The finalist films have been announced for the first edition of the Düzce Konuralp International Film Festival, which will take place between May 15–18, 2025.
In addition to the awards for the ‘Fiction Film Category’, ‘Documentary Film Category’, and ‘Production Support Category’, a special Governor’s Award will be presented to a film themed around “Family.” Selçuk Aslan, President of the Honorary Committee of the Düzce Konuralp International Film Festival and Governor of Düzce, also reminded that the Festival Committee will present Lifetime Achievement Awards to legendary figures of Turkish cinema, Hülya Koçyiğit and Ediz Hun.
The finalists were selected from among 1,312 films.
From Turkey and around the world, a total of 1,312 films were submitted to the festival. The pre-selection jury has announced the competitors in three categories and the “special selection” films as follows:
Fiction Film Category
2006
Gabriella Choueifaty
3.4K / Color / 23’
France, Lebanon 2024
Arabic, English Subtitles
Director: Gabriella Choueifaty
Screenplay: Gabriella Choueifaty
Cast: Jil Moukarzel, Manal Issa, Maria Douaihy, Khodor Ellaik
In 2006, during the ongoing war in Lebanon, 13-year-old Sariah, her sister, and their mother are trapped in their mountain house overlooking Beirut, trying to live a seemingly normal life. As time appears to stand still, each of them seeks escape from this isolation, leading to resurfacing tensions.
HOME COOKING (Aç Açına)
Ahmet Toğaç
1.66:1 / Color / 14’48’’
Turkey 2024
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director: Ahmet Toğaç
Screenplay: Ahmet Toğaç
Cast: Ece Bağcı, Ömer Gökay Şanlıer, Nalan Kuruçim
A young girl named Selma looks forward to making pizza for her father’s birthday and going to the amusement park with the whole family. But things don’t go as planned — her father doesn’t show up. Even though he eventually finds them at the park, Selma’s joy quickly fades, and the children quietly begin searching for ways to fill the void left by their family’s fraying bonds.
THE BROKEN-WELLERS (Kırıkuzakçalar)
Batınay Ünsür
16:9 / Color / 18’24’’
Turkey 2024
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director: Batınay Ünsür
Screenplay: Batınay Ünsür
Cast: Evin Acar, Samet Gürsel, Atakan Alcan, Sinan Karabuğa
After a major disaster, Kırıkuzakçalar is a lawless city under reconstruction. In this rebuilding process, many aspects of life are primitive, and ethical and rational values are being rediscovered. One crucial task is the opening of a water well. Tradition holds that the person chosen to open the well must die during the process and will achieve eternal happiness. Furya’s father is selected for this role and feels honored. But Furya, who dreams of escaping the city, is devastated by her father’s acceptance. She leaves home to join protestors who defy the established order. Choosing “rescue” over “escape,” Furya dedicates herself to activism and tries to change her father’s mind. When she fails, she resorts to desperate measures to disrupt the well ritual and save him. Despite all her efforts, her father turns his back on her. In the end, Furya leaves the city, taking her father with her, and runs away from everything.
SEVİM AND KİRAZ
Asena Yıldırım Konya
16:9 / Color / 11’9’’
Turkey 2024
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director: Asena Yıldırım Konya
Screenplay: Asena Yıldırım Konya
Cast: Burcu Halaçoğlu, Nazlıcan Çavuş, Ahmet İşaret Somerler, Saydam Yeniay, Kerem Durak, Ali Durak
40-year-old Sevim was given to Mr. Bekir as a housemaid years ago. A passionate fan of literature since high school, Sevim has one hobby: writing stories. Her only neighbor is 17-year-old Kiraz, known in the neighborhood as the naive daughter of the village headman. Because Mr. Bekir forbids it, Sevim hasn’t left the house in years. Kiraz visits daily to bring news from the village, which she records in a notebook and shares with Sevim. One day, just before visiting Sevim again, Kiraz is called by her father, who hands her a camera and tells her to film Sevim and her home, claiming Sevim will like it. Trusting her father and hoping to make Sevim happy, Kiraz finds the door to Sevim’s house open. Inside, she sees Mr. Bekir lying on the floor during filming and becomes part of the unfolding incident. After Mr. Bekir falls and can’t get up, Sevim begins to look for a way to escape the house. Will Sevim—who has endured years of confinement, societal pressure, and male dominance—be able to leave the house with her neighbor Kiraz, in whom she sees a reflection of her younger self?
THE PLAIN SINGS
Gita Feizi
16:9 / Color / 14’26’’
Islamic Republic of Iran, 2025
Kurdish, English Subtitles
Director: Gita Feizi
Screenplay: Gita Feizi
Cast: Daria Kakaei, Afshin Khedri, Sara Ahmadnejad
Zhina, a 13-year-old girl, lives in a village with her traditional family. She loves singing and uses the time spent herding sheep as an opportunity to sing. However, her father has found out—and this might bring trouble for Zhina, depending on how she handles it.
TRACE OF EARTH (Toprağın İzi)
Mert Eşberk
16:9 / Color / 16’25’’
Turkey 2024
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director: Mert Eşberk
Screenplay: Mert Eşberk
Cast: Filiz Karadağlı, Ayşe Kaya
In a prison where growing flowers is forbidden, Sevinç and her fellow inmates attempt to create soil together.
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“Documentary Film Category”
CHILDREN OF THE WHITE MOUNTAIN (BEYAZ DAĞIN ÇOCUKLARI)
Yalçın Çiftçi
2.35 / Color / 20’
Turkey 2024
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director & Screenplay: Yalçın Çiftçi
In the cold and snowy winter of Anatolia, we find ourselves in a village school built on a cemetery—one that harbors many mysteries.
FREE WORDS: A POET FROM GAZA
Abdullah Harun İlhan
16:9 / Color / 23’56’’
Turkey, Palestine, Egypt, Netherlands 2024
English, Turkish Subtitles
Director & Screenplay: Abdullah Harun İlhan
“Free Words” tells the story of imprisoned poet Mosab Abu Toha, whose art becomes a powerful voice of resistance and hope under oppression.
THE VILLAGE OF BALLET DANCERS (BALETLER KÖYÜ)
Fatih Diren
16:9 / Color / 22’
Turkey 2024
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director & Screenplay: Fatih Diren
Can ballet be a village’s source of income? While a few ballet dancers from a village might not be surprising, when 13 ballet dancers emerge from the same village, it becomes remarkable. This documentary reveals the extraordinary story of an ordinary-looking village in Turkey—a tale of passion that overcomes poverty, social prejudice, and hardship.
THE GOOD DEATH (İYİ ÖLÜM)
Hasan Ete
Color / 20’
Dutch, English, Turkish Subtitles
Netherlands 2024
Director & Screenplay: Hasan Ete
Founded in 2007, the Ambulance Wish Foundation helps terminal patients with limited time say goodbye to life in a “good” way. Today, it fulfills the last wishes of people of all ages. Retired police officer Frank Halter has volunteered for this mission for six years. “The Good Death” documents the last wishes of terminal patient Wim Beuving and his emotional encounter with volunteer Frank Halter.
THE WALL (DUVAR)
Evrim İnci
16:9 / Color / 19’15’’
Turkey 2024
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director & Screenplay: Evrim İnci
The most awarded short documentary film in Turkey during 2023–2024.
A fairy tale-like documentary chronicling the life and sacrifices of Büşra Ün, the first woman to represent Turkey in tennis at the Olympics, as she transitions from daily life to an elite sports career.
THE WINDING PATH TO KNOWLEDGE
Asel Umaralieva
16:9 / Color / 11’52’’
Kyrgyzstan 2025
English, Kyrgyz, Russian, English Subtitles
Director & Screenplay: Asel Umaralieva
Living among majestic mountains, Kanykey Idrisova walks 8 kilometers daily between two villages and has done so for 35 years. Despite winter storms and spring rains, she tirelessly continues teaching future generations. Now, after earning respect and honor, her dream is finally to live for herself.
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🎬 PRODUCTION SUPPORT CATEGORY
89.10
Duhan Kavakoğlu
Color / 20’
English, Turkish
Screenplay: Duhan Kavakoğlu
Sercan is a highly ambitious manager in his late forties. One evening at work, he goes out to his veranda with a cup of coffee. With his phone battery dead, he brings out a dusty old radio from the past. He discovers a strange channel that shouldn’t exist. This channel knows who Sercan is. The radio tells him it can play any memory or thought he desires. Succumbing to his ambition, Sercan uses the radio to its full extent. But soon, things go awry, and he discovers a mysterious connection between the radio and his family history. This revelation drags him into a dark and inescapable spiral.
MOM, WILL DAD BE ANGRY WITH ME? (ANNE, BABAM BANA KIZACAK MI?)
Selin Aktaş
English, Turkish Subtitles
Screenplay: Selin Aktaş
A mother is summoned to school by her daughter’s newly appointed teacher. What seems like a routine meeting turns into a moment of reckoning. The mother is finally forced to confront a truth she has long denied—and now she must face it.
KARAMACO
Osman Çakır
Turkish Subtitles
Screenplay: Asel Umaralieva
In the drought-stricken village of Kalankaldı, life becomes harder by the day. Inspired by a mythological tale told by his nephew, Ahmet decides to offer a sacrifice to bring back the rain. The chosen offering is none other than his son’s beloved lamb, Karamaco.
HOLY SON (KUTSAL OĞUL)
Sevgi Esman
Turkish
Screenplay: Sevgi Esman
After being recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Hatice fears forgetting her deceased son’s face. In a cemetery, she finds a statue of Jesus that looks just like him. Despite objections, she hangs it on her wall. The news spreads. The townspeople are divided—some scorn her, others revere the statue as a holy object. The local Christian community believes Hatice has converted and is delighted. Meanwhile, her granddaughter wants to marry the imam’s son, but the imam refuses because of the statue. When the Christian community learns Hatice hasn’t actually converted, they demand the return of what they believe is “the Son of God.”
Both sides show up at Hatice’s house. The imam and the Muslim townspeople don’t want to return the statue.
To Hatice, it’s simply her son.
And feathers fly.
TALÂK
Sevde Betül Kaya
Turkish
Screenplay: Sevde Betül Kaya
Ferda, an Afghan refugee woman, needs an official divorce certificate to qualify for a widow’s pension in Turkey. But to get it, she must find her husband—who abandoned her in the chaotic sprawl of Istanbul.
TAILS NEVER FAILS (TURA-TURA)
Korhan Topcu
Turkish
Screenplay: Korhan Topcu
İrfan and Bahri work in a roadside restaurant on a once-popular mountain route. They constantly clash with their boss Resul, but stay on because they aren’t getting paid elsewhere. Their monotonous routine is disrupted when Resul is ordered to cut the staff in half. He must now choose between the two men.
🎥 SPECIAL SELECTION
AN AHISKIAN STORY
Fatih Osmanlı
Color / 18’22’’
Turkish, English Subtitles
Turkey, 2024
Director: Fatih Osmanlı
Screenplay: Hakan Şahin
Cast: Suna Selan, Mehmet Sabri Arafatoğlu, Oğuzhan Çemi, Aişe Osmanli
“An Ahiskian Story” is a short film script that tells the story of lives shaped by exile. Our main character, Gülbahar, loses her young son Enver during the 1944 deportation of the Ahıska Turks by the Soviet Union. She never sees him again but spends the rest of her life going to the train station, waiting for him to return. She goes every day, hoping that one day, Enver will return by train. Recently diagnosed with dementia, she only remembers to go to the station to wait for Enver when she can recall it. Over time, the station has turned into a museum, and a museum director is appointed. Upon seeing Gülbahar in her condition, the director becomes curious and contacts the police, but in the end, Gülbahar’s other son, Burhan, finds her and explains her painful story to the director.
QUOTA (KOTA)
Serdal Altun
2.35 / Color / 5’20’’
Turkey, 2024
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director: Serdal Altun
Screenplay: Serdal Altun
In the year 2040, despite significant technological advancements, water resources have been depleted due to the climate crisis and other reasons. Governments have imposed water consumption quotas on citizens to manage this crisis. To prevent water theft, surveillance drones are introduced. In this grim future, an individual who exceeds their water quota struggles to survive as they are watched by the vigilant eyes of surveillance drones at every step while trying to find water.
BABY ANT (YAVRU KARINCA)
Derya Uygurlar
2.35 / Color / 15’
Turkey, 2023
Turkish, English Subtitles
Director: Serdal Altun
Screenplay: Serdal Altun
Cast: Aslı Turan, Almına Kahraman
Tomorrow is an important day for Ayser, as she will visit her husband in prison. But before that, she must finish a clothing lawsuit to pay the lawyer, resolve a dispute with her sister Emine, and convince her daughter Deniz that children are not allowed into the prison.
