At the 8th Short Film Competition organized by Sabancı Foundation, the first prize was awarded to director Can Yeşiloğlu for the film “Life in Dreams,” which focused on this year’s theme, “Water Crisis.” During the award ceremony, Güler Sabancı, the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Sabancı Foundation, emphasized the competition’s goal of raising awareness about social issues and supporting young artists.

The awarded films and their directors are as follows:

• First Prize: “Life in Dreams” – Can Yeşiloğlu
• Second Prize: “Towards the End” – Cihan Yıldırım
• Third Prize: “Anthropocene” – Mehmet Gürü Avcu
• Special Mention Award: “Wild” – Sinan Kaldan
• Social Impact Award: “Towards the End” – Cihan Yıldırım

Güler Sabancı presented the awards to the winners, as determined by the jury, consisting of film critic Alin Taşçıyan, actors Salih Bademci and Tilbe Saran, producer Jamillah Van Der Lust Hulst, and script consultant Suzanne Pradel. The Social Impact Jury included Journalist Nilay Örnek, Architect Özgül Öztürk, and Social Entrepreneur Yasemin Kırkağaçoğlu.

In her speech at the award ceremony, Güler Sabancı highlighted the purpose of the Short Film Competition initiated eight years ago with the slogan “Short Film, Long Impact” to draw attention to social issues and support the development of young artists. This year’s theme was chosen as the “Water Crisis,” acknowledging its significance as one of the most crucial problems facing humanity.

The awarded prizes and the historical themes of the competition are as follows:

• First Prize: 60,000 TL
• Second Prize: 40,000 TL
• Third Prize: 25,000 TL
• Social Impact Award: 25,000 TL

The past themes of the competition include “Refugee Women,” “Child Laborers,” “Discrimination,” “Digital Loneliness,” “Changing Climates, Changing Lives,” “New Professions in the New World,” “Young Women Excluded from Education and Employment,” and this year’s theme, “Water Crisis.”

During the award ceremony, a film prepared for Güler Sabancı by the European Film Academy for the Sustainability Award was shared with the audience. Güler Sabancı was honored with the Sustainability Award (Prix Film4Climate) in December 2023 in Europe for expanding the scope of sustainability beyond environmental sustainability and inspiring responsibility in institutions and organizations.