Selection of Turkish Experimental Films

Istanbul Experimental presents a special selection at the 36th Bamberg Short Film Festival, bringing together striking examples of experimental cinema from Turkey. Exploring the boundaries between memory, landscape, trauma, and mythology, these five films range from visual poetry to sound-image experiments, from family archives to historical memory, expanding the narrative possibilities of experimental cinema in different ways.

Films

1. Impressions of a Summer
Director: Ayça Çiftçi | 2020 | 12 min.

Inspired by Impressionist painting's passion for capturing light, color, and fleeting moments, this film transforms an ordinary summer day in Turkey into a series of moving image paintings. Fragments of daily life by the seaside meet reimagined soundscapes. If light had a sound, what would it be like?

2. Collected, Intertwined
Director: Dilsu Atalay | 2024 | 8 min.

A woman reminisces on an urban legend she learned from her childhood friend.

3. Spirits and Rocks: an Azorean Myth
Director: Aylin Gökmen | 2020 | 14 min.

On a volcanic island, inhabitants are caught in an unending cycle: the threat of impending eruptions and the burden of past traumas loom over them. Some draw upon myth and religious beliefs to interpret their precarious situation, while others demonstrate resilience, rebuilding their villages from volcanic rocks. Mirroring the ethereal atmosphere of the island's landscapes, the film gradually takes on the appearance of the stories it recounts.

4. Between Delicate and Violent
Director: Şirin Bahar Demirel | 2024 | 15 min.

Can we see the violence of the painter's hands in the brush strokes of his paintings? Could cross-stitch be an alphabet? 'Between Delicate and Violent' imagines unearthing traumatic memories that have not been included in family albums.

5. I Will Provide Information About the Airplane
Director: Cerensu Çelik | 2024 | 18 min.

According to records, the towers of Rumeli and Anadolu Feneri were bombed by air for the first time in 1915, marking a revelation that Istanbul could frequently be exposed to air raids. The phrase "Tayyare Hakkında Malumat Vereceğim" ("I Will Provide Information About the Airplane") was a coded expression used among soldiers to signal the approach of an aircraft. This work brings together the historical reality of air raids in Istanbul with a fictional character named Rakik Mayreni.

Program curated by Yavuz Gözeller

The Bamberg Short Film Festival (Bamberger Kurzfilmtage) is Bavaria's oldest short film festival, celebrating its 36th edition in 2026. Taking place from January 26 to February 8, the festival presents over 150 films across seven days of cinema screenings followed by an online streaming week.