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BOSPHORUS 2019 Awards

Belonging and Homeward triumph at the seventh Bosphorus Film Festival

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- Lendita Zeqiraj’s feature debut Aga’s House also snagged some major awards in the international section

Belonging and Homeward triumph at the seventh Bosphorus Film Festival
The winners of the Bosphorus Film Festival at the festival's closing ceremony

Burak Çevik’s sophomore feature, Belonging [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Burak Çevik
film profile
]
, and Ukrainian director Nariman Aliev’s Homeward [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
were the big winners of the Best National and International Film Awards, respectively, at the seventh Bosphorus Film Festival, which ran from 18-25 October.

The National Feature Film Competition jury, led by Turkish director Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun, and comprising actress Cemre Ebuzziya, screenwriter and art director Ebru Ceylan, author Mustafa Çiftçi and actress Nalan Kuruçim, handed the 100,000 TL (€16,000) Golden Dolphin to the director of Belonging. Çevik doubled the Golden Dolphins as he was also awarded for the Best Screenplay for his film.

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The Best Director Award was bestowed upon Semih Kaplanoğlu for his latest feature, Commitment Hasan [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
. In the acting categories, Best Actress went to Nihan Dengiz Okutucu for her role in Long Time Ago directed by Cihan Sağlam, and Best Actor to Ali Atay, who stars in Cenk Ertürk’s feature debut, Noah Land [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. Finally, in the technical awards, seasoned acclaimed Greek director of photography Andreas Sinanos was awarded for his work in The Mute directed by Murat Pay, while Erkan Erdem received the Best Editing award for Eylem Kaftan’s feature debut Hive.

In the International Feature Film Competition, the big winner of the 50,000 TL (€8,000) Golden Dolphin for Best Film, Homeward director Nariman Aliev, received the prize from the jury chair, Filipino director Brillante Mendoza. Aliev also received the Best Actor award on behalf of his lead protagonist Akthem Seitablayev who did not attend the ceremony.

The second big winner of the night was Kosovar director Lendita Zeqiraj, who received the Special Jury prize for her debut feature film Aga’s House [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lendita Zeqiraj
film profile
]
and the Best Actress award for her film’s ensemble (Adriana Matoshi, Rozafa Celaj, Shengyl Ismaili and Melihate Qena). Finally, the jury awarded Georgian helmer Dmitri Mamulia with the Best Director accolade for The Criminal Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

Here is the complete list of winners at the seventh Bosphorus Film Festival:

National Feature Film Competition

Best Film
Belonging [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Burak Çevik
film profile
]
- Burak Çevik (Turkey/Canada/France)

Best Director
Semih Kaplanoğlu - Commitment Hasan [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
(Turkey)

Best Actress
İpek Türktan Kaynak - Long Time Ago (Turkey)

Best Actor
Ali Atay - Noah Land [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Germany/Turkey/USA)

Best Screenplay
Burak Çevik – Belonging

Best Director of Photography
Andreas Sinanos - The Mute (Turkey)

Best Editing
Erkan Erdem - Hive (Turkey)

International Feature Film Competition

Best Film
Homeward [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Nariman Aliev (Ukraine)

Best Director
Dmitri Mamulia - The Criminal Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Georgia/Russia)

Special Jury Prize
Lendita Zeqiraj - Aga’s House [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lendita Zeqiraj
film profile
]
(Italy/France/Netherlands/Mexico)

Best Actress
Adriana Matoshi, Rozafa Celaj, Shengyl Ismaili, Melihate Qena - Aga's House

Best Actor
Akthem Seitablayev – Homeward

Honorary Award
Kim Ki-duk

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