Over 400 guests attended a very special cocktail event entitled "Meetings on the Bridge", a series of meetings started at the Istanbul Film Festival which aims to bring together directors, producers and scriptwriters of films and film projects from Turkey with international film professionals .

We had the opportunity to speak with festival director Azize Tan, as she engaged with each of the guests. "The high turnout of the cocktail which was organized by the Istanbul Film Festival and Efes, is evidence of the high level of success obtained by Turkey's film industry in recent years. The Istanbul festival and the "Meetings on the Bridge" series shows just how strong the relationship is between Turkey and the international film industry," stated Tan.

Amongst the many attendees at the event was this year's Cannes Film Festival Short Film jury member director Semih Kaplanoğlu, winner of the Cinefondation l'Atelier for his new project Özcan Alper, winner of the best director award in Istanbul for "Lifelong" Aslı Özge and amongst the film's producers Nadir Öperli. Also on hand was last year's winner of the Golden Palm for his short film "Silent" Rezan Yeşilbaş, actress Belçim Bilgin Erdoğan, the director of "Saroyan Land" Lusin Dink, this year's winner of the Efes Award at the "Meetings on the Bridge" for "The Impeccables" producer Emine Yıldırım and film writer Atilla Dorsay in addition to a number of film critics from Turkey including Alin Taşçıyan and Nil Kural.

Everyone came out!

A number of high-level state officials also came out to show their support for Turkey's film industry including Turkey's Marseille Consul-General Deniz Erdoğan Barım and Turkey's French Embassy Cultural Attaché Gökhan Çete. Organizers of Turkey's pavilion at Cannes Ankara Cinema Association Chairman Ahmet Boyacıoğlu and Başak Emre were also amongst the guests

Administrators and critics from some of the world's most significant film and entertainment magazines such as Screen and Variety also attended the event as did a number of directors from some of the world's most important film festivals, namely the Venice, Sundance, Toronto and Dubai festivals.

In addition to Azize Tan, hosts Efes Consumer Interaction Group Director Emre Topsakaloğlu, İKSV Assistant General Manager Ömür Bozkurt, Efes Brand Public Relations and Communications Planning Director Nihan Erçetin, Efes Sponsorship and Social Brands Marketing Manager Selin Takçı and "Meetings on the Bridge" Director Gülin Üstün also engaged with the guests at the prestigious cocktail party.

This is a translation of an article originally written by Esin Küçüktepepınar from Cannes.