Korkut Ata Turkic World Film Festival is the result of an exciting journey that started years ago and was taken step by step. In the scope of the activities of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Affairs Department, the Turkish World Cinema Days were held three times under the guidance of the director, Prof. Tevfik İsmailov; later there were the Turquoise Cinema Days within the frame of the 2013 Eskişehir Turkic World Capital of Culture program, finally, there was the Developing Countries Film Festival organized in 2014 by ECO D-8, some members of which are also Turkic countries. Today the festival fully lives up to its name.

Selected films from the vast Turkic world that exists as an independent state, an autonomous republic, or a region where Turkish and its dialects are spoken, meet the audience through contests, special screenings, panels, and exhibitions. Guided with İsmail Gaspıralı’s words “Unity in Language, Work, and Opinion”, the festival includes films made in genres of historical and contemporary fiction, and the documentary, about our common culture of wide geographical regions from Kazakhstan to the Sakha Republic, from Moldova/Gagauz Region to Tatarstan, Uzbekistan and Iraqi Turkmens. It will appeal to children through animated films and to adults through dramas. The festival will touch the hearts of the audience with bright works.

During this year’s festival, organized under the name of the great wise man Grandfather Korkut, the narrator of the epic stories, also known as Korkut Ata in the Turkic world stretched over a wide geography, the best Fiction and Documentary works will be presented in an atmosphere of friendly competition.

In the “Historical Panorama” section the attention of spectators will be greatly attracted by films about famous or little-known events.

In the section titled ‘’Contemporary Human Landscapes’’, stories of today’s people living in the Turkic countries will be screen.

In the ‘’Feature Animated Film’’ section, children and adults will have the chance to watch the narratives illustrating the basic elements of our culture and aesthetic values.

“Adaptations of Aitmatov” are presented to moviegoers in the form of a medley of film adaptations of the precious works of Chingiz Aitmatov, who is not only a regional writer but also a world-class one.

In addition to this program, a panel on “Aitmatov Film Adaptations” will be held with the participation of important guests from abroad.

Another very important panel is “Towards the Turkish World Cinema Association”, which is expected to be attended by the host country’s cinema association executives, and can be a big step towards formalization in terms of the resolutions made on the 3rd National Culture Council organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2017. The Council is an unofficial event that is held since the Turkic World Cinema Days. During the last meeting, the cooperation in film production between countries of the Turkic world was discussed and the establishment of a cinema support fund had been envisioned.

In the exhibition part of the festival, written works of Turkic literature, which were made or can be made into films, will be presented to art lovers through illustrations related to Aitmatov films, and inspired by the film “Spotted Dog Running on the Seashore”.