Paylaş
Preparing to meet Ankara moviegoers for its 28th year, the Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival will be held this year from May 27 to June 4.
Each year, the festival honors female filmmakers with the goal of highlighting women’s work in cinema and encouraging new productions. This year, the festival’s Honorary Awards will go to actresses Hülya Darcan and Gülşen Bubikoğlu, the Bilge Olgaç Achievement Awards to actress Bennu Yıldırımlar, casting director Harika Uygur, and producer and festival director Başak Emre, and the Young Witch Award to actress Mina Demirtaş. The awards will be presented at the opening ceremony on the evening of May 27th.
Honorary Awards to Gülşen Bubikoğlu and Hülya Darcan
The Honorary Award, which is given to actresses or directors who are still working or no longer making films, but who have inspired and paved the way for our cinema with what they left behind and their ongoing work, who have never spared their efforts in cinema and contributed to the presence of women in cinema, finds its recipient once again this year.
Gülşen Bubikoğlu studied language, modeling, and dance at the L.C.C. Cultural Center. She made her film debut in 1974 through a competition organized by Ses magazine. That same year, she took on her first leading role in the film “Yaban.”
The romantic comedies she starred in until the late 1970s were huge box office successes. Among these, “Cici Kız,” “Ah Nerede,” “Yaz Bachelor,” “The Marriage Game,” “Baş Belası,” and “Vahşi Gelin” have become Yeşilçam classics. In the 1980s, she delivered successful performances in films across a variety of genres, including the “Gırgıriye” series, “Leyla and Mecnun,” “İhtiras Fırtınası,” “Alev Alev,” and “Kurtar Beni.”
Bubikoğlu starred in the Turkish-Italian co-productions “Baş Belası” (The Troublemaker), “The Swindlers” and “The Jewel Thieves”. 25. She won the “Best Actress” award at the Antalya Film Festival for her role in Halit Refiğ’s “Save Me.” Her films have also been screened at international film festivals. Gülşen Bubikoğlu has represented her country at festivals such as Moscow and Cannes.
Gülşen Bubikoğlu, who has delivered successful performances in many different genres throughout her career, from comedy to drama, will be presented with an Honorary Award for her contributions to cinema.
Hülya Darcan entered the world of cinema in 1967, placing third in a competition organized by Ses magazine. That same year, she made a strong debut in the film industry by co-starring with Fikret Hakan, Ekrem Bora, Çetin İnanç, and Tugay Toksöz in the film “They Died with Their Guns in Their Hands.”
She starred in Bilge Olgaç’s “Lawless Land” and Birsen Kaya’s “Bloody Destiny” and “Lawless Living People.” She became a sought-after actress in Yeşilçam adventure films. She starred in box-office successes alongside prominent Turkish directors such as Lütfi Ömer Akad, Osman F. Seden, Nişan Hançer, and Yılmaz Güney.
Kariyeri boyunca 70’ten fazla film ve dizide rol alan Hülya Darcan, son dönemde televizyonda uzun soluklu ve izleyici tarafından büyük ilgi gören yapımlarda verdiği etkili performanslarla büyük beğeni topladı.Türkiye sinemasına yaptığı değerli katkılardan dolayı bu yıl Onur Ödülüne layık görüldü.
Bilge Olgaç Success Awards to Bennu Yıldırımlar, Harika Uygur and Başak Emre
The Bilge Olgaç Achievement Awards, presented in memory of Bilge Olgaç, one of the first female directors in our male-dominated cinema, aim to celebrate the achievements of women working in various fields of Turkish cinema. This year, the awards will be presented to three esteemed individuals. The recipients are actress Bennu Yıldırımlar, casting director Harika Uygur, and producer/festival director Başak Emre.
Bennu Yıldırımlar studied acting at the Istanbul University State Conservatory’s Department of Theatre and at the Westminster Education Institute in London. She began her theatrical career in 1985 with Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres. She has appeared in many important plays, including Satre’s “The Respectful Prostitute,” Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s “The Fall of Leaves,” and William Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” Yıldırımlar currently serves as a member of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Theatres.
Yıldırımlar, who has a successful career in television and cinema, has appeared in films such as “Old Photographs,” “Run for Money,” and “The Wild Pear Tree,” and in TV series such as “Leaf Fall,” “Desperate Housewives,” and “Woman.”
Bennu Yıldırımlar won the “Most Promising New Actress” award at the Ankara Film Festival in 1994 for her film “Return to Ağrı.” Her success in cinema continued with the Sadri Alışık Cinema Awards Best Actress Award in 2000 for “Kaç Para Kaç” (Run for Money) and the 51st SİYAD Awards Best Supporting Actress Award for “Ahlat Ağacı” in 2019. In theater, she won the Bedia Muvahhit Award for her play “Bir Atın Öyküsü” (The Story of a Horse) in 1996, the İsmet Küntay Best Actress Award for her play “Huzur” (Peace) in 1998, and the 2006 Lions Best Actress Award for her play “Respected Wife.”
Harika Uygur was born in Istanbul. During and after her final years of university, she worked as an assistant director to Osman F. Seden for many years. In 1994, she joined the leading production company IFR, where she served as assistant director to Ezel Akay. In 1997, she transitioned to casting director at the same company. After completing casting director training at Seattle Broadway Hall in 1999, she returned to Istanbul in 2000 and founded her own casting agency.
In 2009, she joined the International Casting Directors Association, which operates under European Film Promotion. In 2011, she was invited by the US-based CSA (Casting Society of America) and became the first international member to be accepted into this organization.
In 2015, her short film, inspired by Yekta Kopan’s short story Elephant Cemetery, was included in the Short Film Corner selection of the Cannes Film Festival.
Beginning in 2011, he began sharing his casting experiences through seminars and workshops titled “This Role is Yours.” This work was later turned into a book and published by Destek Publications in May 2016. That same year, he served on the jury of the Antalya Film Festival’s National Competition. In 2017, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscar Academy) and won the Best Casting Director Award at the Locarno Film Festival. In 2025, he was nominated in the International TV Series category at the CSA Artios Awards, considered the world’s most prestigious casting awards.
Harika Uygur continues to work as a casting director in television, film and advertising, and also teaches Chubbuck Method acting classes.
Başak Emre is a producer and festival director. She served as a member of the Ankara Film Festival’s executive board from 1988 to 1995, as world cinema coordinator at the Adana Film Festival from 2006 to 2016, and as artistic director of the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival from 2019 to 2023. She was among the founders of the Festival on Wheels, which began in 1995 and has visited numerous cities both in Turkey and abroad, bringing a wide range of films to audiences, and served as its director for many years.
She managed the Turkish stands at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals between 2006 and 2017. She has organized special sections on Turkish Cinema at major festivals in more than 25 countries and served as a jury member at international film festivals.
Among the films he has produced and executive produced are Zeki Demirkubuz’s The Confession (2001), Underground (2012), Nausea (2015), and Ember (2016); Ahmet Boyacıoğlu’s Black and White (2010) and The Smell of Money (2018), and Kars Stories (2008), both directed by five directors.
Başak Emre, who became a member of the European Film Academy in 2021, has been on the academy’s Executive Board since 2024 and continues to serve as a program advisor for the Cottbus Film Festival.
Young Witch Award goes to Mina Demirtaş
The Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival has been presenting the Young Witch Award since 2009 to encourage young female actors and draw attention to their work in cinema. Previously presented to successful actors such as Elit İşcan, Damla Sönmez, Ezgi Mola, Neslihan Atagül, Ece Yüksel, Ecem Uzun, Öykü Karayel, Cemre Ebüzziya, Ahsen Eroğlu, and Nazlı Bulum, this year’s recipient of this award was Mina Demirtaş.
Born in 2008, Mina Demirtaş started her acting career at a young age. She first appeared in the 2021 film “Âkif.” In 2022, she received critical acclaim for her performance in Ümran Safter’s “Kabahat,” and for her impressive performance in this film, she won the Türkan Şoray Most Promising Young Actress Award at the 29th Golden Boll Film Festival and the Most Promising Actress Award at the 23rd International Frankfurt Turkish Film Festival. In 2023, she attracted attention with her role in “Beraber,” which screened at the Istanbul Film Festival. Most recently, she gained wide recognition and received great acclaim for her role in the TV series “Kızıl Goncalar,” in which she played the leading role. She was deemed worthy of promising actress awards for her performance in this series. For her successful performances at a young age, Mina Demirtaş received the Young Witch Award at the 28th Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival.
