Bozcaada International Ecological Documentary Festival (BIFED) will be held for the 13th time between 7-11 October 2026. The screenings at the Public Education Center and Salhane will be accompanied by director interviews, workshops, meetings and an exhibition. The festival, which is organized on a voluntary basis, will present 44 films selected from more than 600 applications from 90 countries to the audience. All screenings, talks and workshops are free.
This year, the festival addresses environmental losses along with the decisions that lead to these losses. Program; It is shaped around the questions of who makes the decisions, who is affected by the consequences, and who bears the responsibility for the damage. Artist and designer Seda Portakal's festival poster explains this year's theme in a visual language. The order on the front and the knots on the back of the embroidery, which is embroidered with real thread on the Bozcaada photograph, point to the invisible traces and social-ecological consequences of every intervention.
44 MOVIES AND FOUR AWARDS IN FOUR DIVISIONS
The selection consists of four parts. As a result of the jury evaluations of BIFED 2026, the following four awards will be awarded:
Fethi Kayaalp Grand Prize goes to the winner of the International Competition; Madam Melpo Award to the runner-up of the International Competition; İdil Schneider-Bulut Award for the best music and sound design and
Naci Güçhan Award will be given to the winner of the Gaia Student Competition.
10 films in the International Competition are competing for the Fethi Kayaalp Grand Prize and Madam Melpo Award. There are 7 films in the Gaia Student Competition, which is devoted to student films, and 15 films in Panorama, which brings together human and nature stories from different geographies. Among the 12 films in the Special Screening, there are a selection devoted to indigenous voices of Brazil, ecological documentaries in collaboration with ALT-EFF (All Living Things Environmental Film Festival) in India, and films in collaboration with SiciliAmbiente in Sicily.
Turkish productions in the International Competition include Kuru Taşın Başı, directed by Yeşim Ustaoğlu and Selen Heinz, and Evrim İnci's Gelgit. The Head of the Dry Stone, which had its world premiere at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in March 2026, focuses on the relationship of people displaced by the Yusufeli Dam with their lands, livelihoods and memories. Gelgit tells the story of Mustafa Simavlı, who carries water to goats living on an island near Karaburun.
FROM SOUND ECOLOGY TO COLLECTIVE LABOR: NON-FILM PROGRAM
Alper Maral focuses on the relationship between sound and the environment in his work "Sensory Design in Pursuit of Sound Ecology". Selçuk Gürışık's Continuation of Material exhibition and artist meeting discuss artistic production and material processes, while Neslihan Acar's talks titled "Ecology of Labor" and "The Right to Work, Health and Life" discuss the relationship between working life, health and ecology. Lalehan Öcal's Collective Film Reading Workshop will look for ways to look at films together.
The Mukufluk Meeting, which will be held with the participation of Kenan Kahya and women from Yırca, opens up the discussion of collective labor and social memory in ecological struggles. Prof. Dr. Turan Takaoğlu will visit one of the archaeological sites on the island with the participants at the "Archaeology and Ecology: Same Questions, Different Times" meeting; Ümit Hamlacıbaşı's sensory ecology walk is also included in the program.
FROM BOZCAADA TO OTHER ISLANDS
The islands are among the places where the consequences of the climate crisis and ecological transformations are experienced early and visibly. BIFED shares the experience it gained in Bozcaada with meetings starting from Gökçeada and the Southern Marmara Islands in Türkiye to Limnos and Sicily in the Mediterranean; BIFED film days were held in Gökçeada for the third time this year. The aim is not to become a bigger festival, but to increase the number of small but powerful encounter areas that learn from each other.
BIFED; It is hosted by Bozcaada Municipality, with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum, Goethe-Institut Istanbul, French Cultural Center Izmir, Brazilian Consulate, Indian Consulate and local businesses. Rengigül Konukevi, Aral Tatil Çiftliği, Bağ Badem Konukevi, Nefesada, Delos and Alesta Hotel are some of the local businesses that contribute to the festival.
