showcase emerging directors who are taking film in new directions. The competition carries a $15,000 prize for the Most Inspired Director. Love & Change, launched in 2014 is an international platform hosting not only films but also filmmakers who look at the world through critical eyes and with soft hearts, believe that another world is possible, and who prove to us, through their work, that cinematic interventions can make a change. Competition contributes to dream of another world with an award of $10,000

Istanbul Rainbow Films 2015

!f Istanbul Unveils Line Up for 2015 Love & Change Competition

!f Istanbul has announced the line up for its 2015 Love & Change International Film Competition, designed to showcase filmmakers across the world working with activist themes and new styles of collaboration.

Presented in partnership with İş Bankası Maximum Card, the 14^th edition of the !f Istanbul International Independent Film Festival runs in Istanbul February 12-22, followed by Ankara and Izmir from February 26 – March 1, 2015.

The jury responsible for selecting the recipient of the $10,000 prize is comprised of the acclaimed Armenian Canadian actress Arsinee Khanjian, Turkish activist Pınar Selek and Danish producer Marie Oleson.

Naming “The Year’s Most Creative Intervention”

The Love & Change Competition hosts directors who inspire change in the world through the medium of film. It brings together filmmakers who have opened up new techniques or ways of collaboration and the jury then selects the ‘year’s most creative intervention’.

The Nominees

Eight films from countries including Canada, Columbia, Denmark, France, India, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Russia, Syria, Ukraine and USA will compete for this year’s Love & Change Competition. They include;

Silver Water, Syria Self-Portrait by the exiled Syrian filmmaker Ossama Mohammed and Kurdish activist Wiam Simav Bedirxan, a documentary of the atrocities of the Syrian civil war created using a combination of eye-witness accounts shot on mobile phones and posted to the internet, and shot footage;
Maidan by Sergei Loznitsa, a film shot in and around Independence Square in Kiev during protests of late 2013 and 2014;
Tomorrow We Disappear by Jim Goldblum and Adam M. Weber, a documentary about the last days of Kathputli, an artist’s colony in New Delhi, India. Spanning three years, the film follows a few of its colourful residents as they approach their looming eviction.
The Overnighters, a multi-layered and sensitive film directed by Jesse Moss, that focuses on the experiences of various individuals who traveled to North Dakota to secure jobs in the oil business;
Life is Sacred, by Andreas Dalsgaard, a documentary that won a Special Jury Award at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, which follows the extraordinary story of Colombian philosopher-turned-politician Antanas Mockus;
The Vanquishing Witch of Baba Yaga, a poetic meditation-cum-documentary by Jessica Oreck.
The Amina Profile by Sophie Deraspe, tells the love story between a Canadian and Syrian American during the Arab Spring, and unravels into a international socio-political thriller spotlighting media excesses and the fine line between truth and falsehood on the internet; and finally, Tarlabaşı and Me by Marianna Francese and Jaad Gaillet, which tells an incredible story of a man who radically changes his life to live in Tarlabası, an infamous neighborhood undergoing extensive urban renewal, where entire streets of historic residential buildings are being razed to make space for new developments.