1st International Philosophical Films Festival

A Neuro-Cinephilosophical Approach Accompanied by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

The International Philosophical Films Festival (IPFF), which will be organized for the first time this year by the Journal of SineFilozofi and the Cinema and Philosophy Association, aims to merge cinema and philosophy. Starting from the thesis that cinema is not language, literature, or merely storytelling, but simply “cinema,” the festival seeks to present a synthesis through both theoretical and practical approaches. The panels will focus on theoretical discussions by confronting the audience with cinematic philosophy (cinephilosophy) produced by cinema itself, while workshops will provide a practical dimension.

The festival will bring together those who create cinema (the film crew), those who evaluate it (academic perspective), and the audience who experiences it, all within a shared space. Through a neuro-cinephilosophical approach, the festival aims to combine cinematic philosophy with neuroscience, using synesthesia (creating a unified perception) as a thematic element. By cognitively organizing the flow of the program, it seeks to integrate intellectual engagement while also merging sensory and cognitive experiences.

In the neuro-cinephilosophical approach, to ensure a synesthetic experience, the sections of the festival will be integrated with Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons) concerto in the background, creating an auditory integration between music and cinephilosophy. Colors assigned to each season will also contribute to the synesthetic use of vision, helping connect this action to a cognitive context. The cognitive flow will be designed as a process of intellectual activity (formation phase), sensory perception of the environment (sense), response to the stimuli we receive (motor-action), and the regulation of the sensory-motor relationship at an intellectual level during the formation phase of this response.

Enriched with film screenings, panels, and workshops, this year’s program is being realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Directorate of Cinema, the Liszt Institute Hungarian Cultural Center, the Russian House, MUBI, and Akbank Sanat.

The festival is structured around four main themes:

Section 1: The Philosophy of Evil in Films L’inverno (Winter)

Section 2: The Philosophy of Happiness in Cinema La Primavera (Spring)

Section 3: Social Transformation and Sustainability: On Seeing and Showing the Truth L’estate (Summer)

Section 4: Science Fiction and Reality L’autunno (Autumn)

PROGRAM

Film Screening / Winter Theme

Ivan’s Childhood

Soviet Union, 1962, Russian, Turkish Subtitles, 95 minutes

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky

Time: 10:30 – 12:05

Andrei Tarkovsky’s Ivan’s Childhood, his first feature film, explores philosophical inquiries into the depths of the human soul with a unique visual aesthetic that revolutionized cinema history. Set against the horrors of World War II, the film presents the traumatic experiences of a child who loses his innocence, blending dreams and memories into a visual poem. As an early testament to the director’s artistic genius, the film tells the story of Ivan, whose family was killed by the Nazis, and his transformation into a soldier. It invites the audience to witness the human devastation caused by war, making it a masterpiece that will never lose its impact.

Opening Panel

Neuro-CinePhilosophical Approach Accompanied by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

Time: 12.15 – 13.15

Speakers: Pelin Esmer, Tayfun Pirselimoğlu, Prof. Dr. Bengi Semerci, Prof. Dr. Serdar Öztürk, Birol Güven

The philosophical background of the theme titled “Neuro-CinePhilosophical Approach Accompanied by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons,” featuring opening remarks by the General Director of Cinema, Mr. Birol Güven. The philosophical background of the festival will be discussed under the moderation of Festival Director Prof. Dr. H. Serdar Gergerlioğlu.

Festival President Prof. Dr. Serdar Öztürk, during the Opening Panel, will talk about the processes of the “CinePhilosophical Approach Accompanied by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons” and share information about the festival’s flow and operation.
Prof. Dr. Bengi Semerci, the Festival Director of the Crime and Punishment Film Festival, which will be held for the 14th time this year, will share her experiences in festival management with us. Important guests of the panel, directors Pelin Esmer and Tayfun Pirselimoğlu, will share their experiences related to national and international festivals.

Panel / Winter Theme

Philosophy of Evil through Films

Time: 14.20 – 15.20

Speakers:

– Sabah Duru (Screenwriter) Meeting Tarkovsky: Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman ki

– Prof. Dr. Serdar Öztürk (Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University) Looking at the Philosophy of Evil through Tarkovsky’s Ivan

– Dr. İren Dicle Aytaç (Kocaeli University) Can Friendship be the Antidote to Evil?

– Research Assistant Esra Güngör Kılıç (Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University) The Responsibility of Witnessing Evil

Is evil inherent in objects, people, and events, or does it only arise from their relationships? Is man inherently evil, or is the evil person, as Hegel suggests, an incomplete human? In a world where evil has become “normalized,” what responsibilities fall upon the witnesses?

How can Tarkovsky’s Ivan’s Childhood help us understand what the great philosophers like Plato, Ibn Khaldun, Leibniz, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Badiou, and Arendt have said about these essential questions? Understanding and giving meaning to oneself, life, and relationships with others, as well as crafting a path faithful to ethical principles, requires us to ask these questions without fear or fatigue.

Adult Workshop / Spring Theme

Found Footage Film Workshop: Creating Meaning and Action with Found Images

Workshop Facilitator: Kurtuluş Özgen

Moderator: Research Assistant Gülşah Altuğ

Time: 15:20 – 16:50

“Found footage films think, but in a veryspecific way: they think about what has not been thought of in what has alreadybeen thought. This is where their experimental nature lies. In their inabilityto be content with what is in the film, with the being of the film, with itsgivenness.”
— Hasan Cem Çal

Found footage film is a practice of creating liberating meaning and action by hybridizing the “power of seeing” with the “power of seeking, finding, and transforming.” In this workshop, different types of found footage films will be examined through examples, the found footage film Habitus of Self (2021) will be screened, and the production stages of the film will be analyzed.

Film Screening / Spring Theme

Perfect Days

Japan, Germany, 2023, Japanese, Turkish Subtitles, 125 minutes

Director: Wim Wenders

Time: 17:10 – 19:15

Wim Wenders’ latest film Perfect Days focuses on the seemingly ordinary yet profoundly meaningful life of Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner living a simple existence in the backstreets of Tokyo. With a minimalist approach, the film conveys that happiness and fulfillment can be found not in chasing grand dreams and goals, but in the small details of daily life.

Hirayama’s routine takes him away from the bustling and crowded streets of Tokyo into a world where loneliness and peace intertwine. Wenders highlights the significance of small moments, simple pleasures, and an individual’s deep connection with themselves. In this film, the director masterfully weaves grand philosophical questions into the fabric of everyday life. The renowned director’s unique cinematography and character-focused storytelling lead the audience on a visual and intellectual journey, encouraging deep reflections on how happiness can be found in ordinary moments, human relationships, and the small beauties of life.

Panel / Spring Theme

Philosophy of Happiness in Cinema

Time: 19.30 – 20.30

Speakers:

– Dr. Eda Arısoy (Ankara Science University)

– Dr. M. Safa Karataş (Sivas Cumhuriyet University)

– Dr. Semra Keleş (Izmir University of Economics)

– Dr. Fırat Osmanoğulları

“There are many worlds in the world; some are relevant, some are irrelevant…” Hirayama

The concept of happiness is one of those topics we often forget to think about in everyday life. Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Days (2023) opens profound fissures that encourage us to reflect on the issue of happiness. Kierkegaard states, “Abraham believed and did not doubt. He believed in the incomprehensible, and that old man rose there with his only son for the sake of his faith, yet he did not doubt. He did not look anxiously around. Nor did he lament.” Did this surrender bring him happiness?

In a world dominated by digitalization, is seeking refuge in analog mediums a source of happiness, a choice to prefer a routine and modest life instead of getting swept away in the whirlpool of daily life in metropolises? If so, what are the dynamics of this happiness?

Is it possible to find happiness in the small, ordinary things within the routine of everyday life? How can a happy life be lived? What kind of relationship can be established between happiness and aesthetics?

Film Screening / Summer Theme

A Day, 365 Hours

Turkey, 2023, Turkish, English Subtitles, 83 minutes

Director: Eylem Kaftan

Time: 10:30 – 11:55

A Day, 365 Hours is a film that tells the real stories of Reyhan, Asya, and Leyla, highlighting what it means to be a child, a young girl, and a woman in the geography they live in. It powerfully conveys how family life can be free from the sacred myths, making us feel it to our core. The family is often a place where we cannot argue with our justifications, where we are made to feel guilty if we don’t cover things up, because we idealize the organic connection it represents: “a crime scene.” Director Eylem Kaftan masterfully uses the documentary language to bring the camera into this crime scene, capturing the story of these three young girls’ solidarity in the face of years of abuse. She effectively uses both visual and auditory language to narrate this powerful tale. With this profound hope, it is possible to live A Day, 365 Hours!

Panel / Summer Theme

Social Transformation and Sustainability: On Seeing and Showing the Truth

Time: 12.10 – 13.10

Moderator: Kurtuluş Özgen

Speakers:

– Burcu Salihoğlu (Screenwriter)

– Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Aytekin (Maltepe University)

– Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kurtuluş Özgen (Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University)

– Research Assistant Gülşah Altuğ (Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University)

Documentaries are those artistic actions that insist on the radical tone of creating the most possible states of “being in this world,” “living,” and “existing.” They also take on the responsibility of making an ethical and political creation – sustainable again – in the witness of looks and voices.

The documentary Bir Gün – 365 Saat invites the belief that a day can be filled to the brim with 365 hours of possibility in life. This, in turn, is a call for a togetherness that invites joy and enthusiasm under the summer sun.

Adult Workshop / Summer Theme

Neuroscinephilosophical Experience Workshop: Tactile Perception of Films

Workshop Facilitators:

Assoc. Prof. Berceste Gülçin Özdemir (Istanbul University)

Dr. Simge Şişman Bal (Istanbul University)

Moderator: Ertan Tunç

Time: 14:10 – 15:40

This workshop is based on the 3D screening, via VR glasses, of the short fictional-documentary film “Susuzluk” (4 minutes), which was shot using both digital and 360-degree cameras. The film is part of the TÜBİTAK 3005-supported project titled “Sinema Alanında Seyir Deneyimlerine İlişkin Medya Değişimi ve Geleceğe İlişkin Tahminler, Stratejiler ve Çözümlemeler’’ The project is led by Assoc. Prof. Berceste Gülçin Özdemir, a faculty member of the Department of Cinema at Istanbul University’s Faculty of Communication.

Film Screening / Fall Theme

Mindörökké (Eternal)

Hungary, 2021, Hungarian, Turkish Subtitles, 77 minutes

Director: Pálfi György

Time: 15.55 – 17.15

The director of Hukkle and Taxidermia, György Pálfi, builds his films on the philosophy of “My life is short. I don’t want to dedicate it to political filmmaking. I believe my responsibility is to tell more universal, more humane stories.”

Mindörökké, which will have its first screening in our country, is a post-war love story set in the near future of Europe. Eternal is a dark and thought-provoking film that uses surreal environments and grotesque imagery to explore a world on the brink of collapse. Pálfi, with a more universal and existential narrative, examines the internal fears and anxieties that disturb modern society, reflecting the common feeling that the world is slowly drifting towards chaos.

Panel / Fall Theme

Science Fiction and Reality

Time: 17.30 – 18.30

Speaker:

– Prof. Dr. H. Serdar Gergerlioğlu (Istinye University) Neurophilosophical Approach to Pálfi’s”Infinity”: Transition from Neurosinema to Glial Cinema

– Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şebnem Özdemir (Istinye University) From Philosophy to Artificial Intelligence, and from ArtificialIntelligence to the Silver Screen

– Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özgür İpek (Sivas Cumhuriyet University) Translation of Simulation Theory into the Science Fiction Universe: TheSearch for Reality

– Dr. Işkın Özbulduk Kılıç (Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University) Embodied Simulation Theory: Examining Filmic Reality from theIntersection of Brain, Mind, and Body

As we journey toward “Infinity,” is it possible that we encounter an ordinary world devoid of high technology in a dystopian world of the near future? What does it mean to be human and to establish relationships with others in a world that may arise after technological destruction?

If reality becomes artificial, what role does artificial intelligence play in human relationships? How is artificial intelligence positioned within the Good, Bad, and Ugly roles in the science fiction realm? What is the apple that artificial intelligence presents on the path from Adam’s diamond to Newton’s apple?

Can what is perceived as reality actually be a simulation rather than reality? When considering the possibility of being trapped in a false, fabricated, ordesigned world, how do science fiction films and the relationship with reality guide us in discussing the place of simulation in our current lives, the things we accept as reality, and the relationality with the realities we create ourselves?

The audience may experience a complete experience in front of a work of art inmotion, detached from the reality of the world they inhabit. If the experiencesof the audience as subjects encompass a process experienced through the mindand body, can we develop a neurophilosophical approach regarding how theaudience experiences the film “Infinity” with their mind and body?