July 1st, 2024 was a very exciting day for me! It was the date when submissions started for the Ankara International Wildlife Documentary Film Festival, the first of its kind in the country.
I am Ece Soydam, a long-time wildlife filmmaker and the very recent founder of this new festival in Türkiye. Having participated in many international wildlife film festivals since the past 20 years, I have always been thrilled to watch great documentaries, meet with and learn from colleagues from around the world and exchange information. Every time I came back from a festival to Ankara, I always talked about it for days and wished the team, my colleagues, the emerging wildlife filmmakers in Türkiye, my friends and my family could experience that atmosphere I so much enjoyed. As I cant take everyone with me to these festivals, it just dawned upon me one day - Why not bring the festival to them? And Why not introduce wildlife filmmakers to Turkish wildlife?
Ece Soydam
The first wildlife documentary film festival of Türkiye will be held in the capital Ankara. Please mark the dates May 15 18, 2025!
Submissions are open until December 16th, 2024.
You will find more information on our website very soon. Details about the festival, the city of Ankara and the wildlife of the region and the country will be available at www.aywff.com.tr. We invite you all to submit your documentaries through filmfreeway.com and wait for more announcements about the festival.
We are looking forward to receiving your submissions! Hope to welcome you all and meet many new colleagues in Ankara!
ANKARA INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
The capital Ankara will host a brand-new festival in 2025. For the first time in Türkiye, a documentary film festival about wildlife will be organized. Submissions for the competition section of the 1st Ankara International Wildlife Documentary Film Festival, which is planned to take place between May 15 - 18, 2025, opened on July 1st, 2024. Thanks to the interest of many filmmakers, 130 submissions from 36 countries have been received just in the first month.
The festival is organized to draw national and international attention to Anatolia's wildlife, contribute to nature conservation efforts and support the developmen t of wildlife documentary filmmaking. It is aimed to bring together wildlife documentaries and teams from many countries of the world with both the audience and professional or amateur wildlife documentarians, to follow the innovations in the world, to be a pioneer in some areas and to be instrumental in collaborations and co-productions.
The festival, which will include four days of documentary film screenings, Q&As with film crews, workshops and seminars, will also have a competition section where wildlife documentaries from all over the world will be evaluated in short and feature categories.
Founded by director and producer Ece Soydam, who has been producing wildlife documentaries at TRT for nearly twenty years, the festival is organized in partnership with Çigdem Education, Environment and Solidarity Association and Nature Conservation Center, with the support of United Nations GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), European Union Sivil Düs¸ün Programme and Ayten & Aycan. The search for resources continues in order to make the organization, to which various embassies will also contribute, more comprehensive.
Submissions for the festival competition will be open until December 16th, 2024 through filmfreeway.com. Inviting all wildlife documentary filmmakers from Türkiye and across the globe to apply to the festival, the festival team continues to work to present a full program for the 1st Ankara International Wildlife Documentary Film Festival on May 15 18th, 2025.
FESTIVAL PROGRAM
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Opening ceremony and documentary
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Documentary screenings
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Q&A with directors
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Workshops
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Seminars
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Wildlife excursion (for guests)
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Closing and award ceremony
CATEGORIES
AWARDS
Enter here: filmfreeway.com/AnkaraUluslararasiYabanHayatiBelgeselFilmFestivali
Follow: instagram.com/ank_yabanwildff, x.com/Ank_YabanWildFF & facebook.com/Ankyabanwildff |
