“Korkut Ata Turkic World Film Festival” Award Ceremony, organized by Ministry of Culture and Tourism and supported by Union of Turkish World Municipalities (TDBB) in addition to other partner institutions, was held on 12 November 2021 at Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) in Istanbul.
The festival’s award ceremony was attended by Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Ministers of Culture of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Mayor Uğur İbrahim Altay, representing TDBB, Secretary General Fahri Solak and TDBB Administrative Board Members President of the Union of Azerbaijan City Municipalities Temraz Tagiyev, Mayor of Novi Grad in Bosnia and Herzegovina Semir Efendiç, President of the Union of Turkish Cypriot Municipalities Mahmut Özçınar, Mayor of Gostivar in North Macedonia Arben Taravari and TDBB Kazakhstan Member Turkistan Municipality’s Deputy Mayor Aliya Şalkarova. Many famous celebrities from the Turkic world and the culture and arts community also attended the ceremony.
Before the award ceremony, the Ministers of Culture of Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkey signed a joint declaration in the field of cinema.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said, “We signed a very comprehensive statement together with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The path to be followed and the steps to be taken together from the creation of the ‘Turkic World Film Fund’ to the ‘Co-Production Agreement’ have been decided. A serious will has been put forward in the context of culture and art for the Turkic world. I think we have come to an important turning point. I hope that we will quickly implement the decisions taken and reach the production and box office figures we deserve in the cinema industry, quality productions that we set the bar for ourselves and international recognition together.”
Minister Ersoy congratulated the award winners by stating that 42 productions met with the audience at the Korkut Ata Turkic World Film Festival, and 17 works competing in the categories of feature-length fiction and documentary took place.
Pointing out that Bursa has been declared as the “Cultural Capital of the Turkic World in 2022” Ersoy said, “We will organize the second of the “Korkut Ata Turkic World Film Festival in Bursa next year. Expressing his satisfaction that the countries of the Turkic world have embraced this festival, Ersoy added that the festival is planned to be hosted by Azerbaijan Shusha in 2023, Kazakhstan in 2024, Uzbekistan in 2025 and Kyrgyzstan in 2026.
Awards
Contribution to Turkic World Culture Award was presented to Arzu Aliyeva on behalf of Baku Media Center by Minister Ersoy. Also, Uzbekistan Cinema Agency, Kazakh Film Studio, Kyrgyz Cinema Film Studios and TRT were deemed worthy of the “Turkic World Contribution Awards”.
At the festival this year, the loyalty award was given to his daughter Şirin and his son, Eldar Aytmatov, on behalf of the world-famous writer Cengiz Aytmatov, one of the common values of the Turkic world.
In the “Documentary Film Competition” awards, “Gemini” from Iran won the first place, “People’s Courage” from Uzbekistan, and “Linguist” from Russia won the third place this year. At the award ceremony, TDBB President Uğur İbrahim Altay presented the Documentary Second Prize to Ali Hamroyev from Uzbekistan.
The “Fiction Film Competition” awards were given in four categories this year
In the field of fiction, the “Best Film Award” was awarded to the production “Among the Scattered Deaths” from Azerbaijan, the “Best Director Award” to the film “Shambala” from Kyrgyzstan, “Mavzer” from Turkey to the “Best Screenplay Award”, “Special Jury Award” was won by the production of “Passionate” from Uzbekistan.
At the ceremony, in addition to the Turkic world folk dances, artist Arslanbek Sultanbekov and General Manager of the State Opera and Ballet Murat Karahan gave a mini concert to the participants.
