The first Hollywood Turkish Film Festival (HTFF) is set to start on Oct. 20.
The event will be held at Paramount Pictures Studios, which has served the cinematic world for more than 100 years and produced many influential films, including "Godfather," "Top Gun," "Ghost" and "Star Trek."
The festival's global communications partner is Anadolu Agency (AA), and it will be led by director Tekin Girgin. The festival's president is journalist Barbaros Tapan, a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the organization that conducts the annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony.
The HTFF will kick off with a gala, expected to be attended by big names in Hollywood and Turkish cinema.
Oscar nominee "Ayla: The Daughter of War," will be screened in the category of "Best Foreign Film."
During the event, five short and three feature films chosen by a panel will be screened. Mustafa Karadeniz's "Çınar" ("Sycamore") and Ferzan Özpetek's "Red Istanbul" will be featured among the chosen films.
Cihan Özdoğan's "Sirayet," Dağhan Özdemir's "Mutluluk" ("Happiness"), Keram Altın's "Closed," Rıdvan Yavuz's "Kuyu" ("Well") and Onur Yağız's "Toprak" ("Earth") will also be screened at the festival.
World-famous actors, actresses, directors, producers and jury members of the Oscar and Golden Globe Awards, along with many famous figures, including Demet Akbağ, Meryem Uzerli, Selçuk Yöntem, Büşra Pekin, Hilal Saral, Hidayet Türkoğlu and Kaan Urgancıoğlu, are expected to make appearances during the three-day festival.
Aiming to contribute to Turkey's image and Turkish cinema on the global scale, the HTTF plans to promote Turkish cinema around the world. The festival's goal is to attract the attention of Hollywood's film industry, arouse interest about Turkish culture and provide business opportunities in Hollywood for Turkish production companies. The festival will end on Oct. 22.
