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Enemy Number Three
00:30:00
Vladimir Sumashedov
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Rusya Federasyonu
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?
Friday, January 23, 2026
11:00
Fransız Kültür Merkezi
International Feature Film Competition
Chanting of the Dunes
Mokhless Al-Hariri
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...”
International Short Film Competition
Not My Film
Astra Zoldnere
What happens if older people challenge stereotypes in films about aging? Six seniors re-perform scenes of poor health, sexual invisibility, and gendered stereotypes of the wise old man and the bad witch. Toward the end of the film, the participants rebel against these cinematic images, proving that older age can be associated with love, sexuality, and self-revelation.
Student Documentaries from Türkiye
Since You've Been Gone
Ayşegül Ongun
A woman who lost her father follows the historical route that she and her father used to follow. During the journey, she tries to understand her own connection to the city. While she compares her father's Istanbul in his youth and today's city, she ironically conveys the problems such as unplanned urbanization, ecological distortions, and crowd. Throughout the journey she talks to her father, while she uses the city as a metaphor for remembrance and nostalgia in relation with grief and loss.
International Feature Film Competition, Palestine Selection
Fatherland
Özgür Canel
Arab/Palestinian make up 20% of the total Israeli population. They are Christian, Muslim, Bedouin, Druze etc. Not much is known about this minority who hold Israeli nationality. They live, work, go to school in Israel, but do they feel Isreali? What does it mean to be Arab in a jewish state.
Best International Short Film
Sukande Kasáká | Ailing Land
Kamikia Kisedje, Fred Rahal
Kamikia and Lewaiki, from the Khĩsêdjê people, are forced to abandon their largest village after detecting pesticide contamination that poisons their land, rivers, and food. Surrounded by monocultures of soy, they fight to protect their culture, their families, and their territory, facing an invisible enemy that threatens their very existence.
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Student Documentaries from Türkiye
Tight Lines (With the Director in Attendance)
Cihan Berkay Mahçup
“Tight Lines” tells the story of a woman whose life is woven with nets, beginning each day with the sea. She does not merely make a living from the sea; she speaks to it, challenges it, and endures alongside it. Fishing is often perceived as a man’s profession, yet in this documentary, the hands guiding the nets belong to a woman. Rastgele goes beyond the act of casting nets into the water, revealing a quiet yet powerful resistance that makes the unseen visible.
International Short Film Competition
Trains
Maciej Drygas
TRAINS is a found-footage documentary composed entirely of archive footage and sound design that creates a collective portrait of people in 20th century Europe, capturing their hopes, desires, dramas and tragedies. A train compartment is a place where people are taken out of their everyday context for a while. Sometimes the journey is accompanied by the hope that something will change in our lives upon reaching the destination, or conversely, by a stark absence of hope. And yet the history of the 20th century unfolds in railway carriages in a repetitive refrain. Every few years, hauntingly similar scenes play out in railway stations around the world: carriages full of men leaving for war, only to return wounded or as casualties. This cycle is followed by an exodus of civilians, evacuees mingling with prisoners of war returning from camps, and soldiers of victorious armies leading the defeated, until ordinary passengers reappear at stations.
International Feature Film Competition
The Mission
Gaza Collective
The film follows the internationally renowned British nerve surgeon, Dr Mohammed Tahir as he returns to Gaza for his third medical aid mission. Dr Tahir’s medical team risk their lives to capture footage of his work amidst the carnage of Gaza’s operating rooms. Bound by the impartiality of their oaths, Dr Tahir and his team are the only neutral and reliable witnesses to the genocide. The unique footage they capture is a historic testimony to the grotesque reality of a genocide filmed in real time.
Documentaries from Türkiye
It Was Nice to Meet You
Jehan Barbur, Güneş Kazdal
World Premiere: Antalya Film Festival Documentary Competition
This mid-length documentary follows Deniz (28) and Can (30), two siblings with SMA who are bedridden and live with the support of their mother, Aysel. Highlighting issues such as societal neglect, restricted rights, and equality, the film aims to raise awareness. After losing their home in the Maraş earthquake, the family now resides in a relative’s house in Alaçatı. Through five days of interviews and observations, the documentary sheds light on their lives and perspectives.
En İyi Uluslararası Uzun Metraj Belgesel Film
Mother of Snow Cranes
Iiris Härmä
Over 90 years old, Ellen Vuosalo has lived many lives. First as a Finnish immigrant in Canada, then as an American citizen and student of zoology at UCLA and finally as a Mother of Cranes in Iran. Iiris Härmä's Mother of Snow Cranes tells the story of an incredible woman's extraordinary life, from love to tragedy to revolution. It is a story about nature, humanity, and the role of women in both the West and Iranian culture. Or as Ellen herself says " What a life! What a world!"
Reference story: Unlike the world famous story of Betty Mahmoody (NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER, 1991), MOTHER OF SNOW CRANES tells the story of the Western woman who had to stay in Iran and later who decided to stay.
Our production company Guerilla Films has produced award-winning documentary films for international broadcasters (YLE, SVT, NHK, ARTE, NETFLIX etc.), cinemas and film festivals for more than 20 years.
Mother of Snow Cranes (orig. Kurkien äiti)
Duration: 78 mins
Director: Iiris Härmä
Producer: Visa Koiso-Kanttila/ Guerilla Films
Production Country Finland
Filming location Iran
Release Date: Cinematic release in Finland September 2024.
International Short Film Competition
Fekry's Thoughts
Essam Hayder
A contemporary portrait follows the life of an Alexandrian Framemaker born in the 1930s. Through his personal story, the film explores the profound changes in Egypt over the past 80 years, capturing society's transformation through a dedicated craftsman's eyes.
International Short Film Competition
Forty Days Road
Ali Ziani
In Forty Days Road, two colleagues (Ali and Ian) set out on a captivating journey across Egypt to trace the long route of camels traveling from Sudan to a market near Cairo. Along the way, they uncover the tough conditions of transport and join the camels on a 24-hour journey from the Sudanese border to one of the biggest Egyptian camel market near Cairo.
Documentaries from Türkiye
Who Shot Jr.? (With the Director in Attendance)
Gül Abus Semerci
This documentary takes a closer look at the passionate fans of the Turkish TV series industry. It explores how fans feel so connected to the stories that they even influence actors’ lives or the script’s flow. Their passion leads to social media campaigns targeting writers and efforts to "save" favorite characters, reflecting their strong sense of belonging. Meanwhile, industry representatives’ comments on fans and the cold realities of their professional world add another striking layer. This contrast of admiration and distance paints a portrait of the series world and its fans.
International Short Film Competition
The Stonemason’s Daughter
Arturo Franco
The film was shot around the place of O Fieiro, a small village of no more than twelve houses and nine inhabitants, among them Rosa. A ninety-year-old woman who dedicates her last years to watching the rain through the window. Her father was a canteiro, a house builder, before the reservoir changed everything. Rosa remembers how her father lifted the stones and the people transported them from one place to another.
It is shown as an abstract visual poem where the rain and the stones are the protagonists of the story Rosa tells us.
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