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Chanting of the Dunes

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International Feature Film Competition

Chanting of the Dunes

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01:26:00

Mokhless Al-Hariri

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United States of America

Chanting of the Dunes has so far won over 40 awards and 20 nominations!
The film takes viewers on a dazzling journey through multiple countries and during momentous world events that extend from the Levant in the 1920s to the U.S. and China in the 1990s.
Chanting of the Dunes recounts the life of Wahbi Al-Hariri-Rifai who was an accomplished international artist, architect, archeologist, and author. It is told through the mixed perspective of his wife, Widad Marachi, who married him at the age of 15. The fascinating storyline is full of unexpected turns and is accompanied by a superb award-winning soundtrack.
The film is beautifully illustrated through hundreds of meticulously restored black/white and color archival photographs and original footage.
According to festival managers, the film exceeds all expectations and represents a new cinematographic genre between narrative feature and documentary. Many have called it “extraordinary, moving, mesmerizing, full of messages...”

Friday, January 23, 2026

18:15

Fransız Kültür Merkezi

A Legend of Foça: Nihat Dirim (With the Director in Attendance)

International Feature Film Competition

A Legend of Foça: Nihat Dirim (With the Director in Attendance)

Hakan Barçın

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Mosaic

Student Documentaries from Türkiye

Mosaic

Ibrahim Ayoub

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Bir Ömür Deniz

Özel Film Gösterimleri

Bir Ömür Deniz

Ahmet Özkan, Veyis Polat

This film views the sea not as a landscape, but as a living space. Here, the sea is not a romantic backdrop; it is a life woven with sweat, patience and repetition. We approach Mavişehir Fishermen's Shelter not as a place, but as a memory. This harbour, whose location has changed with the filling of the shores, bears the traces of over a century of labour. Against concrete, time and transformation, we defend the continuity of the relationship established with the sea. This manifesto aims to make the great stories of small boats visible. The labour of fishermen who set sail in boats less than seven metres long is a form of living knowledge that is in danger of being forgotten in the shadow of industrial production. We stand against the loss of this knowledge. Repeating the mending of nets, the threading of needles, the setting out to sea before dawn... Because repetition here is not ordinary; it is resistance. This order, re-established every day, is an expression of the ancient covenant between man and the sea. While telling the story of the fishermen, this film focuses on silence, modesty, and the power of collective production. It sees accepting what the sea provides as a virtue. We take on the responsibility of photography, the camera, and witnessing. We advocate not just looking, but seeing; not just recording, but understanding. A Lifetime at Sea is not an elegy for the past; it is a mark left for the future. As long as this way of life built with the sea continues, cultural memory will also continue to live on. Some lives are not written on land, but in the wake of the waves.
Free Words: A Poet from Gaza

Türkiye’den Belgeseller Seçkisi, Filistin Seçkisi

Free Words: A Poet from Gaza

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Radio, My Love (With the Director in Attendance)

Documentaries from Türkiye

Radio, My Love (With the Director in Attendance)

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Tight Lines (With the Director in Attendance)

Student Documentaries from Türkiye

Tight Lines (With the Director in Attendance)

Cihan Berkay Mahçup

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Thank You Kaf Kaf (With the Director in Attendance)

Special Film Screenings

Thank You Kaf Kaf (With the Director in Attendance)

Ömer Gümüşe

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Master of Time

Documentaries from Türkiye

Master of Time

Muhittin Yüceli

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Evara

Student Documentaries from Türkiye

Evara

Cansu Carlak

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Documentaries from Türkiye

Back to the Land

Kerem Kurtuluş

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Free Fish

Special Film Screenings

Free Fish

Bisan Owda, Carolina Pereira

Free Fish — filmed entirely in Gaza during the ongoing genocide tells the story of two brothers separated by war and displacement, whose daily struggle to fish under blockade becomes an act of survival and resistance. Because in Gaza, even the sea is under siege. Fishing has become an act of defiance — and creation, an essential exercise of freedom.
Enemy Number Three

International Short Film Competition

Enemy Number Three

Vladimir Sumashedov

During World War II, artist and photo montage master Alexander Zhytomyrsky uses his art to convince the enemy to end the bloodshed. Propaganda leaflets — passports to surrender — are dropped from planes in millions, aimed at soldiers on the front lines. Unlike bombs, they do not take lives, they are meant to save them. The creator of these leaflets works hard every day to see the humanity in his enemy amidst the hatred. Will he be able to preserve his talent and himself in this struggle?
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Student Documentaries from Türkiye

Since You've Been Gone

Ayşegül Ongun

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Yazbek: A Portrait

International Short Film Competition

Yazbek: A Portrait

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International Experimental Film Competition

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CAHİDE SONKU "Türkiye's First Female Producer and Director"

Student Documentaries from Türkiye

CAHİDE SONKU "Türkiye's First Female Producer and Director"

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International Short Film Competition

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Muapbet

Student Documentaries from Türkiye

Muapbet

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Yalla, Baba!

International Feature Film Competition

Yalla, Baba!

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Toprağın Hatırası

Documentaries from Türkiye

Toprağın Hatırası

Didem Tütüncü

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