International Silk Road Film Awards, organized by BAK Academy Association and with the participation of SETEM (Association of Film Directors, Writers and Composers) were given a start.

According to the statement of the festival’s director Mehmet Güleryüz; during previous years hundreds of documentaries, animations and short films participated at the domestic section of the competition. Totally 2043 films participated to International Silk Route Film Awards from many countries such as Azerbaijan, Chine, Egypt, Georgia, India, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Turkiye, Uzbekistan…

Every year BAK Academy gives a “Labour Award” to a doyen filmmaker.

Till this year; Ertunç Şenkal, Tolgay Ziyal and Hüsamettin Ünlüoğlu are among the names who received “Labour Award”. Besides, as 2018 is the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Cinema, award of honour has been given to Vedat Türkali, Ertem Göreç, Safa Önal, Mehmet Dinler, Ülkü Erakalın, Aram Gülyüz, Necip Sarıcı, Yılmaz Atadeniz, Memduh Ün and Duygu Sağıroğlu.

Name of the doyen filmmaker who will receive this year’s “Labour Award” will be announced in the coming days.

We hope that our historical and cultural ties with the Silk Road countries will be further developed with this film competition, Mr. Güleryüz said.

National and international award categories:

Documentary film category: best documentary film, best director, best director of photography, best script and best editing.

Animation film category: best animation film, best director, best script and best animator special prize.

Short film category: best short film, best actress, best actor, best director, best director of photography, best editing and best script.

The Jury’s Special Prize will be awarded to one of the participating films without requirement of passing pre-selection.

Application Calendar:

Applications will be accepted from 11 July 2018 to 01 October 2018.

Detailed information can be obtained from www.setemakademi.com

For more information please call;

SETEM Akademi: T +(90-212) 232 35 42

Nazım Özdemir: T +(90-212) 532 509 20 12

  1. Fictional and animation films with a duration not exceeding 20 minutes and documentaries with a duration not exceeding 45 minutes can participate in the competition.
  2. Participating films must be in PAL format.
  3. Application form can be obtained from setemakademi.com
  4. Films sent to competition, by stating director’s name and attend and screened at SETEM Academia events are considered without commercial purpose by the contestants.
  5. For the promotion of the festival, the use of up to 20 seconds piece of each work or a trailer at media (TV, radio, press, publications, internet etc.) for the promotional purposes is considered as accepted by the contestants.
  6. The judgments of the pre-selection committee and the jury are final.
  7. The deadline for the admission to the festival is 01 October 2018. Participants must send their participation application forms to info@setem.org.trby this date at the latest.
  8. Responsibility for copyright belongs to the owner of the work.
  9. Films participating in the festival will first pass the pre-selection. The selected films will be voted by the jury which is formed by the industry professionals and will be announced at the awards ceremony to be held in December.
  10. Applications for the 11th International Awards must be submitted at

www.filmfreeway.com . National applications can also be submitted at the same address.

  1. In addition, special jury prizes will be awarded in the category of the animation, documentary and short film among the participating films without passing pre-selection.