Danis Tanovic holds masterclass at 9th Bosphorus Film Festival

By Fatih Turkyilmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic held a masterclass Monday as part of the “Boshporus Film Lab Talks” at the 9th Bosphorus Film Festival.

The festival, which is being held from Oct. 23-30 with contributions from the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s General Directorate of Cinema, TRT's Corporate Business Partnership and Anadolu Agency's Global Communication Partnership, is hosting famous and successful cinema professionals from around the world in Istanbul.

The festival opened with Bosnian director Danis Tanovic's film, Not So Friendly Neighborhood Affair, which made its world premiere at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival in August.

Cinema lovers showed great interest in the masterclass held at Istanbul's Atlas 1948 Cinema, which was moderated by Bosphorus Film Festival Artistic Director Emrah Kilic.

Tanovic, who has produced films such as "No Man's Land,” "Death in Sarajevo,” "An Episode in the Life of An Iron Picker" and "Cirkus Columbia,” said he started his career with documentaries and then shot the war in Sarajevo.

He said when the war started, he had moved to Belgium, and said the reason he decided to shoot films was because the aired films were bad.

"I was thinking how I can shoot better ones, and so my wife encouraged me and I started to write scenarios," he said.

Film screenings at the Bosphorus Film Festival are being held at the Atlas 1948 Cinema and Kadikoy Cinema.

Festival tickets were offered for sale on mobilet.com for 10 liras ($1) for 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. sessions and 15 liras ($1.50) for 6.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. sessions. In addition, tickets can be purchased from the Atlas 1948 Cinema and Kadikoy Cinema box offices during the festival.

*Writing by Dilara Hamit