“Humanity” wins the Intercultural Dialogue Short Film Competition

“Humanity”, a short film about a journey towards freedom has won the Intercultural Dialogue Short Film Competition organised by the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey as part of its activities on the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008.

“Intercultural dialogue is one of the most important areas in which we need to invest, to be able to jointly build the future of this country, the future of the European Union and for the future relationship between the European Union and Turkey”, stated Ambassador Marc Pierini, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey.

The director of the winning film, Eray Mert has been awarded a trip to the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in Germany and a Shadow Edius DVX Desktop Editing System. The first runner-up of the competition is “Paper Boat” directed by Yüksel Erol, who has been awarded a trip to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France and an Edius Neo Pro Notebook Editing System. Reyhan Meral, is the director of the second runner-up film, entitled “Stones” and she has won a trip to the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands as well as an Edius Neo Notebook Editing System. In the competition, Mehmet Atan won the special jury prize with his film, “From Where It Left Off”.

In his speech at the award ceremony, Ambassador Marc Pierini stated: “The idea behind sending the winners to the international film festivals across Europe is to give them an opportunity to create lasting bonds with their EU counterparts. Intercultural dialogue is not a one-time affair; it has to be lasting relationship between individuals who are sharing the same work and the same objectives.”

More than 50 films participated in the competition and 17 short listed films were screened on 12 May 2008 at Ankara University. The jury was made up of academician Prof. Dr. Oğuz Onaran from Ankara University Communication Faculty, cinema critic Sevin Okyay, documentary producer Rıdvan Akar, journalist Can Dundar and Ebru Taşkın from the EC Delegation.

The competition came as a result of a close partnership with Ankara University’s Communication Faculty as well as its Centre for European Studies. In addition, the competition was supported by Radio Mydonose.