The Ankara International Wildlife Documentary Film Festival is exclusively dedicated to documentaries about wildlife. Therefore, it can be considered “the first of its kind” in Türkiye.

 

In recent years, as the number of wildlife-related productions in Türkiye has begun to grow, a certain conceptual confusion has also emerged. Documentary, as an art form, is not only about capturing images. Documentaries that have a story, artistic and aesthetic concerns, and a purpose and coherence are very different from mere compilations of footage presented as video clips or programs filmed in a television format.

 

In order to draw attention to these differences, we would like to connect wildlife documentaries and their teams from around the world with both the audience and those who wish to create wildlife documentaries, whether professionally or as amateurs. Establishing new acquaintances, keeping up with innovations in the world, being a pioneer in some areas, and perhaps facilitating collaborations and joint productions are among our objectives.

 

The wildlife documentary film festival, which we started as our first step based on these thoughts, will take place in the capital city of Ankara. Please note the dates May 15 - 18, 2025! We aim to present a packed festival program over four days, including documentary film screenings, discussions with film crews, workshops, and seminars.

 

The festival will also include a competition section in which documentary films from around the world will be assessed in both the feature-length and short film categories. The awards given are primarily intended as incentives. Every documentary that reaches the finals is already selected from among hundreds of submissions to meet the audience. Awards aim to provide some moral support to the teams producing documentaries with great difficulties and patience, showing that their efforts are rewarded.

Submissions for the festival competition will be open from July 1 to December 16, 2024 through the filmfreeway.com website. We invite all wildlife documentary filmmakers from Türkiye and around the world to submit their works to the festival!