In light of the enhanced bilateral relationship in every field between the Republic of Turkey and Republic of South Africa, Turkish Film Festival not only highlights the existence of a vibrant Turkish film industry, but also points out common expectations of human beings, and encourages the mutual understanding between Turkish and South African people through the diverse language of cinema.

The festival offers South African film enthusiasts an opportunity to explore the contemporary Turkish cinema. The Turkish Film Festival will take place free of charge on Friday, 15 to Sunday, 17 March 2013 at Brooklyn Mall Ster-kinekor Cinema Nouveau in Pretoria and from Friday, 22 to Sunday, 24 March at Rosebank Mall Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau in Johannesburg. Tickets can be booked and collected at the participating cinema box office one hour prior each show.

Screening recent internationally awarded films and box office hits of latest years, the festival will open with an award winning 2009 Turkish film Love In Another Language. This love and life story of a beautiful young woman and a deaf young man with a rare combination of extraordinary acting and talented screenwriting, addresses the cultural barriers about our own love bias whether it be due to disability, age differences, looks or social status.

The festival continues with a comedy-drama named Visiontele that depicts the introduction of the first television to a small town called Hakkari in eastern Turkey. Loser’s Club, based on a true story, takes viewers to a radio show co-hosted by two young and cool guys, Kaan and Mete, who struggle to deal with their daily lives after their show becomes an instant hit throughout the country during 1990s. My Father and My Son is a 2005 Turkish drama film written and directed by Çagan Irmak, one of the most successful Turkish filmmaker, about a family torn apart by the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. Cars of the Revolution, based on a true story, is a period movie which is about the first car manufacturing efforts in Turkey in the years of pulse. In For Love and Honour, a former bully of the city of Istanbul living a peaceful and quiet life finds himself in a chain of events because of his son and the son’s girlfriend.

The festival ends with another international award winning movie, Bliss, adapted from the international best-selling novel by Zülfü Livaneli. Bliss examines both the interpersonal and global aspects of human rights, the clash of cultures between city and country, rich and poor, and finally even the clash between those who are educated and those who are not. The story of a young woman of about 17-years-old who is believed to have been violated, son of the village leader and an ex-University Professor who has decided to live on a boat away from his wife and limited life, features a mor realistic picture of a world that is ruled as much by social class and role as it is ritual and moral code.