The TRT Humanitarian Film Festival was held on Saturday in Istanbul, marking its seventh edition with an awards ceremony recognizing short films that address global humanitarian challenges, including war, displacement, forced migration and civilian suffering.
The festival brought together filmmakers and audiences to highlight humanitarian crises through short films that focus on real-life stories often absent from mainstream cinema. The event aims to use film as a platform to raise awareness of global injustices and human resilience.
The festival concluded with an awards ceremony honoring the top three films and the TRT Special Award, presented to works that stood out for their humanitarian focus and storytelling strength.
The first prize was awarded to Saif Hammash for “The Deer's Tooth,” while the second prize went to Lyna Tadount and Sofian Chouaib for “My Heart.” The third prize was awarded to Salvatore Scarpa and Max Burgoyne-Moore for “Largo.”
The TRT Special Award was presented to Ahmed Deeb and Moaz Hosni for “Farfour: A War Diary from Gaza,” a short film documenting daily life under conflict and the human cost of war through a personal narrative.
Films screened throughout the festival addressed themes such as occupation, genocide, forced migration and survival under extreme conditions, with several focusing on the experiences of children, refugees and civilians living amid ongoing conflict.
In addition to film screenings, the festival featured workshops and panel discussions throughout the day, enabling participants to engage with professionals in humanitarian filmmaking and storytelling.
This year’s festival received 433 submissions from 64 countries, including Türkiye, European nations, the U.S., India and Iran. All films were evaluated by a national and international jury of cinema professionals.
This year’s award-winning films centered mainly on Gaza, where civilian lives have been shattered by ongoing violence, mass civilian deaths and the destruction of everyday life.
Through personal narratives and intimate storytelling, the films highlighted the human cost of war, portraying families torn apart, children growing up amid trauma and communities struggling to survive under relentless hardship.
Rather than focusing on abstract conflict, the winning works brought the reality of civilian suffering to the forefront, underscoring how humanitarian crises continue to unfold beyond headlines and statistics.
