Ukrainian movie wins top honor at Istanbul Film Fest

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) – Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s dystopian film Atlantis won the top award, the Golden Tulip, in the 39th Istanbul Film Festival's international competition, organizers have announced.

The film was honored “for successfully conveying the traces of tormented souls lost in wars, who wander around in corrupted lands, a destroyed past, and a restless future with a proficient narrative and extraordinary cinematography,” the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) said in a statement late Tuesday.

Atlantis also won the festival’s FIPRESCI Award.

The acclaimed drama won the Best Film award in the Horizons section of last year’s Venice International Film Festival.

The post-war film tells the story of a soldier suffering from PTSD befriending a young volunteer in an attempt to “restore peaceful energy to a war-torn society,” according to the IMDb movie database.

This year’s winner of the International Competition’s Special Jury Prize is Window Boy Would Also Like to Have a Submarine by director Alex Piperno, the statement added.

Twelve features and eleven documentary films vied in the competitions both online and with physical audiences during the festival, which is supported by Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The Golden Tulip Award, presented in memory of Sakir Eczacibasi –businessman, pharmacist, and photographer, 1929-2010 – “comes with monetary prizes granted by the Eczacibasi Group – the director of the best film receives €10,000, granting 50,000 TL to its Turkish distributor, and the Special Jury Prize corresponds to €5,000,” the statement added.

The festival’s Special Jury Prize went to Piperno’s feature.

Also, Camila Morrone won the festival’s Special Mention award for her role in Mickey and the Bear, a 2019 US drama.

This year's jury was chaired by Turkish director Tayfun Pirselimoglu, and included actress Hazar Erguclu, director Burak Cevik, film historian and curator Jasmin Basic, and distributor Anthony Bobeau.