STFF SHORT FILM COMPETITION 2018 FINALISTS

1st Prize : TOPRAK

ONUR YAGIZ | FRANCE | 2018

Toprak, 8, translates for his parents who can’t speak French. Today, he goes to the hospital with them for his mother’s second trimester ultrasound. He will be the first one to know if the twin babies are brothers or sisters.

HIDDEAN HEAVEN

CAGATAY CELIKBAS | TURKEY | 2017

The documentary is based on the life at Kazdağı (Mount Ida) well known with its high oxygen and its medicinal herbs. Speakers talk about the beauty of the life in nature with the animals and the value of the plants. They live far from the artificial daily lifestyles of our time. Barter shopping in exchange with olive oil within traditional terms and natural choices is the basis of their life. Everything in this village is healthy and natural. The documentary shows different people with their stories underlining the importance to adopt oneself to nature even when struggling with it.

THE TRAP

KORHAN GUNAY | TURKEY | 2017

Zehra and Ayse are two women whom are both mother and daughter and sisters at the same time. Ayse wants to leave the house, Zehra tries to convince her daughter not to go.

THE GUEST

SELIM SAHINTURK | TURKEY | 2018

An Imam (the person who leads the Muslim congregation in the mosque) who lives alone in the free quarter of the mosque..
In a cold night, his doorbell rings and the visitor asks him something simple. The decision that the Imam shall make, would affect the rest of his life.

2nd Prize: I Don't Believe in You but Then There's Gravity

UMUT SUBASI | TURKEY | 2018

A Sunday in a high-rise building in Istanbul. Some only hear their own voice, and some in their loud silence. The day is shadowed by an unexpected event.

KISMET

DOGUS OZOKUTAN | TURKEY | 2018

In a Muslim country, a man’s last wish to be cremated after his death, leaves his wife and son with an impossible task to complete… Kismet seeks answers to a simple question: When society gets to decide everything about your life and death, what’s left for you?
*Kismet in Turkish means fate, a predetermined or unavoidable destiny...

SIRAYET

NURI CIHAN OZDOGAN | TURKEY | 2017

The golds of Saddam, the last booties of the Iraqi war, are smuggled into Turkey by hidden in the cotton. Blind workers are used to pick the gold from the cotton. The smugglers try to prevent any possible thefts by telling the workers that it is rock they are picking from the cotton. They don’t know that there’s a seeing eye among the blind workers.

3rd Prize: WHERE YOU LEFT OFF

VOLKAN GUNEY EKER | TURKEY | 2018

Many people taken into custody disappeared in Turkey. Having lost his father in detention in 1995, Besna meets Saturday Mothers in hope of finding his father and continues to fight for justice and freedom with them for over 20 years.

AN ABSTRACT ROOM

GOKHAN BULUT | TURKEY | 2017

One day, Hilmi comes to his wife, Nurten, with an unusual request. He is in need of a room that no one else but himself can access. Immediately after, Hilmi sets up his “abstract room” and shuts himself off from the outside world. The building’s janitor, Ilyas, is suspicious. He starts questioning Nurten about Hilmi’s whereabouts. Time passes by with no sign of Hilmi. As Ilyas is setting the ground for an “intervention” with more and more questions, Nurten is convinced that crows have invaded her balcony through a broken window.

RONALDO

RECEP BOZGOZ | TURKEY | 2018

It tells the struggle of a child who gets excited with football in the middle of Anatolia.

STFF SHORT FILM COMPETITION 2018 JURY MEMBERS

Filiz Efe McKinney
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Founder of Brave Sprout Productions

"Filiz Efe McKinney is a digital content producer and founder of Brave Sprout Productions. She teaches at Northwest Film Forum and is a KUOW board member. She holds a Master of Communication in Digital Media from University of Washington.

Shaghayeg Ghanbari

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Board member at "Iran Initiative"

"Shaghayegh has a BA in Art History and an MBA in Marketing. She runs the facebook page "Ciné Page", and is a board member of "Iran Initiative", a community effort to promote and invite more Iranian films and film makers to SIFF. In 2017-2018 she helped with screening and programming Iranian films at SIFF, working directly with SIFF senior programmers.

Levi Fuller
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Administrative Coordinator at Jack Straw Cultural Center

"Levi Fuller is the Administrative Coordinator at Jack Straw Cultural Center, where he manages their residency programs for artists of all genres and disciplines, and assists with daily operations. He received a BFA in 2000 from Massachusetts College of Art."

Evrim Ersoy
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Creative Director at Fantastic Fest

Evrim is a Journalist, festival programmer, and filmmaker. In addition to being Creative Director at Fantastic Fest, he is also a programmer for Beyond Fest, MotelX, the Boston Underground Film Festival, and more. He has written and directed a number of award-winning shorts, including Abdullah, and he is currently working on his first feature."