From all over the world, the International Istanbul Short Film Festival / The Writer's Journey is preparing to embrace everyone who is creative, original, brave and has a problem to express.
You can be sure that we will help your story get a chance to stand out and overcome sectoral challenges.

Every idea has the luxury of being seen and appreciated.

It may be your first work, or you may be an experienced one. You can be assertive in composition and colors. At the Writer's Journey, for the first time, non-budgeted filmmakers will be screened together with famous talents and experienced professionals having multi-million dollar budgets at the most eclectic film festival anywhere in the world.

This year, our organizations will be opening their doors with a surprise ceremony where you can experience the magical atmosphere of Istanbul. We will be happy to share your excitement while welcoming our guests from all over the world.

A note for all the candidates competing in the national category: Your projects will be evaluated carefully.

The world of short films is as vast as an ocean and your competitors are much more than you think. The purpose of the foundation of our festival is to increase the chance of the potential you want to reveal and to be on your side regarding the issues you want to express. Be sure that each application will be evaluated devotedly.
While we do not want to put limits on the application categories, we tried to make the platform as free as possible so that they can be evaluated as broadly as possible.
We are aware that the path you have taken with your issue is full of difficult and courageous themes. We hope that we can create memories of walking together on your life journey.

As an additional and important category, we wanted to include a Vegan themed category related to animal rights. In our world where global warming, challenging pandemic conditions and economic processes are not going well, we will be looking forward to your works that will reveal our awareness. The grief of the world triggers us all at some point. We are all connected to each other by invisible threads, and it is our responsibility to make the cosmic bond healthy in relation to the grief of the world. We find this issue important at the festival.

While aiming for a spectacular night that includes an awards ceremony, International Istanbul Short Film & the Writer’s Journey will make the pre-selection on a monthly basis. Monthly evaluations will be made only among the jury members and will not be published. Each month's selections will be shortlisted for a grand elimination at the end of the year, and finally, from these, the finalists will be selected.

We would like you to be sure that we will be there and help you whenever you want. Let's get together!

Event venue : AKM
The event date is April 27,2024
Award ceremony : 19:00/ 23:00

An important reminder about the festival rules:
All the directors announced as "selection" and "finalists" are included in the film screenings "only" in the organizations to be held later in the festival.
The award ceremony is organized only for the films that have been awarded. The award winners were informed within a period of approximately one month.
Everyone who participated in the festival as "selection" and "Finalist" will receive a notification e-mail. Congratulations to everyone.

Each short film will be reviewed at least for three judges after the film is scored by our screening team. Our judges team includes artists from the Turkey, Italy and Sweden.

There will be an award ceremony for the "award winner" badge holders. Film screenings will be organized for "selection" and "finalist" badge holders on dates to be determined.

--- FILM AWARDS ---
*Trophy with certificates All Participants
Best Feature Film
Best Short Film
Best Under 5 Minute Film
Best Indie Feature
Best Indie Short
Best Series Pilot
Best Web-Series
Best Animation
Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short
Best Student Film
Best Silent Film
Best Experimental Film
Best Music Video
Best Trailer
Best Commercial
Best Comedy Film
Best Dark Comedy Film
Best Adventure Film
Best Action Film
Best Thriller Film
Best Sci-Fi Film
Best Horror Film
Best Drama Film
Best Historical Film
Best War Film
Best Noir Film
Best Western Film
Best Romance Film
Best Musical Film
Best Parody Film
Best LGBTQ Film
Best Biographical Film
Best Nature Film
Best Inspirational Film
Best Sport Film
Best Director - Feature
Best Director - Short
Best 1st time Director - Feature
Best 1st time Director - Short
Best Art Director
Best Producer
Best 1st time Producer
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Acting Ensemble
Best Acting Duo
Best Monologue
Best Acting Debut
Best Child Actor & Actress
Best Voice Over
Best Stunt Performer
Best Scenography
Best Natural Scenography
Best Costumes
Best Visual Effects
Best Cinematography
Best Make-Up
Best Original Prop/Mock-up
Best Soundtrack
Best Main Theme
Best Song
Best Sound Design
Best Drone Video
Best Fight Choreography
Best Dance Choreography
Best Editing
Best Screenplay
Best Original Story
Best Poster
Best Feature Script
Best Series Pilot Script
Best Television Script
Best Short Script
Best Comedy Script
Best Thriller Script
Best Fantasy Script
Best Sci-Fi Script
Best Horror Script
Best Drama Script
Best Romance Script
Best 1st Time Screenwriter - Feature
Best 1st Time Screenwriter - Short
Best Original Script
Best Picture
Best Fight Choreography

RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR 2023 SUBMISSIONS
The following is an explanation of the Rules and Guidelines governing film submissions to the 2023 International İstanbul Short Film & The Writer’s Journey Festival.. Compliance with these Rules and Guidelines is necessary in order to participate in the Film Festival. Submission of a film implies unconditional acceptance of the Rules & Guidelines, therefore, please carefully read through the Rules prior to submitting your film. If you have any questions, please contact the International İstanbul Short Film Fest / The Writer’s Journey Festival : official@setenayuruc.com
1. The Entrant/s submitting the film must hold all legal rights for the submission, as well as all necessary clearances for public exhibition.
2. The Filmmaker/s retain/s all submission and intellectual property rights.
3. Films must be submitted electronically via FilmFreeway.
The Filmmaker/s is/are responsible for making sure all submission materials are submitted by the submission deadline indicated. If your film does not arrive or is not uploaded by the deadline for which you have registered, you may be required to pay the higher submission fee or withdrawn.
7. Each submission must be accompanied by the appropriate fee. Submission fees are in are U.S. Dollars per submission and is non-refundable. Cash is not accepted.
9. Subtitles must be in English. All foreign-language films must be submitted with English subtitles. If we discover a foreign-language submission is missing subtitles, we will attempt to email the submitter for an update. If the submitter fails to provide working subtitles by the final submission deadline, the project will be considered incomplete and will be disqualified without refund of submission fees.
Please keep screener links and passwords up-to-date and notify the IİSFF office promptly with any changes. Please test your media prior to submission to make sure they run properly and are not damaged.
11. Filmmakers are allowed to submit more than one film for the Festival provided that each film is submitted separately and meet IİSFF guidelines.
12. Filmmakers are allowed to re-submit a film that was previously submitted provided significant changes were made and all eligibility requirements are met. When re-submitting the film, include a brief letter detailing the changes made.
13. A student submitting a film must provide a photocopy of a current and valid student ID or a letter from his/her school verifying enrollment.
If you would like your materials returned after the festival, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
15. Entrants may contact the IİSFF to find out if the Festival received the submission: official@setenayuruc.com. Filmmakers submitting through FilmFreeway can check their status through the website.
16. The Filmmaker is responsible for all inbound shipping costs, domestic or international.
17. All personal contact information is to remain confidential and not to be shared with any third parties.
18. IİSFF reserves the right to use images from films selected in the Festival for marketing purposes.
All decisions regarding award winners are considered final and incontestable.
20. All films submitted must have been completed between March 2021 and June 2024
21. Applicants acknowledge that IİSFF reserves the right to change the nature of screenings and events due to circumstances related to public health and welfare or at the direction of local, state, or federal authorities. In such cases, no submission refunds shall be issued.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • ''Çarşamba'' isimli filmimizle yarışmaya katıldık ve En İyi Kısa Senaryo, En İyi Afiş ödüllerine layık görüldük. Festival gecesi harika geçti ve iletişim güzeldi. Harika insanlarla bir araya gelerek tanışma fırsatı bulduk. Festival jürisine ve direktörüne bizleri ödüle layık gördükleri ve verdikleri emek için teşekkür eder iyi çalışmalar dilerim.
    We participated in the competition with our movie "Wednesday" and were awarded the Best Short Script and Best Poster awards. The festival night went great and communication was good. We had the opportunity to come together and meet wonderful people. I would like to thank the festival jury and director for deeming us worthy of the award and for their efforts and wish them good work.

    April 2024