Winners of the 25th Izmir International Short Film Festival Announced

25th Izmir International Short Film Festival Concludes with Grand Awards Ceremony

Celebrating a quarter-century of cinematic excellence, the 25th Izmir International Short Film Festival successfully concluded its run from November 11–17. This year, the festival received an overwhelming 4,222 submissions from 130 countries across Fiction, Animation, Documentary, and Experimental categories. While the experimental section did not feature a competitive screening this year, a total of 32 finalists competed for the prestigious Golden Cat Awards.

National and International Winners Announced

The National Fiction Jury, composed of Emre Kavuk, Vildan Erşen, and Görkem Yeltan, awarded the Best Film prize to "Almost Certainly Wrong" (Neredeyse Kesinlikle Yanlış), directed by Cansu Baydar.

In the International Fiction category, the jury—including Martin Markov, Romanna Lobach, Nazlı Bulum, and Celine Roustan—selected "Crust", directed by Jens Kevin Georg, as the Best Film.

OFFICIAL WINNERS OF THE 25th IZMIR INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

National Fiction Short Film

• Best Film: Almost Certainly Wrong (Dir. Cansu Baydar)

• Best Second Film: We Need to Talk About Dilan (Dir. Umut Şilan Oğurlu)

• Best Third Film: Perfect (Dir. Ece Dizdar)

• Best Director: Minus One (Dir. Ömer Ferhat Özmen)

• Best Cinematography: Almost Certainly Wrong (Cinematographer: Barış Özbiçer)

• Best Art Direction: Minus One (Art Director: Hülya Karakaş)

• Best Editing: We Need to Talk About Dilan (Editor: Doruk Kaya)

• Best Screenplay: Morî (Writer/Dir. Yakup Tekintangaç)

• Best Performance: Almost Certainly Wrong (Actress: Rahaf Armanazi)

International Fiction Short Film

• Best Film: Crust (Dir. Jens Kevin Georg)

• Best Second Film: Street Light (Dir. Romain Dumont)

• Best Third Film: 154 (Dir. Andrea Sbarbaro, Riccardo Copreni)

National Documentary

• Best Documentary: A Good Death (Dir. Hasan Ete)

• Honorable Mention: Ufku & Ülviye (Dir. Erkan Tahhuşoğlu)

National Animation

• Best Animation: Cut from the Dead (Dir. Elif Dönmez, Deniz Koçyiğit)

• Honorable Mention: Echo (Dir. Mehveş Topçuoğlu)

National Projects (Izmir Film Lab)

• First Prize: Until Death Do Us Part (Dir. Deniz Koloş, Onur Güler)

• Honorable Mention: Election Day (Dir. Deniz Cengiz)

Izmir Projects

• First Prize: Becoming a Sausage (Dir. Volkan Durmuş, Onur Kemal Karakuş)

• Honorable Mention: Motivation (Dir. Mustafa Gönülver, Sezer Koç)

• Honorable Mention: The Scent of Narcissus on a Sunday Evening (Dir. Çağıl Saydam, Hazal Bayar, Tuncer Mert)

Production Support Awards (The TamTam & Rollart Film)

• Mustafa Jones (Dir. Yiğit Erkol, Evrim İnci)

• Always Wrong Lately (Dir. Ahmet Arslan, Ekrem Ayhan Çakay)

Izmir Film Lab Special Awards

(Sustainable Film Production Consultancy & Fono Film Post-Production Award)

• Home is Where It Hurts (Dir. Atakan Yılmaz, Ceren Taşci)

• Becoming a Sausage (Dir. Volkan Durmuş, Onur Kemal Karakuş)