Mythology Film Festival to spotlight women and heritage

ÇANAKKALE

The third International Mythology Film Festival will take place from Sept. 22 to 30 in İzmir, Aydın, Manisa, Istanbul and Çanakkale, bringing mythology into dialogue with cinema, digital games and contemporary culture under the theme “Mythology and Women.”

The festival offers a rich program of film screenings, panels, talks, competitions and international collaborations.

This year’s festival will also expand its reach to archaeological sites. One of its highlights is the Tralleis Ancient City in the western province of Aydın, home to the world’s oldest known notated music, the Seikilos epitaph. Here, the Swedish duo YoJuliet will give a mythology-themed concert among the ruins, presenting a performance without film screenings, yet still imbued with a “cinematic” sense of storytelling.

The closing ceremony will take place on Sept. 30 in the ancient city of Troy in Çanakkale, where the festival’s symbolic honors will be awarded. The Ülgen (Goodness) Award will go to acclaimed filmmaker Derviş Zaim, known for weaving mythology, philosophy and traditional arts into his films with a unique cinematic language. The Mergen (Wisdom) Award will be presented to archaeologist Professor Necmi Karul for his groundbreaking work on Göbeklitepe and the Taş Tepeler Project, which shed new light on the earliest civilizations of Anatolia.

The festival’s film program features both international and local works, including “Undine,” “Gunnar Hedes Saga,” “Earwig and the Witch,” “My Life as a Courgette,” “Ponyo,” “Superman” and “La Montagne,” along with special screenings such as “The Wisdom of the Whale” and “HisTroy.” The short film competition this year highlights heroines and goddess figures, while the digital game competition, organized in collaboration with LUGAL Games, explores mythology in interactive storytelling.

YoJuliet, who will perform in Tralleis, is known for their silent film concerts. The duo describes their work as a form of time travel: “We believe we revive film history for people today if we succeed in moving them. It’s as if we step into a time capsule together with the audience and travel back in time.”

They explained that many early Swedish films such as “Gunnar Hedes Saga” or “Ingeborg Holm” portrayed social vulnerabilities, and their approach is to reach the emotional core of each scene through music. “These are powerful stories. We want to move people — that is the most important thing for us. We believe it is the best way to remember.”

Performing in an ancient site like Tralleis, they said, will bring another dimension: “Among the ruins, we will stand, take in the place, and then try to embody it and become part of it with our music.”

On blending traditions, the duo highlighted how music can serve as common ground: “We come from very different backgrounds — Julia is classically trained, while Yohanna learned percussion in Rio’s carnivals. We love to mix instruments from different cultures, from violin to Brazilian surdos to sampled sounds. Music becomes a doorway to dialogue and connection.”

YoJuliet also noted that projects like UMFF can act as cultural diplomacy. “We see ourselves as a small part of a large web of connections created through art and culture. Creative projects like this open up important encounters and new bonds between people.”