“Sönmeyen Ateş” Selected as a Finalist at the 1st International Crimea Film Festival
Organized by the Emel Crimea Foundation with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), and the General Directorate of Cinema, the 1st International Crimea Film Festival concluded at Atlas 1948 Cinema in Istanbul with special screenings, closing speeches, and an awards ceremony.
Featuring directors and films from various countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine, the festival welcomed “Sönmeyen Ateş”, a documentary directed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tunç Boran while the editing was carried out by Lect. Dr. Salih Köse, as one of its finalists. Screened as part of the festival programme, the documentary received great appreciation from the audience.
“Sönmeyen Ateş” tells, in the Tatar language and through the eyes of Naci Konar, the story of four generations of Crimean Tatars and their enduring struggle with migration, longing, and survival. The documentary offers an emotional and inspiring journey centred on belonging and the effort to reconnect with the past. Naci Konar and Sultan Konar, who appear in the documentary, also attracted considerable attention from the audience during the screening.
Over the course of three days, the festival brought to the screen the Crimean Tatar people’s experiences of exile, longing for their homeland, identity, and the struggle for human rights, while also serving as an important cultural gathering aimed at carrying nearly 100 years of Crimean Tatar cinematic heritage into the future. The festival also attracted attention in the national media, with TRT 2, Türkiye’s window onto the arts, featuring the festival on its broadcasts.
During the closing programme, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tunç Boran delivered the closing speech on behalf of all participating directors. In his speech, Boran highlighted the importance of the festival and cinema in preserving and transmitting the historical memory, cultural identity, and lived experiences of the Crimean Tatar people to future generations.
On the final day of the festival, the closing and awards ceremony was also attended by Mustafa Abdülcemil Kırımoğlu, the national leader of the Crimean Tatar people and a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, together with his wife, Safinar Cemileva. Their participation added particular significance to the closing programme and attracted great interest from both cinema audiences and the festival’s organizing team.
