Istanbul Film Festival 2027: Dates, the Golden Tulip and Your Trip

The 46th Istanbul Film Festival runs from Thursday 8 to Sunday, April 18, 2027. The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) organizes it each spring. The festival shows new international films and the widest selection of Turkish productions of the year. We arrange your screenings and plan a private trip around the festival days.

Istanbul Film Festival 2027: Dates

• Dates: April 8 to 18, 2027
• Edition: the 46th
• Organizer: İKSV
• Program: announced closer to the festival

The Golden Tulip and the Competitions

The festival has three competitive sections. The international Golden Tulip Competition is the main one. New Perspectives shows debut and second features from Türkiye, and a national short film competition completes the program. Around 50 local films appear in the line-up each year.

Istanbul Film Festival History

The festival began as a film week in the summer of 1982. A year later, as the International Istanbul Film Days, it showed 36 films over a month. It moved to April in 1984, and in 1985 the first Golden Tulip went to Michael Radford for his film 1984. In 1989 it took the name Istanbul Film Festival. Since 2006, the festival has also run Meetings on the Bridge, its industry program.

Your Festival Days in Istanbul

We arrange your tickets for the screenings you choose and book your hotel. Between films, our Beyoğlu and Galata tour shows you the old streets of the European side. Our guide to the Istanbul festivals lists what else is on in April.

Plan Your Film Festival Trip With Us

Send us your dates and the kind of films you like. We plan your Istanbul Film Festival 2027 days, the hotel and the transfers. Our guide to Istanbul in the movies is a good start before you come.