There are extremely strong cultural and historical ties between Turkey and the Balkans. Balkan Panorama Film Festival serves as a bridge between Turkey and the Balkans in the context of cinema. The festival was founded by Assoc. Prof. Sali Saliji - Sallini, PhD in 2015 and has been since organized in Izmir. Until 2018, 4 festivals were held with the support of Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Fine Arts and DESEM.  Both the mission of the festival, and the increasing demands of the festival participants and the Balkans have created the need to hold the festival in cooperation with a larger organization. In accordance with this goal our cooperation with the Buca Municipality started in 2019 and the 5th Balkan Panorama Film Festival was held in the Tarık Akan Youth Center. Between 2020 and 2022, the Balkan Panorama Film Festival is organized with the contributions of Buca Municipality, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In this context, the 9th Balkan Panorama Film Festival was organized by the Rumeli Culture, Art and Education Association, with the contributions of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and Karşıyaka Municipality, between May 26 and June 01, 2023 at Suat Taşer Cultural Center, Çatı Bostanlı Open Air Stage, Hikmet Şimşek Art Center, Çarşı Culture and Art Center, the Izmir Art Stage, and the Tarık Akan Youth Center. Feature and short fiction, documentary and animated films from Turkey and the Balkans are screened at the festival. The YELLOW UMBRELLA award, which is the symbol of the festival, is given in the following twelve (12) branches, including National and International.

Feature and short fiction, documentary and animated films from Turkey and the Balkans are screened at the festival. The YELLOW UMBRELLA award, which is the symbol of the festival, is given in the following twelve (12) branches, including National and International.

INTERNATIONAL:

• Yellow Umbrella Best Feature Film 
• Yellow Umbrella Best Director  
• Yellow Umbrella Best Actress
• Yellow Umbrella Best Actor
• Yellow Umbrella Best Short Film

NATIONAL:

• Yellow Umbrella Best Feature Film 
• Yellow Umbrella Best Director  
• Yellow Umbrella Best Actress
• Yellow Umbrella Best Actor
• Yellow Umbrella Best Short Film

DARIO MORENO:

• Yellow Umbrella Best Feature Film

FANCY YELLOW UMBRELLA:

• Yellow Umbrella Best Feature Film

The winners of the competitions will be awarded with the YELLOW UMBRELLA AWARD!

YELLOW UMBRELLA awards are determined by six (6) main juries in twelve branches. The number of Jury members was determined as three (3) in the Feature Film categories and three (3) in the Short Film categories. 

Although it is a young festival, the staff and the experience of the staff it includes enable the festival to enlarge its goals and walk confidently towards them. We have full faith that it will become the most important Balkan themed festival in Europe in a reasonable time and our efforts will always continue in this direction.

Countries participating in the festival: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.