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The DFFI 2026 Closing and Awards Ceremony, attended by BAFTA-winning British actor Owen Teale, took place on 20 October at the Fişekhane Main Stage. Teale received the Best Actor Award for his performance in Something Pointless, while the UK-produced film emerged as the festival's standout production with a total of eight awards.

İSTANBUL, 21 October 2026 — Organized by Digital Film Academy, the 4th International Digital Film Festival İstanbul (DFFI 2026) came to a close with the Closing and Awards Ceremony held on the evening of Tuesday 20 October at the Main Stage of the festival's venue partner Fişekhane, following international film screenings, talks and industry meetings held between 16–20 October.

Hosted by Tuğba Toksöz and Efe Kırçiçek, the ceremony announced the films and filmmakers deemed worthy of awards in six main competition categories, side categories and special awards, as evaluated by the international main jury.

BAFTA-winning British actor Owen Teale, who attended the ceremony, received the Best Actor Award for his performance in Something Pointless, directed by Asa Bailey. The film was awarded a total of eight awards across the Best Fiction, Director, Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound/Music and Actor categories.

İlknur Doruker: Human-centered digital transformation and shared responsibility in cinema

Speaking at the Closing and Awards Ceremony, DFFI Founder and Festival President İlknur Doruker noted that cinema is going through a comprehensive digital transformation, from production processes to narrative forms and viewing experiences.

Drawing attention to the ethical and sectoral responsibilities that come with the new possibilities offered by generative AI and digital technologies, Doruker emphasised the importance of protecting human creativity, original narratives and creative labour. She stated that, in line with this year's theme “Is a Shared Future Possible?”, DFFI aims to be an international cultural dialogue platform that considers the future of cinema along the axis of human-centered digital transformation and shared responsibility.

Noting that, as an independent film festival, they received applications from 27 countries, Doruker underlined the importance of bringing together original stories from different geographies in İstanbul, and expressed her satisfaction with Owen Teale's participation in the festival.

Applications from 27 countries, an international selection of 25 films

DFFI 2026, held this year under the theme “Is a Shared Future Possible? Human-Centered Digital Transformation, Creativity and Shared Responsibility in Cinema”, featured 18 finalists and seven Official Selection films across six competition categories: fiction, animation, documentary, experimental film, fashion film and AI-assisted film.

Free film screenings, talks and creative gatherings held during the festival at AKM Yeşilçam Cinema, Müze Gazhane and academic partner Özyeğin University brought together independent filmmakers and audiences from different countries.

Having opened a separate competition category for AI-assisted films in Türkiye for the first time in 2024, DFFI continued in its fourth year to bring together original stories and new-generation narrative forms on the same international platform, with an approach that places human creativity at the center.

DFFI 2026 Awards

Main Category Awards

• Best Fiction Film: Something Pointless — Asa Bailey (United Kingdom)
• Best Animation Film: Like Friend, Like Deer — Malek Eghbali (Iran)
• Best Documentary Film: Recife Has a Heart — Rodrigo Sena (Brazil)
• Best Experimental Film: Balerin — Erdal Ruhi Duran (Türkiye)
• Best AI-Assisted Film: Railbound — Jonathan Perry (USA)
• Best Fashion Film: Made in X — Sofia Ivanova-Kozhevnikova (United Kingdom)

Side Category Awards

• Best Director: Asa Bailey — Something Pointless
• Best Screenplay: Neil Graham — Something Pointless
• Best Editing: Laurence Cohen — Something Pointless
• Best Cinematography: Keefa Chan — Something Pointless
• Best Art Direction: Marion Cheung — Something Pointless
• Best Sound/Music: Andrea Bellucci — Something Pointless
• Best Actress: Bettina Hoppe — Ishaq
• Best Actor: Owen Teale — Something Pointless

Special Awards

• UN Sustainable Development Goals Special Award: Engelsiz Pedal (Limitless Pedal) — Cihan Emre Zengin (Türkiye)
• Digital Film Academy Special Award: Ceremony — Mark Wachholz (Germany)

Institutional collaboration from culture, arts and the creative industries

Organized by Digital Film Academy, DFFI 2026 was realised in collaboration with cultural and arts institutions, local governments, academia and the creative industries.

Among the festival's programme venues were AKM Yeşilçam Cinema and Müze Gazhane, while Özyeğin University served as academic partner and Fişekhane as venue partner of the Closing and Awards Ceremony.

The festival's institutional supporters and collaborating organisations included İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Beyoğlu Municipality, Çekmeköy Municipality, Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul, Crea Center, Digital Film Center, Tümay Özokur Akademi, Bleyn Dijital Ajans, Epic Solutions, Biletino, Sadibey, Yoyo Event, Digital Culture and Screen Industries Association (DİKED), Çiğdem Karavit, HerdemYeşil and Moners Mimarlık.

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4th International Digital Film Festival İstanbul (DFFI 2026)
16–20 October 2026 | İstanbul

For detailed information about the festival:
Website: digitalfilmfestival.org
Instagram: @digitalfilmfestival.istanbul

Press & Contact
İlknur Doruker — DFFI Founder & Festival President
E-mail: idoruker@digitalfilmfestival.org

“Human-Centered Digital Transformation, Creativity and Shared Responsibility in Cinema” — 16-20 October 2026, İstanbul

Organized this year under the theme “Human-Centered Digital Transformation, Creativity and Shared Responsibility in Cinema”, the 4th International Digital Film Festival İstanbul (DFFI) invites audiences to rethink the cinema of the digital age along the axis of ethics, creativity and shared responsibility. Following applications from 27 countries, the Preliminary Jury evaluation process has been completed and the finalist films have been announced. Bringing together independent short films from different geographies of the world, the festival will take place in İstanbul on 16–20 October 2026.

Placing the question “Is a Shared Future Possible?” at its center, DFFI 2026 examines the effects of digital transformation on cinema from ethical, aesthetic and creative production perspectives. The festival regards technology not merely as a development that offers new production tools, but as a force that expands human imagination, multiplies narrative possibilities and redefines creative responsibility.

“We approach the new possibilities that digital transformation offers cinema from a perspective in which human creativity, ethical thinking and shared responsibility remain at the center. At DFFI, we brought this transformation into our festival programme early on; in 2024 we became the first film festival in Türkiye to open a separate competition category for AI-Assisted Films. Today, with the question 'Is a Shared Future Possible?', we focus not only on what technology makes possible in cinema, but on what kind of future we can build together with human creativity.”

DFFI 2026 Main Jury

The finalist works will be evaluated by the DFFI 2026 Main Jury, bringing together national and international masters from cinema and next-generation creative production fields.

This year's Main Jury includes: actress Mine Çayıroğlu, director, producer & screenwriter Hüseyin Karabey, director of photography Uğur İçbak, screenwriter & lecturer Hüseyin Kuzu, agency president Tümay Özokur, producer & visual effects supervisor Serkan Semiz, artist & director Alkan Avcıoğlu, screenwriter & director Andres Aloi, and director of photography Oleksandr Zemlyanyy.

18 Films Finalists Across Six Categories

Following the completion of the application and evaluation process, the Preliminary Jury selected three finalists in each of six main competition categories: Fiction, Animation, Documentary, AI-Assisted, Experimental and Fashion.

Fiction: Something Pointless — Asa Bailey (United Kingdom) | Empathy Rehearsals — Jacopo Cullin (Italy) | Ishaq — Tuna Kaptan (Germany / Iraq)

Animation: Hell — Parker Croft (USA) | Like Friend, Like Deer — Malek Eghbali (Iran) | Holy Heaveness — Farnoosh Abedi, Negah Khezre Fardyardad, Mohammad Ghaffari (Iran)

Documentary: Engelsiz Pedal — Cihan Emre Zengin (Türkiye) | Recife Tem Um Coraçao — Rodrigo Sena (Brazil) | The Village of Ballet Dancers — Fatih Diren (Türkiye)

AI-Assisted: Railbound — Jonathan Perry (USA) | Kiko's Odyssey — Nick Montori (Italy) | Ceremony — Mark Wachholz (Germany)

Experimental: Balerin — Erdal Ruhi Duran (Türkiye) | Trivakra — Sofia Angst (Brazil) | The Myth of Sisyphus — Elahe Sabari (Iran)

Fashion: Made In X — Sofia Ivanova-Kozhevnikova (United Kingdom) | Venus — Maria Nazarova (Georgia / Russia) | To-ma – Zaberu — Timur Skripnik (Russia)

DFFI 2026 Preliminary Jury

The DFFI Finalists were selected by the Preliminary Jury consisting of Zeliha İnci Asal, Gürkan Yücel, Onur Turgut and Serkan Yıldız.

A Shared Space for the Future of Cinema

During the festival, which will take place in İstanbul on 16–20 October 2026, Finalist and Official Selection film screenings, talks and industry meetings will bring together international cinema professionals, representatives of the creative industries and audiences. The films deemed worthy of awards in the main competition categories will be announced at the festival's closing and awards ceremony on 20 October.

Supporting independent film production, DFFI aims to make powerful stories, distinctive perspectives and creative modes of expression visible within the changing cinema ecosystem of the digital age. The festival positions cinema not merely as a venue for screenings, but as a meeting and thinking platform where creative labor, cultural dialogue and international collaborations flourish.

Keeping human creativity at the center of transformation, DFFI 2026 aims to open a shared space for reflection between the present and the future of cinema, with a selection spanning from traditional film production to narrative forms shaped by new technologies.

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4th International Digital Film Festival İstanbul
16–20 October 2026 | İstanbul

For detailed information about the festival:
Website: digitalfilmfestival.org
Instagram: @digitalfilmfestival.istanbul

Press & Contact
İlknur Doruker — DFFI Founder & President
E-mail: idoruker@digitalfilmfestival.org