Tackling big issues in short spaces of time, Yunus Emre Institutes in London, Berlin and Washington are excited to announce the joint launch of the annual short film festival, “Cut Short, Live Long”. Between Monday 25^th January and Saturday 30^th January, innovative, impactful and fresh views from the world of rising Turkish cinema will be making their way to your screen.

We are fortunate to have a great selection of films that have had appearances and awards from many great festivals including; Istanbul Film Festival, Busan International Short Film Festival, Akbank Short Film Festival, London Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Warsaw Film Festival, Next Generation Short Tiger, Indy Shorts International Short Film Festival, Leeds International Film Festival. The festival will screen 13 films in total, spread out across the week with at least two film being released at 6AM (GMT) each day so you can view them at your leisure for the next 24 hours after release. With 10 Turkish and 3 international directors, all our screenings will have English subtitles to be as inclusive as possible.

With an aim to introduce new voices alongside better-known names, as well as open doors to the wonders of Turkish cinema, we welcome all cinephiles. The films will vary in length, between 4 and 20 minutes, and topic, from unspoken injustices (“Interstate 8” by Anne Thieme on Wednesday 27^th January) to bitcoin trading racoons (“Racoon with Bitcoin” by Serdar Çotuk on Friday 30^th January).

We start off the festival on Monday with two award winning short films: “Tor” by Ragıp Türk, on the lengths a struggling elderly lady will go to save her neighbour’s dog which she is dogsitting and “Lekesiz” (Stainless) by Mehmet Oğuz Yıldırım, on a widow’s tussles with loneliness, memories and a stain on her late husband’s jacket.

Other brilliant short films to be screened include, “Avarya” by Gökalp Gönen, “Ikame” (Substitute) by Erkan Orasan, “G.K” by İnan Erbil, “Teselli” (Consolation) by Sercan Erdoğan, “Dede” (Grandfather) by Ahmet Keçili, “Servis” (The School Bus) by Ramazan Kılıç, Maradona’s Legs by Firas Khoury, “Bir Nehir Kıyısında” (At A Riverside) by M. Furkan Daşbilek and “Good Thanks, You?” by Molly Manning Walker.

Although current travel restrictions mean we will not be able to meet in person, as much as we have would enjoy that, you will still have access to many of the directors after the screening participate in Q&A receptions.

Please find the festival programme and book your free passes below.

***The short films can only be viewed in Germany, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America.