The 30th International Istanbul Film Festival is a film festival

Film festival

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...

 to be held in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, which will run from April 2 to 17, 2011. 232 films will be screened in 21 categories at Atlas, Beyoğlu, Fitaş, Pera Museum Cinema, Nişantaşı CityLife and Kadıköy Rexx.

This edition of the International Istanbul Film Festival

Istanbul International Film Festival

The Istanbul International Film Festival is the first and oldest international film festival in Turkey, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts , a non-profit organisation. It is held every year in April in movie theaters in Istanbul, Turkey...

, is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and accredited by FIAPF

FIAPF

The FIAPF based in Paris, created in 1933, is an organization composed with 31 member associations from 25 of the leading audiovisual production countries...

, opened with a gala ceremony at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall on April 1, 2010 at which a host of celeberities, including Saadet Işıl Aksoy, Mert Fırat, İzzet Günay

Izzet Günay

İzzet Günay is Turkish film and theatre/stage actor. He is one of the most experienced and well known Turkish actors with appearances in more than 100 films across six decades.-Biography:...

, Mehmet Günsür

Mehmet Günsur

Mehmet Günsür is a Turkish actor.-Biography:Günsür worked first as a barman and then as a model before becoming an actor. He graduated from Italian High School. Since his debut, he has acted in Turkish, Italian, and some American films...

, Semih Kaplanoğlu

Semih Kaplanoglu

Semih Kaplanoğlu is a Turkish playwright, film director and producer.-Career:He graduated from the Cinema and Television Section of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Dokuz Eylül University in his hometown...

, Özgü Namal

Özgü Namal

Özgü Namal is a Turkish actress. She become the most famous by debuting as Güllü in Turkish TV series "Hanımın Çiftliği", very popular TV series in Turkey, as well as in the worldwide.-Biography:...

, Türkan Şoray

Türkan Soray

- Biography :Türkan Şoray was born to a government official father, Halit Şoray and her mother, Meliha Şoray, was a housewife. She has one younger sister Nazan, who is also an actress in her own right but is nowhere near as famous as Türkan. After the birth of her younger sister, Türkan's parents...

, Hale Soygazi

Hale Soygazi

Hale Soygazi is a famous Turkish film actress of the 1970s and 1980s.- Biography :She was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1950. She studied French philology at the university. She was chosen as 'Miss Turkey' in 1973 and also did modeling for magazines. She made her film debut in a leading role in Kara...

, Yeşim Ustaoğlu

Yeşim Ustaoğlu

- Life and career :Ustaoğlu was born in Çaykara in eastern Turkey and grew up in Trabzon on the Black Sea. After studying architecture at the Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, she worked as an architect, then as a journalist and a film critic. Before she made her feature film debut The Trace...

 and Serra Yılmaz, discussed their memories of the festival accompanied by footage from the festival’s previous editions, including archive street interviews with festival-goers, and the honorary awards were bestowed upon their recipients including Isabelle Huppert whose Copacabana was shown as the opening film of the festival.

British rock band Tindersticks

Tindersticks

Tindersticks are an Indie rock band from Nottingham, England formed in 1991. They released six albums before singer Stuart A. Staples took on a solo career. The band reunited briefly in 2006, but more permanently the following year...

 started their Claire Denis Film Scores 1995-2010 international tour on April 11 with a live performance of scores the band made for French auteur Claire Denis

Claire Denis

Claire Denis is a French film director and Professor of Film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.-Early life:...

. The festival also included a preview of the cinematic content of the 12th Istanbul Biennial was shown in a special selection titled "Untitled (Film)" organised in a special collaboration.

A special anniversary book titled 30: 30 Years from 20 Directors in which 20 directors discuss the role of the festival in their personal histories was published and an exhibition of photos of the contributors by photographer Muhsin Akgün in different spots at the Emek, Atlas, Beyoğlu, Sinepop and Yeşilçam theaters in Beyoğlu was exhibited in the Atlas Arcade. While the 30 Years in Film blog launched in February allowed festival audiences to share their own memories of the festival.

A special gala had been held at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival

61st Berlin International Film Festival

The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 10 to February 20, 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the President of the Jury. The Coen Brothers film True Grit opened the festival. 300,000 tickets were sold in total during the event, to 20,000 attendees from 116...

 on Febrauary 11, 2011, to celebrate this anniversary edition of the festival and to promote Turkish cinema.

Honorary Cinema Awards

• Turkish actors Metin Akpınar
  Metin Akpinar
  Metin Akpınar is a Turkish actor. He has been one of the most successful comedians in Turkey.-Biography:He was born in Aksaray,Istanbul, and graduated from Pertevniyal high school. He pursued his university career in Faculty of Law and Literature at Istanbul.His professional career started in 1964...
  
   and Zeki Alasya
  Zeki Alasya
  Zeki Alasyam is a Turkish actor and director. Alasya is of Turkish Cypriot descent and is the cousin of Kıbrıslı Mehmed Kamil Pasha....
  
  
• Hungarian director Belá Tarr
  Béla Tarr
  -Life:Tarr was born in Pécs, but grew up in Budapest. Both of his parents were close to theatre and film: his father was a scenery designer, while his mother has been working as a prompter at a theater for more than 50 years now...
  
  
• French actress Isabelle Huppert
  Isabelle Huppert
  Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert is a French actress who has appeared in over 90 film and television productions since 1971. She has had 14 films in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Best Actress Award twice, for Violette Nozière and La pianiste . She is also the most...
  
  
• Turkish director Yusuf Kurçenli
• Turkish director of photography Ertunç Şenkay