The 15th Istanbul Biennial is collaborating with this year’s edition of the Istanbul Film Festival on an extensive film programme which relates to the biennial’s title and theme: “a good neighbour”.

“There is nothing like the medium of film when it comes to visual storytelling, and as we know, good storytelling often includes moral conundrums that are important to understanding who we are and the societies we live in”, says artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, curators of the 15th Istanbul Biennial.

The 15th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Elmgreen & Dragset and entitled “a good neighbour”, takes place from 16 September – 12 November 2017 and deals with the multiple notions of home and neighbourhoods, exploring how living modes in our private spheres have changed throughout the past decades. The biennial will approach home as an indicator of diverse identities and a vehicle for self-expression, and neighbourhood as a micro-universe exemplifying some of the challenges that are faced in terms of co-existence today.

The biennial’s title “a good neighbour” also inspires the curators’ selection of ten feature films and five shorts which will be presented to the public as part of the 36th Istanbul Film Festival taking place from 5 – 15 April 2017.

All of the films are characterised by very different dynamics between the protagonists and their homes and neighbourhoods – without judgment regarding whether one or the other can be seen as “a good neighbour”. “This particular selection of films”, the curators point out, “is meant to open the horizon towards the biennial exhibition that is to come.”

The film programme:

Feature Films

E Agora? Lembra-me (What Now? Remind Me)
by Joachim Pinto
164 min, Portuguese, 2013

Toponimia
by Jonathan Perel
82 min, Spanish, 2015

O Som ao Redor (Neighbouring Sounds)
by Kleber Mendonca Filho
131 min, Portuguese/English/Mandarin/Persian, 2012

Das weiße Band (The White Ribbon)
by Michael Haneke
144 min, German, 2009

No Quarto da Vanda (In Vanda’s Room)
by Pedro Costa
170 min, Portuguese, 2000

Sib (The Apple)
by Samira Makhmalbaf
86 min, Persian, 1998

Chilla (40 Days of Silence)
by Saodat Ismailova
88 min, Uzbek

Dogville
by Lars von Trier
179 min, English, 2003

YOUKALI – A World for Foreigners
by Oswaldo Díaz Medina
74 min, German, 2016

Ta’ang
by Wang Bing
148 min, Ta’ang, Chinese, 2016

Shorts

Pornified Homes
by Andrés Jacques / Office for Political Intervention
15 min, English, 2016

Der Dreisatz der Identität (The Rule of Three of Identity)
by Bertold Stallmach, Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani
20 min, German, 2015

Moms on Fire
by Joanna Rytel
13 min, Swedish, 2016

Neighbours
by Norman McLaren
8 min, English, 1952

9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo
by Issa Touma
13 min, Arabic, English, 2015