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The fifth edition of the Gobeklitepe International Film Festival launched in southeastern Turkiye with municipal backing, presenting a diverse lineup of cinema and cultural events.
The festival, organized by the Gobeklitepe Culture and Art Association alongside the Sanliurfa Metropolitan Municipality, opened at the Vali Kemalettin Gazezoglu Culture and Art Center with Ibrahim Halil Kutlug's art exhibition titled "Memory of Traces."
During the inaugural ceremony, Deputy Secretary General of Sanliurfa Metropolitan Municipality Vedat Akilli welcomed guests and acknowledged project contributors.
Stating that culture plays an important role in reviving the city, Akilli said, "We build infrastructure, we build sewage systems, we reconstruct the city; but while reconstructing and building the city, one of the most fundamental elements to raise it back up is culture. Cinema is an important pillar of this culture."
Expressing their pleasure in hosting the program in Sanliurfa, Akilli noted that hosting the organization is meaningful for them.
Festival Director Mustafa Deniz Dogan said organizers have spent five years bringing the universal language of cinema together with Sanliurfa’s thousands of years of cultural heritage.
He added that the festival is more than a series of film screenings, describing it as a platform where different cultures, ideas, stories and people meet.
Dogan said organizers want festival guests to do more than attend screenings, and to experience Sanliurfa’s cultural and historical riches up close.
He noted that, alongside local cuisine and food culture, organizers place great importance on visits to Gobeklitepe, an archaeological site more than 11,000 years old, the Sanliurfa Archaeology Museum and the Haleplibahce Mosaic Museum.
The festival, where all screenings and events are free, will feature special film screenings, talks, music performances and other events.
This year’s main theme is “Sayburc,” and the festival wraps up on Nov. 8. Honorary awards will go to actors Meltem Cumbul and Menderes Samancilar.
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