Most people think of animation as something that happens on a big studio's schedule: a summer blockbuster, a Saturday-morning series. Every October in Istanbul, a small, stubbornly independent festival shows the other side of the medium: short films made by one person or a handful of friends, some barely five minutes long, some without a single word of dialogue. This is the Canlandıranlar Festival, and this guide from takvim.in explains what it is, where it came from and how to make the most of it.
Key takeaways
- The Canlandıranlar International Film Festival is run by the Canlandıranlar Association (Canlandıranlar Derneği) in Istanbul and focuses on independent animation, mostly short films.
- It has been held since 2013; the 12th edition took place on 21-27 October 2024, and the 14th is announced for 19-25 October 2026.
- The competition started as a national one in the mid-2010s and has been international since 2020. The 2024 edition drew 2,085 short films from 103 countries, and a pre-jury chose 86 for competition.
- Besides the main competition, the programme includes feature films, workshops, panels, portfolio presentations and tribute sections.
- The festival also produces "best-of" selections. In 2023, the prize-winning films of the 2022 edition were screened at Sinematek/Sinema Evi in Kadıköy: 11 films from 7 countries, about 91 minutes in total.
What is the Canlandıranlar Festival?
"Canlandıranlar" is Turkish for "those who bring things to life", which is a fair description of what animators do: they take drawings, clay, paper, puppets or pixels and make them move. The festival takes its name from the association that organises it, and that association describes its mission as supporting independent animation cinema and the rise of animation in new media.
The word independent matters. Independent animation is made outside the big studio system, usually with tiny budgets and very personal ideas. That freedom shows on screen: a film can be a comic sketch, a political fable, a memory, a piece of pure abstract movement or a story told entirely in silence. It is a different experience from a family feature, and for many viewers it is a surprise to learn how varied the medium is.
The festival's international competition is organised by Efe Efeoğlu, who also sits on the pre-jury that narrows down the submissions. Awards in the competition are given in four categories: Best Film, Best First Film, Best Student Film and Best Turkish Film. Alongside the main jury, there is a critics' jury drawn from SİYAD, the Turkish cinema writers' association.
Where does the festival come from?
The Canlandıranlar Association was already working before the festival existed. It has run the Canlandıranlar Talent Camp (Canlandıranlar Yetenek Kampı) since 2010, a development programme for emerging animators in which projects are selected and supported. One graduate, Doğa Kılcıoğlu Esen, made the short film Kirpik (Eyelash) at the camp; it is an animated film about grief that later won a Special Jury Award at the Directed by Women Turkey festival.
The festival itself began in 2013. The second edition, in May 2014 at Istanbul Modern's cinema, used the tagline "over one hundred films, one hundred percent animation". Its programme included an Italian animation selection, films chosen from festivals such as Annecy, O!pla and View, Turkish animation, a retrospective of the Canadian animator and environmental campaigner Frédéric Back, and a panel on animation's place in contemporary art. The Italian director Alessandro Rak came as a guest with his film The Art of Happiness, which had premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2013.
Over the years the festival moved from being a showcase of other festivals' highlights to running its own competition. The table below summarises the milestones that can be verified.
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2010 | The Talent Camp for emerging animators begins |
| 2013 | First festival edition |
| 2014 | Second edition at Istanbul Modern, with an Italian focus and a Frédéric Back retrospective |
| Mid-2010s | The competition starts as a national one |
| 2020 | The competition becomes international |
| 2022 | Tenth edition |
| 2024 | 12th edition, 21-27 October |
| 2026 | 14th edition announced for 19-25 October |
Sources differ by a year on exactly when the national competition started, which is why it is given here as mid-2010s rather than a single date.
What actually happens during the festival?
The best way to understand the format is to look at a recent edition. The 12th festival, held on 21-27 October 2024, spread across three venues in Istanbul: the Institut français in Taksim, the Kadıköy Gazhane cultural centre and the Beyoğlu cinema. Competition screenings ran on 22-26 October.
Here is what the programme contained:
- The competition. The pre-jury (Efe Efeoğlu, Çağla Aslan and Görkem Kiter) selected 86 short films out of 2,085 submissions from 103 countries. An international jury of Asa Lucander from Finland, Sinem Sakaoğlu from Turkey and Susanna Jerger from Germany judged them.
- Feature films. Seven feature-length films were shown, among them Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Air Streams by Benoît Chieux and Mars Express by Jérémie Périn, both from 2023.
- A tribute. The edition paid tribute to Ateş Benice for his contribution to animation.
- Workshops and talks. Jury members gave workshops, there was a portfolio presentation session for young artists, and a panel looked at artificial intelligence in animation.
Notice the proportions: a film festival that mixes a competition, a few full-length features and a lot of hands-on sessions. It is built for people who want to watch and also for people who want to learn how it is done.
What is independent animation, and why does it deserve a festival?
Animation is often filed under "children's entertainment", and independent animation quietly ignores that label. A short animated film can compress a whole idea into five minutes. Because there is no production schedule dictated by a distributor, filmmakers can pick the technique that suits the idea: drawn by hand, cut from paper, sculpted from clay, built in three-dimensional software or a mixture of all of these.
The result is that the medium becomes a language for things live action finds awkward: dreams, fear, humour that depends on impossible physics, memories that do not obey a timeline. The festival's own line-up in 2022 shows this range. One film in that selection is a five-minute dialogue-free piece; another is a fourteen-minute story told partly in French and Persian; a third is in black and white; a fourth was made in 3D digital animation by a team of students and colleagues.
There is also a practical reason such a festival exists. Independent shorts rarely get a cinema release. Outside festivals, they tend to sit on video platforms or on filmmakers' own pages. A festival puts them on a real screen, in a room where an audience laughs at the same moment, and gives the makers a chance to talk to viewers and to each other.
What was in the festival selection shown in Kadıköy in 2023?
Not everyone can attend the festival week, so the association also takes selections to other venues. In 2023, Sinematek/Sinema Evi, an arthouse cinema in Istanbul's Kadıköy district, hosted a screening of films that had won prizes in the festival's 2022 edition. The main jury of that year included Peter Lord, the co-founder of the British studio Aardman Animations, alongside Aneta Ozorek and Ayçe Kartal. The tenth festival had taken place in 2022.
The programme is a handy portrait of what independent animation looks like right now:
| Film | Director | Country, year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| À coeur perdu | Sarah Saidan | France, 2022 | 14'32" |
| Kuru Kâbus | Mert Avcı, Sinan Kutluay, Mert Değirmencioğlu, Hüseyin Ünlü | Türkiye, 2022 | 5'49" |
| Mon tigre | Jean-Jean Arnoux | France, 2022 | 14'10" |
| Golden Margarite | Keren Sofi Karasik | Israel, 2021 | 6'35" |
| The Record | Jonathan Laskar | Switzerland, 2022 | 8'38" |
| To The Last Drop | Simon Schnellmann | Germany, 2022 | 5'46" |
| Shall We Talk? | Katya Mikheeva | Russia, 2022 | 5'00" |
| La reine des renards | Marina Rosset | Switzerland, 2022 | 8'50" |
| Pandaların Nesli Nasıl Tükendi? | Halim Yentur | Türkiye, 2022 | 4'48" |
| Loop | Pablo Polledri | Spain, 2022 | 8'00" |
| Les larmes de la Seine | Yanis Belaid and a team of co-directors | France, 2022 | 8'49" |
A few things stand out. Eleven films from seven countries add up to roughly 91 minutes, which is a normal cinema evening. France leads with three films, and Türkiye and Switzerland have two each. Five of the films have no dialogue, which is why they travel so well across languages. The shortest runs 4'48" and the longest 14'32". And the dominant mood is variety: one film is in black and white, one in 3D, and most in colour.
How can you experience it?
Watch the dates. The festival is usually held in autumn: October in 2024 and again in 2026. Exact dates and venues change from year to year, so check the festival's own website (canlandiranlar.com) and its social media accounts before you plan. Venues in 2024 were spread across both the European side (Taksim, Beyoğlu) and the Asian side (Kadıköy) of Istanbul.
Do not expect one kind of film. Short films are usually screened in blocks, so pick a block that suits you. A compilation of shorts is a good first choice: ten or so films in about ninety minutes, like the 2023 selection above, let you see several styles and decide what to chase next.
Bring curiosity, not expertise. Nobody expects you to know the difference between stop motion and cut-out animation. If a film has no dialogue, it is meant to be understood by anyone. If it has speech, Turkish subtitles are the norm at such screenings in Istanbul, and English subtitles are often available too, but check the programme.
Go to the side events. Workshops and panels are where the festival stops being a screening series and becomes a community. If you are a student or a hobbyist, the portfolio presentations show what other emerging artists are working on.
Look beyond the week. The association takes part in events such as the Istanbul Comics and Art Festival and the Kadıköy Comic Festival, with workshops and screenings, and it runs selections at cinemas like the one in Kadıköy.
FAQ
Who organises the Canlandıranlar Festival?
The Canlandıranlar Association organises it. The association also runs the Canlandıranlar Talent Camp, which has supported new animation projects since 2010.
When is the festival held?
The 12th edition was held on 21-27 October 2024, and the 14th is announced for 19-25 October 2026. It is an annual event, but dates and venues change, so check the official website.
Is it only for professionals?
No. It is a public festival. The competition and workshops speak to professionals and students, but the screenings are made for any viewer curious about animation, and many films need no language at all.
Is it a competition?
Yes. The international competition has awards for Best Film, Best First Film, Best Student Film and Best Turkish Film, and a critics' jury also gives its own prize.
Where to find animation near you
The best way to enjoy an independent festival is to hear about it in time. Keep an eye on takvim.in for film and cultural events in your city, and check the Canlandıranlar website when October comes around. If you have never sat through a programme of short animations, this is a very easy place to start.
