Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform

Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform | Turkish-Armenian Yerevan Workshop

Directors Across Borders (DAB) program and Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform are pleased to announce Call for Applications for film projects aimed for co-production between Armenia and Turkey. Feature-length fiction, documentary and short films are eligible for applying.

For participation, please, download application form attached and complete it. Deadline for entry is March 31, 2009

Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform is the borne of two Armenia-Turkey cinema workshops organized within the frameworks of Armenian-Turkish Cultural Initiative. The initiators of the program are Anadolu Kültür Association (Turkey) and Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival(Armenia). Both workshops, organized in April 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey and in December 2008 in Yerevan, Armenia, served to the common goals: to develop close cooperation and close links with Armenia in the filed of culture, establish a film and cultural network between Armenia and Turkey, promote dialogue and exchange between the countries, maintain exchange of cultural heritage, organize workshops, promote a new geopolitical image of the countries in the region. Such issues, as “How cinema deals with history” and “Cinema as Means of Cross-Border Dialogue and Mutual Understanding” were widely discussed at both meetings.

Summarizing meetings mentioned above, the participants from both countries (among them were film directors, producer, scriptwriters, film critics and journalists) proved that the discussions should be followed by practical steps. So the first actions were identified to achieve the above-discussed goals.

Thus, choosing cinema as means of promotion of civil and cultural dialogue between Armenia and Turkey, Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform will serve as a common workplace for cinema practitioners from the two neighbor countries to develop joint short and full length film projects, exchange of film programs and to facilitate cooperation in all aspects of cinema.

Organizers and participants from both sides will continue the productively started work. Creating on-line forum for wide discussions for film-professionals and identifying future projects, which in future can get a form of an Almanac of short films and/or documentary and feature projects, will be among the first steps of long-term cooperation. The created network aims to unite individual filmmakers and professional organizations and studios, which will discuss common ideas and projects, search for financial sources on both sides and realize it as co-productions.

As a long term initiative, the Platform intends to have several co-productions of different formats and scales during the coming years.