Emin Alper’s Beyond the Hill gets Best National Film Award; Oslo, August 31st wins Special Jury Prize in international competition; Wuthering Heights and Just the Wind also among winners.

Julia Loktev’s drama The Loneliest Planet was awarded the Golden Tulip International Competition Award at the Istanbul Film Festival closing ceremony on Saturday night.

The award comes with a €20,000 monetary prize split between the director and distribution for the film in Turkey.

Joachim Trier’s Olso, August 31st was awarded the Special Jury Prize, which comes with a €5,000 award, while Emin Alper’s Beyond the Hill (Tepenin Ardi) took the top award (worth 150,000 TL) in the national film category.

The Golden Tulip Best Director Award was given to Zeki Demirkubuz for Inside (Yeralti) and M. Tayfur Aydin’s Trace (Iz–Rec) received the Special Jury Prize in the National Competition.

Sanem Oge scooped Best Actress for her performance in Present Tense (Simdiki Zaman) and Engin Gunaydin took Best Actor for his turn in Inside(Yeralti). Best Screenplay wenrt to Beyond the Hill and Orhan Eskikoy’s Voice of my Father.

Türksoy Golebeyi won the Best Director of Photography Award for lighting Inside (Yeralti) and the same film also saw a Best Editing award for Zeki Demirkubuz. Best Music went to Mustafa Biber for Trace (Iz-Rec).

Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights and Elper’s Beyond the Hill took home FIPRESCI awards while the Film Award of the Council of Europe (FACE) worth €10,000, given in cooperation with the Council of Europe and Eurimages, was awarded to Bence Fliegauf’s Just the Wind. There were People’s Choice Awards for Albert Nobbs and Inside.

In the Human Rights in Cinema competition the Special Jury Prize was shared by Anca Damian’s Crulic –The Path to Beyond and Emanuele Crialese’s Terraferma.

The Golden Tulip International jury was headed by director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and comprised actor Alexander Fehling, director Brillante Mendoza, director Corneliu Porumboiu, and journalist Elcin Yahsi. Director, scriptwriter, poet and writer Murathan Mungan headed the jury of the Golden Tulip National Competition.

The 31st edition of the festival quite literally closed with a bang as storms prevented some industry from getting home on time but spirits were high throughout the fortnight which hosted a packed and diverse programme, an expanded Work in Progress sidebar as well as a number of well-attended industry networking events.