About Us
ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM
Can a relationship be established between films and philosophy? What kind of contributions can cinema make to philosophy itself? Beyond supporting written philosophy, is it possible for cinema to engage in philosophy on its own terms and generate original ideas? If films indeed do philosophy, how does this philosophy—carried out through images—differ from the one done through words and writing?
Since 2016, we have been pursuing these questions through a SinePhilosophical journey, led by SineFilozofi, the first and only international academic journal in Türkiye indexed in international databases and dedicated to the field of philosophy of cinema. This journey continued with a series of Cinema and Philosophy Symposiums initiated in 2018 and reached a new phase in 2022 with the foundation of the Cinema and Philosophy Association.
Today, we are delighted to invite you to the 8th International Cinema and Philosophy Symposium, which will be held in Ankara on December 5–6, 2025, organized in collaboration with SineFilozofi Journal and the Cinema and Philosophy Association. This symposium aims to bring together thinkers, creators, and all those who seek to open new spaces in the contemporary world.
We are honored to announce our distinguished keynote speakers in the field of cinema and philosophy. This year’s symposium will host Prof. Dr. Nathan T. Anderson, author of Shadow Philosophy: Plato’s Cave and Cinema and Film, Philosophy, and Reality: Ancient Greece to Godard, who teaches philosophy and cinema at Eckerd College. He is also the founder and co-director of the “International Cinema Series” and co-director of the “Visions of Nature/Voices of Nature” Environmental Film Festival.
We will also be joined by Yeşim Ustaoğlu, an acclaimed director whose films such as Journey to the Sun, Waiting for the Clouds, Pandora’s Box, Araf, and Clair Obscur have received awards both nationally and internationally. Alongside these guests, many other significant figures in the field of cinema and philosophy will also participate.
Prof. Lucy Bolton will join the symposium as the keynote speaker. Renowned for her influential work at the intersection of film and philosophy, Prof. Bolton’s research engages deeply with phenomenology, feminist philosophy, women’s cinema, and film stardom. She is a member of the editorial boards of leading journals such as Film-Philosophy, Celebrity Studies, and Open Screens, and serves as co-editor of the acclaimed book series Visionaries: Thinking through Female Filmmakers (Edinburgh University Press). Her presence promises to bring profound insight and inspiration to our event.
As in previous years, this year’s symposium will provide an opportunity for deep reflection and discussion on the relationship between cinema and philosophy. It will bring together cinema practitioners, academic circles, and all cinema enthusiasts. The program will include presentations by scholars working in this field, as well as talks and interviews with filmmakers and artists from Turkish cinema.
The 8th International Cinema and Philosophy Symposium by The Journal of SineFilozofi will be held in cooperation with the Ankara City Council (ACC) at the ACC Reception Building on December 5–6, 2025.
Address: Kızılay, Atatürk Boulevard No:18, Ankara
We warmly invite you to join us as participants or audience members at the symposium, organized in collaboration with the Cinema and Philosophy Association, where we will share ideas, discuss cinema and philosophy, and foster the production of new “thought.” We welcome all those who seek and create the new.
Looking forward to seeing you in Ankara on December 5–6, 2025!
Symposium Organizing Committee
Symposium Boards
Symposium Organizing Committee
Prof. Dr. Serdar Öztürk – Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey- Symposium Chair and Symposium Executives
Ece Yirmibeş – Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey- Symposium Coordinator
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kurtuluş Özgen- Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey
Assistant Professor Işkın Özbulduk Kılıç – Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey
Lecturer Doctor İren Dicle Aytaç- Kocaeli University, Turkey
Lecturer Doctor Semra Keleş- İzmir Ekonomi University, Turkey
Assistant Professor Eda Arısoy- Academician, Photographer, Ankara, Turkey
Assistant Professor Kıvanç Türkgeldi – Çukurova University, Turkey
Assistant Professor Erdinç Yılmaz- Gaziantep University, Turkey
Research Assistant Esra Güngör Kılıç- Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Turkey
Research Assistant Gülşah Altuğ- Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Turkey
Assistant Professor M. Özer Özkantar- Gaziantep University, Turkey
Lecturer Doctor Berkay Göçer- Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey
Assistant Professor Muhammed Safa Karataş, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Turkey
Assistant Professor Sarper Bütev– Kastamonu University, Turkey
Fırat Osmanoğulları (PhD)- Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey
Research Assistant Doctor Aysu Uğur Balcı- Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey
Alper Evren Şahin- Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey
Nurşah Ferah- Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey
Korcan Duzcu- Ankara, Turkey
Mir Amed Orhan – Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey
The Cinema and Philosophy Association and Journal of SineFilozofi
Symposium Scientific Board:
Professor Doctor Serdar Öztürk- Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Turkey
Professor Doctor Patricia Pisters- University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Holland
Professor David Martin Jones- University of Glasgow, Scotland
Professor Richard Rushton- Lancaster University, UK
Professor David N. Rodowick- University of Chicago, USA
Assoc. Prof. Robert Sinnerbrink- Macquarie University, Australia
Professor Doctor Nüket Elpeze Ergeç – Çukurova University, Turkey
Professor Doctor Dilek Tunalı – Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey
Professor Doctor Emine Uçar İlbuğa – Akdeniz University, Turkey
Professor Doctor Nigar Pösteki – Kocaeli University, Turkey
Doctor Damian Cox – Bond University, Australia
Doctor Niall Kennedy -Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Ireland
Dr. Arzu KARADUMAN, Marist University, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Oktan – Ondokuz Mayıs University, Turkey
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Berceste Gülçin Özdemir – İstanbul University, Turkey
Announcements
8th International Symposium on Cinema and Philosophy
Conference Proceedings Book: bildiri-ozeti-kitapcigi_8-uluslararasi-sinema-ve-felsefe-sempozyumu
Since 2016, we have been pursuing these questions through a SinePhilosophical journey, led by SineFilozofi, the first and only international academic journal in Türkiye indexed in international databases and dedicated to the field of philosophy of cinema. This journey continued with a series of Cinema and Philosophy Symposiums initiated in 2018 and reached a new phase in 2022 with the foundation of the Cinema and Philosophy Association.
Today, we are delighted to invite you to the 8th International Cinema and Philosophy Symposium, which will be held in Ankara on December 5–6, 2025, organized in collaboration with SineFilozofi Journal and the Cinema and Philosophy Association. This symposium aims to bring together thinkers, creators, and all those who seek to open new spaces in the contemporary world.
We are honored to announce our distinguished keynote speakers in the field of cinema and philosophy. This year’s symposium will host Prof. Dr. Nathan T. Anderson, author of Shadow Philosophy: Plato’s Cave and Cinema and Film, Philosophy, and Reality: Ancient Greece to Godard, who teaches philosophy and cinema at Eckerd College. He is also the founder and co-director of the “International Cinema Series” and co-director of the “Visions of Nature/Voices of Nature” Environmental Film Festival.
We will also be joined by Yeşim Ustaoğlu, an acclaimed director whose films such as Journey to the Sun, Waiting for the Clouds, Pandora’s Box, Araf, and Clair Obscur have received awards both nationally and internationally. Alongside these guests, many other significant figures in the field of cinema and philosophy will also participate.
Prof. Lucy Bolton will join the symposium as the keynote speaker. Renowned for her influential work at the intersection of film and philosophy, Prof. Bolton’s research engages deeply with phenomenology, feminist philosophy, women’s cinema, and film stardom. She is a member of the editorial boards of leading journals such as Film-Philosophy, Celebrity Studies, and Open Screens, and serves as co-editor of the acclaimed book series Visionaries: Thinking through Female Filmmakers (Edinburgh University Press). Her presence promises to bring profound insight and inspiration to our event.
The event will feature Shadmehr Rastin and Amin Jafari as keynote speakers, alongside a special screening of No Bears, directed by Panahi.
Amin Jafari, who has collaborated on several films by Jafar Panahi, served as the cinematographer on No Bears (2022), which won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and later on A Simple Accident (2025), awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Shadmehr Rastin co-wrote Offside (2006) with Jafar Panahi, which received the Best Screenplay award at the Durban International Film Festival, and later served as a consultant on A Simple Accident (2025), directed by Panahi and awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2025.
As in previous years, this year’s symposium will provide an opportunity for deep reflection and discussion on the relationship between cinema and philosophy. It will bring together cinema practitioners, academic circles, and all cinema enthusiasts. The program will include presentations by scholars working in this field, as well as talks and interviews with filmmakers and artists from Turkish cinema.
The 8th International Cinema and Philosophy Symposium by The Journal of SineFilozofi will be held in cooperation with the Ankara City Council (ACC) at the ACC Reception Building on December 5–6, 2025.
Address: Kızılay, Atatürk Boulevard No:18, Ankara
We warmly invite you to join us as participants or audience members at the symposium, organized in collaboration with the Cinema and Philosophy Association, where we will share ideas, discuss cinema and philosophy, and foster the production of new “thought.” We welcome all those who seek and create the new.
Looking forward to seeing you in Ankara on December 5–6, 2025!
Symposium Organizing Committee
Symposium Abstract Submission and Participation Conditions
The languages of the symposium are Turkish and English. Submitted papers will be evaluated by at least two referees in the scientific committee through the blind referee system. Papers accepted and presented at the symposium will be published in the “Full Texts Book”, which will be published electronically after the review process.
Abstracts should be of at least 150 and maximum 350 words. Full texts word-count should be between 3000 and 7000 words. While preparing the paper text, the writing rules of the Journal of SineFilozofi should be taken into account. (https://www.sinefilozofi.com/en/about-the-journal/writing-rules/).
Abstracts should be submitted through our website (https://www.sinefilozofi.com/en/symposium-abstract-form/) by or before the specified dates.
It is not obligatory to send full texts to the Symposium. Participants who wish to have their full texts published should send their full texts to [email protected] within the specified period.
Our symposium will be held in a hybrid form. Participants from abroad may attend virtually. However, face-to-face participation is expected from domestic participants.
Participation Rules
Important Information:
An acceptance letter containing payment and account information will be emailed to the writers whose abstracts are accepted through the arbitration process. This letter can also be used for the permissions required from the affiliated institution.
Schedule and Important Dates
Program
program_8uluslararasi-sinema-ve-felsefe-sempozyumu
The 8th International Cinema and Philosophy Symposium by The Journal of SineFilozofi will be held in cooperation with the Ankara City Council (ACC) at the ACC Reception Building on December 5–6, 2025.
Our symposium will be organized in hybrid form for participants from abroad, and face-to-face participation is expected for local participants.
The language of the symposium is Turkish and English. The submitted papers will be evaluated by at least two referees in the scientific committee with a blind referee system. The papers accepted and presented at the symposium will be published in the “Proceedings Book”, which will be published electronically after the refereeing process.
Abstracts should be at least 150 and at most 350 words, and full papers should be at least 3000 and at most 7000 words. In the preparation of the texts, the writing rules of the Journal of SineFilozofi should be taken into consideration. (https://www.sinefilozofi.com/en/about-the-journal/writing-rules/)
As of this year, abstracts must be submitted via our website (https://www.sinefilozofi.com/en/symposium-abstract-form/) within the specified deadlines.
Important Dates
Abstract Submission Deadline: July 31, 2025
Symposium Dates: December 5-6, 2025
Deadline for Full Paper Submissions (Turkish): February 15, 2026
Deadline for Full Paper Submissions (English): March 15, 2026
Publication Date of Accepted Full Papers in the Online Symposium Proceedings Book: September 2026
Full paper submission is not mandatory for participation in the symposium. Participants who wish to have their full papers published are required to submit their papers to [email protected] within the specified deadlines.
Hope to see you on December 5-6, 2025!
Symposium Organizing Committee
