ABOUT

Türkiye has extremely strong cultural, historical, and kinship ties with the Balkan region. In the context of cinema, the Balkan Panorama Film Festival seriously undertakes the role of a bridge between Türkiye and the Balkans. The festival was founded by Prof. Dr. Sali Saliji - Sallini, a faculty member, and has been held in Izmir since 2015. Until 2018, four editions of the festival were organized with the support of Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Fine Arts, and DESEM (Dokuz Eylul University Continuous Education Center). Both the mission of the festival and the increasing interest and demand from festival participants and the Balkan region made it necessary for the festival to be organized on a larger scale. In line with this objective, since 2019, collaborations have been established with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye, General Directorate of Cinema, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, Karşıyaka Municipality, and Buca Municipality, and these partnerships continue to this day. Since 2022, the Balkan Panorama Film Festival has been organized by the Rumeli Culture, Art and Education Association. The festival screens feature-length and short films - including fiction, documentary, and animation - produced in Türkiye and the Balkan countries. The festival's symbolic award, the Yellow Umbrella Award, is presented in the following six (6) categories, divided into National and International sections: NATIONAL: • Yellow Umbrella Best Feature Film • Yellow Umbrella Best Director • Yellow Umbrella Dario Moreno Special Jury Award INTERNATIONAL: • Yellow Umbrella Best Feature Film • Yellow Umbrella Best Director • Yellow Umbrella Dario Moreno Special Jury Award The Yellow Umbrella Awards are determined by two (2) main juries, each consisting of five (5) members, for the National and International categories. Countries represented by the festival: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Türkiye.