Turkic World Documentary Film Festival hands out its awards: first prize to Yakutia's Semyon Amanatov, special prizes for young Kyrgyz and Azerbaijani filmmakers

The gala and award ceremony of the 11th Turkic World Documentary Film Festival took place on 9 October at the Yunus Emre Cultural Centre in Ankara's Keçiören district. Held since 2016, the festival is organised by the Federation of Turkic World Journalists and supported by Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Union of Turkic World Municipalities, TÜRKSOY, TİKA and YTB. This year about 350 films were submitted in four categories — feature, short, student and AI-assisted documentaries — 47 reached the final and 21 awards were presented.

First prize for a feature documentary went to "Midsummer Day" by Semyon Amanatov, a cinematographer and director from Yakutia and laureate of the State Prize of the Sakha Republic. The Organization of Turkic States' Modern Tourism Belt Special Prize went to "21 Kilometers" by Kyrgyz director Tynai Ibragimov. Young Kyrgyz filmmakers also stood out among the students: Kulpunay Baktybay's "Yolculuk" (Journey) won the student jury's best film award and Sabin Kydyrova's "The Old Man and Art" took the TÜRKSOY Culture and Arts Prize. Azerbaijan's Almaz Gasimov received the Turkic World Special Culture and Arts Prize for "A Moment".

In the short film section, the jury's special prize went to Mehmet Hanefi Uzunçam's "Kirkuk: Steel Core", a film about the Iraqi Turkmen city of Kirkuk. The festival's Ankara programme opened on 7 October with a screening at TÜRKSOY headquarters and continued with workshops for young filmmakers at Hacı Bayram Veli University. Festival director Menderes Demir said the aim is to bring the shared values of the Turkic world to light through documentary film and share them with the world.