Official Selection 2026
Lycian Way International Film Festival 2026 Official Selection
National Features
2026-09-13 · 16:30 – 18:00
I Am 12,000 Years Old
Batuhan Karadağoğlu · Türkiye · 2026 · 33'
Gökhan, who lives in a small village hidden among the mountains of Kars, centers his life around the rock carvings he encountered years ago while wandering in the mountains. These lines etched into stone—ignored by the state, academics, and even the villagers—are, in his eyes, the voice of the past. While trying to support his family through shepherding, Gökhan also strives, with his own limited means, to preserve this cultural heritage. "I Am 12,000 Years Old" is a quiet yet profound story that questions the significance of individual effort in sustaining collective memory. Set in a remote village in Turkey, it brings to light the humble resistance of a hero overlooked by the modern world. DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT "I Am 12,000 Years Old" is not just a documentary for me; it is a story of conscience. I was deeply moved by the efforts of a man in a remote corner of Anatolia who, without any support, has devoted himself to protecting a heritage that is thousands of years old. In Gökhan's story, I saw how an ordinary life can carry a truly universal meaning. Through this film, I want to convey that history does not exist only in museums or books; it lives in villages, on mountains, etched into stones, and in the hearts of the people who protect it. Through Gökhan's journey, I hope audiences will look not only at the history of Anatolia, but also at their own roots and responsibilities. Because the past can only survive into the future if we choose to protect it today.
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2026-09-13 · 16:30 – 18:00
No Country for Others
Bingöl Elmas · Türkiye · 2025 · 52'
In Istanbul's Aksaray district, traces of distant geographies collide — Syria, Somalia, East Turkestan, Kazakhstan. An Ethiopian hairdresser stands beside a Damascene restaurant; a Kazakh eatery is followed by a Gazan falafel shop. A courier from Urfa competes with a Somali counterpart. Yemenis and Uyghurs have become neighboring shopkeepers. At the heart of this convergence lies Yeni Han — a stopover for those fleeing war and poverty, where many seek a way forward. From asylum applications to court petitions, school enrollments to residence permits, lives are rewritten as documents are translated. For some it is a refuge; for others a noisy and unsettling space, filled with moments where the official and the unofficial constantly shift places. Right next to this intense flow, in the same building and on the same street, an invisible distance stretches between locals and newcomers. They live side by side, yet without touch — sometimes built from fear, sometimes from prejudice, often in silence. This film listens to that silence, and to the fragile possibility of living together.
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2026-09-12 · 15:00 – 16:30
Human in Quest
Aslı Akdağ · Türkiye · 2026 · 40'
Human in Quest brings together three lives around a shared search for meaning. Rather than focusing on singular turning points, the film traces ongoing processes of transformation shaped by the body, personal limits, and lived experience. Emerging from the director's own personal inquiry, the film begins with two women on spiritual paths and expands to include a third character, whose physical limitations open another dimension of the search—where the boundaries of the body reshape the direction of inner transformation. Horses play a central role in each life, recurring throughout the film as carriers of intuition, memory, and the bond between human and nature. The camera accompanies its characters without directing them, allowing space for doubt, vulnerability, and reflection. Though their lives never directly intersect, they resonate within a shared field of experience. Through quiet gestures and everyday decisions, Human in Quest opens a space where individual journeys echo a wider human inquiry—remaining open, rather than resolved.
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2026-09-12 · 15:00 – 16:30
Journey to Knowledge: Andalusia
Sedat Benek · Türkiye · 2026 · 50'
Journey to Knowledge: Andalusia follows the trail of knowledge across Andalusia, from Córdoba to the cities where scholars, translators and travellers built one of history's great intellectual crossroads. Directed by geographer and documentarian Prof. Dr. Sedat Benek, the film traces how science, philosophy and cultural exchange travelled between civilisations, and what remains of that legacy in the landscapes and monuments of today.
View film →International Features
2026-09-13 · 12:30 – 14:00
My Father and Qaddafi
Jihan K · USA, Libya · 2025 · 88'
When Jihan was six years old, her father flew to Cairo and never returned. Mansur Rashid Kikhia was the Foreign Minister of Libya, ambassador to the United Nations, and a human rights lawyer. After serving in Qaddafi's increasingly brutal regime, he defected from the government and became the leader of the peaceful opposition. For many, Kikhia was a rising star who could have been the next leader of Libya, however, in 1993 he disappeared from his hotel in Egypt. Jihan's mother Baha Al Omary, a strong-willed Syrian-American artist, began searching for him, launching the family into an international political maze. Her mission to find justice brought her to the Libyan desert in the middle of the night, face to face with Qaddafi to negotiate her husband's release. Yet it wasn't until after the regime's fall, 19 years later, that his body was found in a freezer near Qaddafi's palace. My Father and Qaddafi takes the audience on a raw and reflective journey as Jihan pieces together a father she barely remembers, while discovering the troubled history and politics of Libya. Her journey starts from fading personal memories, leading to encounters with family members, her father's peers, and historical archive footage. Hoping at first to uncover the truth, Jihan instead transforms the mystery into a curiosity that brings her closer to her father and her Libyan identity.
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2026-09-12 · 10:30 – 12:00
A Brave Old World
Laura Bondarevsky · Uruguay, Argentina · 2025 · 74'
A woman, a man, a cat and three gun shots. Working from photographs, notebooks, tapes and memories, Laura Bondarevsky pieces together a historical reconstruction that travels across several worlds — from the political fervour of Latin America in the late sixties to the frozen landscapes of the far south — in an attempt to understand, and perhaps change, our own. Winner of the Audience Award at the Uruguay International Film Festival and Best International Feature Film at the International Human Rights Film Festival, among many other honours.
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2026-09-11 · 11:00 – 12:30
Vacances
Victoria Hely-Hutchinson · Canada, United States · 2025 · 82'
Shot over the course of a decade at a sun-drenched villa in Provence, Vacances follows 'Granny', a bohemian Austro-Hungarian countess, as she imparts wisdom by the pool and looks for a successor among her descendants. Wearing swimsuits, the younger family members navigate her complex world, regressing under her scrutiny and resisting her advice. As summers pass and Granny's influence fades, her heirs reassess her arcane teachings. They start to separate the valuable from the vexing in her legacy, readying themselves to move beyond the villa after the film's final summer.
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2026-09-11 · 13:00 – 14:30
So Close, So Far
ZHU Yudi · Hong Kong · 2025 · 98'
Director Zhu Yudi filmed this devastating chronicle of the gradual decline of a family falling into debt, primarily in the company of his father. In recent years, his father's renovation company has been sinking deeper and deeper into debt due to investments in various projects in Chinese cities. Zhu accompanies his father on one of his regular business trips, during which he attempts to collect unpaid debts from clients. However, he also captures the escalating family disputes and his father's descent into ever-greater despair. Through one personal tragedy, the film shows the existential distress caused by the recent crisis in the Chinese real estate sector. The young filmmaker uses a professional camera to capture confrontational situations and composes them in a way that makes him not only an observer but also a direct participant, commenting on events from behind the camera while talking to his protagonists. His film is an immediate, authentic drama that remains in the intimate sphere but at the same time speaks to the state of Chinese society.
View film →National Shorts
2026-09-12 · 17:00 – 18:30
Hi Mom, It's Me, Lou Lou
Atakan Yılmaz · Türkiye · 2024 · 21'
Hakkı, a university student earning his keep through drag queen performances in Istanbul, is jolted by the news of his mother's passing one night. Concealing his sexual orientation from everyone except his mother, he returns to the family home after years, confronting the weighty expectations of being the only male offspring. Despite grappling with sadness over his mother's death and his father's aloofness, this journey catalyzes his path toward self-acceptance.
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2026-09-12 · 17:00 – 18:30
Morî
Yakup Tekintangaç · Türkiye · 2024 · 19'
All that remains of Mori from her father is a voice recording. Listening to it from time to time, Mori comes to believe that the new teacher who has just arrived at her school is her father.
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2026-09-13 · 14:30 – 16:00
The Slope
Cemal İşnas · Türkiye · 2025 · 17'
Doctor Kemal, who has decided to settle in Germany, comes to his village to say farewell to his father. Yet he can never find the words to tell him. Events unfolding in the village test Kemal's attachment to his father and to the place he comes from. Caught between his own peace and future on one side and his father and his village on the other, Kemal is forced to make a choice.
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2026-09-13 · 14:30 – 16:00
The Raffle
Muhammet Emin Altunkaynak · Türkiye · 2024 · 17'
A smart and ambitious boy who can't stand injustice; in the raffle game that comes to the neighborhood grocery store, he chases after the big prizes that the grocer doesn't want to lose because he keeps the raffle going.
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2026-09-13 · 14:30 – 16:00
Home Cooking
Ahmet Toğaç · Türkiye · 2025 · 15'
Selma, a teenage girl, is looking forward to making pizza for her father's birthday and going to the amusement park with whole the family. But the day doesn't turn out that way, as her father doesn't turn up. Though their father eventually finds them at the park, Selma's joy quickly fades, leaving the siblings to quietly search for ways to fill the emptiness left by their family's unraveling bonds. DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT Home Cooking is the story of Selma, a teenage girl attempting to organize a birthday celebration—not for herself, but for her father. With her seven-year-old brother and her mother by her side, Selma plans to make a pizza in honor of her father's birthday. However, things quickly fall apart when her father fails to arrive on time. What should have been a day of joy becomes a quiet unraveling of her hopes. In this film, I wanted to explore how trauma often stems not from grand events, but from small, seemingly insignificant moments—like the tension between Selma's expectations and her father's absence. I was inspired by a memory, triggered by the smell of cigarette smoke, something that brought me back to a time when my own father used to smoke indoors. That familiar scent stirred a sense of loss and forgotten memories, leading me to reflect on the emotional weight of absence. From that feeling, this story emerged. The film examines the impact of an absent father on his children. Years from now, I believe Selma and her brother will not remember the birthday or the amusement park—they'll remember the hollow space their father left behind. The amusement park serves as the dominant backdrop of the film, a place that should be filled with joy, but instead reflects the family's emotional void. Though Selma, her brother, and their mother spend time on the rides, they eat nothing, symbolizing their unmet emotional needs. When the father eventually shows up, their reunion is fleeting and incomplete. Selma watches her father from a distance as he devours a hot dog, unaware that she sees him. This small, careless act becomes unbearable for Selma, and in that moment, her connection to her parents fractures. From here, she withdraws, and the family begins to drift apart. At one point, after a minor incident on a ride, Selma and her brother find themselves alone in the amusement park. They make no effort to return to their parents, realizing that their parents, too, have lost interest in maintaining the bonds that hold them together. The siblings, in a final act of resignation, buy a large bucket of popcorn, filling their emotional emptiness by stuffing themselves—filling the void left by their family's broken connection.
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2026-09-12 · 17:00 – 18:30
The Galactic Plectrum
Semih Ellialtı · Türkiye · 2025 · 18'
Necdet, a folk bard who flies off into different galaxies every time his plectrum strikes the strings of his saz, has been estranged from his son Metin, a psychedelic rock musician, for years. One day Shaman Mother, walking across the centuries with her kopuz on her back, suddenly appears to reconcile the two.
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2026-09-12 · 17:00 – 18:30
The Whisper of the Mound
Abdurrahim Karabulut · Türkiye · 2025 · 17'
On a snowy winter day, the Farmer (Musa), in search of deeper meaning, takes his close friend the Hatted Man (Süleyman) to a mound beside an old ruin to share the secrets he has long kept inside. This is the place where the Farmer seeks answers to the questions of his soul, hears strange sounds and speaks with a mysterious owl. But with his mind set on partridge hunting, will the Hatted Man be able to understand the magical, tangled world his friend has fallen into?
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2026-09-12 · 17:00 – 18:30
Adako
Alina Evirgen · Türkiye · 2025 · 9'
In the dark yet mesmerizing atmosphere of Istanbul, a young woman named Cemre embarks on an emotional and physical journey. After a pleasant evening with her colleagues, she receives a mysterious message and leaves early, wandering the streets alone. On the Galata Bridge she encounters a mysterious man, and together they fall into a profound conversation about the metaphor of the "tree branch complex" — an image that pushes Cemre to reflect on freedom and survival. When she finally heads home, she finds someone waiting for her with the window open. That silent encounter forces Cemre to confront her longing for freedom and the reality she has settled into. The film explores the inner struggle of a woman caught between individuality, family bonds and social expectations. Written & directed by Alina Evirgen. Produced by Umut Evirgen, Alina Evirgen and Fatih Karabaş. Starring Gizem Aydın and Özgür Emre Yıldırım.
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2026-09-12 · 17:00 – 18:30
Procedure
Rabia Özmen · Türkiye · 2025 · 18'
Murat, who has just entered prison, has a need he cannot meet because of various procedures, and he asks his wife for help. Unsure what to do, Sema arrives at the prison with her baby on a crowded visiting day, forced to consider unlawful ways of helping her husband — while strict security measures await her inside. Written and directed by Rabia Özmen. Cast: Mücahit Koçak, Reyhan Özdilek. Cinematography: Arda Üzmez. Editing: Umut Sakallıoğlu. Producer: Cemil Nazlı (Fikirdaş Medya).
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2026-09-13 · 14:30 – 16:00
My Father's Friend
Kemal Akçay · Türkiye · 2025 · 20'
Kerem (35) wants to tell his father, who lives alone in the village, that he is moving abroad. During his visit he realises that his father has an imaginary friend. Seeing this as an illness born of loneliness, Kerem unwittingly tries to cut the only branch his father clings to in life. Directed by Kemal Akçay. Written by Seher Ülker Albayrak & Kemal Akçay. Starring Erkan Baylav and Osman Alkaş. Cinematography: Kağan Kerimoğlu. Producers: Algın Aydın, Buğrahan Aktaş.
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2026-09-13 · 14:30 – 16:00
Actually, Everyone
Emre Cef Kamhi · Türkiye · 2025 · 17'
At first, Cafer feels fortunate not to breathe in the foul odour spreading through the apartment building. But he soon begins to feel alienated and increasingly isolated from neighbours whose lives have become unbearable. In this darkly comic tale, Cafer will do whatever it takes to smell the stench. His only wish is to lay his head on his pillow at night and struggle to sleep because of that terrible smell — just to be like everyone else. Written and directed by Emre Cef Kamhi. Starring Murat Kılıç, Bülent Şakrak and Bedir Bedir. Produced by Lumanes Film.
View film →International Shorts
2026-09-11 · 17:00 – 18:30
Somewhere I Belong
Youssef Handouse · Tunisia · 2025 · 21'
After a long absence, a man comes back to his hometown, carrying the unspoken belief that returning might restore what was once familiar. As he moves through familiar streets, faces and routines, he realizes that the place he calls home no longer exists in the way he remembers. Through silence, gestures and fleeting encounters, Somewhere I Belong observes a quiet confrontation with change, memory and the impossibility of fully returning.
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2026-09-11 · 17:00 – 18:30
Blackmoll
Alessia Mandanici · Germany · 2024 · 19'
Karla is a crafty second grader who loves drawing, her best friend Nele and, most of all, spending time with her grandmother — who keeps mixing up dates and seeing things that do not exist. Despite her young age, Karla understands what everyone around her does not: her grandmother's perception may be different, but it is no less real. A tender family drama about dementia, imagination and the stubborn loyalty of a child.
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2026-09-11 · 17:00 – 18:30
Liminal
Ege Yılmaz · Poland / Türkiye · 2025 · 13'
The outsider returns to her childhood home to check on her ailing father, stepping into a past that no longer belongs to her. The house feels heavy with silence, her younger sister withdrawn, as if guarding something unspoken. As their father's condition worsens, the boundaries between memory and reality begin to blur, leading the outsider toward a moment of reckoning. The sisters begin to reconnect through the weight of the truth they now share.
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2026-09-11 · 17:00 – 18:30
SOS
Anita Morina · Kosovo · 2024 · 16'
At the end of an existential crisis, Drin discovers that nothing about him has really changed — nothing except the experience itself. A wry, intimate short about the distance between the transformation we hope for and the one we actually get.
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2026-09-11 · 17:00 – 18:30
Between Sky and Sea
Ismail Abu Hatab · Palestine · 2026 · 26'
A short docu-film by photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab, covering life in displacement during the genocide in Gaza in 2024. The film is largely wordless. With the exception of a few interviews with older individuals, Between Sky and Sea is an artful compilation of daily life in displacement. Most of the footage comes from Deir Al-Balah in Summer 2024 — at the time, the largest displacement camp in Gaza. It concludes with footage of the mass march back to northern Gaza later that same year. The film was made as part of an immersive exhibition, "Between Sky and Sea," which featured Abu Hatab's photography, a recreation of a Gazan tent, and an audio design of the sounds of Gaza. The exhibition has travelled to Los Angeles, Chicago, London and Greece. Ismail Abu Hatab was martyred in the bombing of Al-Baqa Cafe on 30 June 2025. His photography received a prize at the 2025 CCFD Terre-Solidaire awards in Paris. His work continues to be shown through his organization, ByPa ("By Palestine").
View film →Student Shorts
2026-09-11 · 15:00 – 16:30
I Don't Want to Kill Anyone
Yalın Çağdaş Eşsiz · Türkiye · 2025 · 9'
Yalın, despite everyone and everything around him, does not want to kill anyone. A student short from Dokuz Eylül University that turns a simple refusal into a quiet act of resistance.
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2026-09-11 · 15:00 – 16:30
One Bad Day
Yaşar Güney Yurdakul · Türkiye · 2024 · 19'
Ahmet, an 11-year-old middle school student, lives with his father, who has been unable to work since breaking his leg. Ahmet needs a patch sewn onto his torn trousers and decides to have it done in red to impress his classmate Yağmur. At the tailor his father sends him to, he narrowly escapes harassment. When he comes home, his father — angry about the red patch — forces Ahmet to face the tailor once again.
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2026-09-11 · 15:00 – 16:30
Doesn't Matter
Deniz Mıdık · Türkiye · 2024 · 16'
Emre, frustrated with the problems in his life, undergoes a procedure to remove his negative emotions using a new technology that everyone is starting to adapt to. However, negative emotions are not the only thing he loses.
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2026-09-11 · 15:00 – 16:30
No Way Beyond the Shadow
Muhammet Ali Deniz & Ramazan Arslan · Türkiye · 2024 · 9'
In a dystopian world, a young man seeking peace by fishing in a lake tries to move beyond "the shadow" on his journey to find himself. This journey is not only an escape but also a test in which he questions the meaning of existence, freedom and the courage to face his own truth.
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2026-09-11 · 15:00 – 16:30
Upside Down
Cemal Karaaslan · Türkiye · 2026 · 17'
Film student Cemal sets out with his friends to find a breakdance crew that was formed in their city years ago but suddenly disappeared. As they try to uncover why the group disbanded, they are guided by Sile — a man known by almost everyone in the city and the founder of the crew. While Cemal and his friends search for the last people in their hometown who once tried to do something different and meaningful, Sile remains unaware of the lasting impact he has left on the next generation.
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2026-09-11 · 15:00 – 16:30
Thank You for the Dance, John
Ateş Yersu Gök · France · 2026 · 20'
Elizabeth, a woman in her mid-30s, has been desperately waiting for her husband John's return from the war for years. One day, she receives a shocking letter announcing his homecoming. Overjoyed by the news, she prepares an unforgettable dinner to celebrate his unexpected arrival.
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