Short film festival to host two director panels

The 11th Akbank Short Film Festival, which runs until March 26, continues to bring renowned figures from Turkish and world cinema together. The 11th edition of the film festival received applications from 712 short films from 37 different countries - from Mexico and Scotland to Syria and Papua New Guinea. The festival brings different colors, cultures and thoughts together with films featured in the competition section as well as non-competition selections.

The festival program includes Festival Kısaları (Festival Shorts), Dünyadan Kısalar (World Shorts), Kısadan Uzuna (From Short to Long), Deneyimler (Experiences), Belgesel Sinema (Documentary Cinema), Yarışma Seçki Dışı (Out of Competition) and Özel Gösterim (Special Screening) covering 86 short films and two feature-length films from 23 different countries. The 11th Akbank Short Film Festival, which offers a pleasant program to cinema lovers for 10 days, will host the short film curator of the Berlin International Film Festival, Maike Mia Höhne. Tomorrow at 6:30 p.m., Höhne will hold a panel session titled "Short Films at International Film Festivals," and focus on film festivals and approaches to short films in the international arena. She will also share her experiences with cinema devotees. On March 22, the Akbank Short Film Festival will also host renowned director Jessica Woodworth, who won various awards at prestigious film festivals such as the Cannes and Venice. The director's latest film "La Cinquième Saison" (The Fifth Season) will be screened on March 22, and Woodworth will share her cinematic journey and experiences with cinema lovers at a panel session following the screening.

About Maike Mia Höhne

Höhne was born in Hanover in 1971 and lives in Berlin and Hamburg. She studied visual communication at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg, the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba and Escuela Internacional de Cine y Television School in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. After working on films in Buenos Aires for a while, she completed her master's studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. She has been working as a writer, curator, producer, photographer and director in various fields since 2001. Moreover, she actively works as an educator and moderator at international film organizations. Since 2007, Höhne has worked as a short film curator at the Berlin International Film Festival.

About Jessica Woodworth

Born in 1971 in Washington, Woodworth was raised in Belgium, Switzerland and the U.S. She received her bachelor's degree in literature and classical theater from Princeton University in 1993. She then worked as a researcher for French and Swiss TV channels as well as in Paris, Hong Kong and Beijing. She studied the transfer of Hong Kong to China for various publications and broadcasts, and completed her master's studies on documentary filmmaking at Stanford University in 1999. In 2000, she received a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Morocco and shot the documentary "The Virgin Diaries," a co-production between five countries, which was nominated for the FIPRESCI Award at the 2002 Amsterdam Documentary Festival (IDFA). She has organized numerous workshops in various countries, and was the president of the jury at the 2011 Ghent International Film Festival. Since 2000, Woodworth has been working with Peter Brosens as an independent filmmaker and producer. Following their documentaries "Mongolia Trilogy" by Brosens and "The Virgin Diaries" by Woodworth, the duo turned to fiction filmmaking. Their first film "Khadak" won the prestigious "Lion of the Future" award for best feature at the Venice Film Festival in 2006. The film has also been screened at more than 60 international film festivals around the world, including the Toronto and Sundance, and won a total of 20 awards. Their second fiction film "Altiplano" premiered at the Cannes Critics' Week in 2009, and won the Grand Prix at the Bangkok International Film Festival. The film also won many awards and has been screened worldwide. Their trilogy "The Fifth Season," which was completed in 2012, premiered at the Official Competition of the Venice Film Festival and won two awards. The film has been screened at more than 70 film festivals and has won 15 awards so far. Brosens and Woodworth are currently financing "Kebab Royal," which is a modern fairy tale featuring the last king of the Belgians lost in the Balkans. They live in Belgium where they run their independent production company Bo Films, which was established in 2005.