In its 12th year, the Seattle Turkish Film Festival (STFF) will bring the Seattle audience together with the most distinguished films and directors of Turkish cinema. All screenings will take place on November 15-17th, 2024, at SIFF Cinema Uptown.
We are also excited to celebrate the gala together with Night Wave at KEXP on the 16th!

Schedule of Events:

November 15, 2024

STFFContemporary 2024 Selection

5:30 pm: Sleep of the Crow - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Tunahan Kurt - 2023 - 1 hr 22 min

Winner Best Film (Ankara Film Festival)

Best Actor, Music, Cinematography, and Audience Award (Adana Film Festival)

A quiet, calm person working in a mine transfer facility, who struggles with sleepwalking, murders his wife in his sleep. He manages to conceal the incident as a suicide. With the guilt, the fear of doing the same to his son, he tries to find a new family for his son while teaching him lessons about life.

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7:15 pm: Fate - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Nadim Guc - 2024 - 1 hr 30 min

Winner of Best Film and Best Actress (Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival)

After losing her husband, Sultan, who is afraid of being left alone, tells her children that she wants to remarry immediately. However, her children do not find this appropriate, as only one day has passed since their father's death. Her son Nevzat, who has a traditional perspective, believes that no one in the small town will approve of this. Although her daughter Reyhan tries to respect her mother's wish, she thinks it is a decision made too soon. Despite her children's objections, Sultan does not give up on her desire. While searching for a suitable spouse, she also enters into business ventures, doing everything that people said "a woman cannot do."

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9:30 pm: Sayara - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Can Evrenol - 2024 - 1 hr 38 min

Presented by Scarecrow Video, in collaboration with Seattle Turkish Film Festival.

Sayara is a young woman from Turkmenistan who works as a janitor in a gym in Istanbul. When her older sister is brutally murdered, and her killers are released due to “lack of evidence”, Sayara decides to take justice into her own hands. At a time when the number of femicides and perpetrators who go unpunished continues to rise in countries like Turkiye and Portugal, Turkish director creates “Sayara”, where a lethal Sambo fighter takes care of business when the judicial system fails.

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STFFFantastik 2024 Selection

9:30 pm: Sayara - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Can Evrenol - 2024 - 1 hr 38 min

Presented by Scarecrow Video, in collaboration with Seattle Turkish Film Festival.

Sayara is a young woman from Turkmenistan who works as a janitor in a gym in Istanbul. When her older sister is brutally murdered, and her killers are released due to "lack of evidence", Sayara decides to take justice into her own hands. At a time when the number of femicides and perpetrators who go unpunished continues to rise in countries like Turkiye and Portugal, Turkish director creates "Sayara", where a lethal Sambo fighter takes care of business when the judicial system fails.

November 16, 2024

3:30 pm: Not What You Think - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Vuslat Saracoglu - 2024 - 1 hr 47 min

Winner of Best screenplay, actor and editing (Istanbul Film Festival)

Tells the story of three completely different siblings who reconnect at their birthplace of Tokat, a city in the mid-Black Sea region of Turkey, due to the mysterious death of their father. During this time they at times bond over genuine interactions and at times face tensions with each other, realizing that nothing is what they think regarding their common origins.

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5:45 pm: Dormitory - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Nehir Tuna - 2023 - 1 hr 58 min

Gala film, Filmmaker in attandance

Winner of multiple awards including Best Film, Best Cinematography (Istanbul Film Festival), and Best Screenplay (Venice Film Festival)

?Based on the director's personal experiences, Dormitory tells the story of a young student in 1997, in a politically polarized Turkey, who is sent to a religious dormitory (yurt) and must navigate family expectations and the struggle between religion, secularism and childhood.

??Film will be followed by a Gala Party at KEXP featuring catering by Gourmondo, a cash bar, and live music by 80s cover band Nite Wave.

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STFFShorts Program 2024

12:00 pm: STFFShorts - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Seattle Premiere for many short films

STFFShorts Program is a part of the STFF Festival and a celebration of short films of all genres. Each year, during STFF, STFFShorts brings together a curated selection of shorts, providing international exposure to exceptional filmmakers and connecting them with Northwest audiences.

This year, we received about 200 submissions and our STFFShorts narrative and STFFDocs documentary selections will be screened between November 16-17 at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

November 17, 2024

11:15 am: The Reeds - Cemil Agac?koglu, Siyar Gedik - 2023 - 2 hr 3 min

Official Selection (Toronto International Film Festival)

Nominated for Best film (Istanbul Film Festival, Göteborg Film Festival, Beijing International Film Festival)

?The Reeds tells the story of a young man living in a mountainous village in Anatolia, who has to defend his livelihood, his marriage and his harvest against the landlords, local thugs and the local kingpin.

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3:30 pm: Istanbul Trilogy - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Ferzan Ozpetek - 2023 - 1 hr 5 min

??Winner of the Golden Space Needle award at SIFF (2004) with his film Facing Windows, multi-award winning Turkish-Italian filmmaker Ferzan Ozpetek is back with a trilogy of short films showcasing his love of Istanbul, music and gastronomy. Originally made for Netflix Italy, Istanbul Trilogy consists of three short films titled Meze, Music, Muhabbet.

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5:00 pm: Life - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Zeki Demirkubuz - 2023 - 3 hr 13 min

?Turkey's Oscar submission

Winner Best Supporting Actor, Nominee Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Editing, Actress, Actor (SIYAD Turkish Film Critics Association)

Life tells the story of Hicran who runs away from home upon a forced engagement. Her fiancé begins his search for her all over Istanbul. Directed by Turkish auteur Zeki Demirkubuz.

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STFFArchival 2024 Selection

8:30 pm: Dry Summer - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Metin Erksan - 1963 - 1 hr 30min

?Presented by Scarecrow Video, in collaboration with Seattle Turkish Film Festival and Janus Films

?Part of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project (where he chose to restore and preserve several some of world cinema masterpieces) Dry Summer tells the story of a farmer who claims ownership of water from his land, leading to a violent dispute and sexual frustrations.

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STFFShorts Program 2024

1:30 pm: STFFDocs - SIFF Cinema Uptown

Seattle Premiere for many short films

STFFDocs is part of STFFShorts Program and a celebration of short documentary films.

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Date: November 15 - 17, 2024

Location: SIFF Cinema Uptown,

511 Queen Anne North,

Seattle, WA 98109

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