Sabancı Foundation - Innovation in Media Relations
Company: Sabancı Foundation, İstanbul, Turkey
Entry Submitted By: desiBel Ajans
Company Description: Reflecting the life philosophy of the late Hacı Ömer Sabancı, the Sabancı Brothers built their future around the principle "sharing what we have obtained from this land with its people..." and set up the Hacı Ömer Sabancı Foundation (Sabancı Foundation) in 1974.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Award for Innovation in Media Relations
Nomination Title: Sabancı Foundation Short Film Competition
Since the day it was established, the Sabancı Foundation has been carrying out its activities with the understanding that social development is possible through unleashing the potential of individuals. The Foundation brings its activities in the fields of Permanent Works, Education, Scholarships, Awards and Arts & Culture to its target groups including women, youth and people with disabilities, and supports many projects in order to raise awareness of social issues in these fields.
The Sabancı Foundation supports arts and culture in order to develop the awareness of arts and culture among young generations and to protect traditional values.
The Sabancı Foundation Short Film Competition, one of the art and culture activities of the Sabancı Foundation, is organized to draw attention to a different social problem every year by making use of the power of art, to communicate these problems through the eyes of young filmmakers, to raise awareness of social issues by making use of the creative perspective and impact of cinema, and to encourage and support young artists.
The Short Film Competition, with the catchword “Short Film Long Impact," drew attention to Turkey's social problems with the themes of "Refugee Women” in its first year, "Child Labor" in the second year and "Discrimination" in the third year.
The target audience include undergraduate students of cinema and television, directors and producers, who have not made any feature films, and general public who try to solve social problems by means of art.
Participants are asked to explain the theme of the year in a maximum of 5 minutes film with a unique perspective. Finalists are determined by the evaluation of the pre-jury, and then the jury evaluated the finalists.
The theme of the Sabancı Foundation’s 4th Short Film Competition, with communication activities initiated in July 2019, was determined as "Digital Loneliness", drawing attention to a major social problem of our age. Technology was addressed as an indispensable part of today's world.
360-degree communication means were used through social media, the competition website and the announcement letters sent to institutions and organizations across Turkey as well as media communications.
The 4th Short Film Competition reached a record number of applications this year with 490 applicants from 53 provinces in Turkey. During a press trip to Mardin, a Turkish city known for its cultural heritage, it was announced that Oscar-winning composer Ludovic Bource has become the opinion leader of the competition and his inspiring message was published.
Afterwards, the owners of all works participated and the 13 finalists gathered in Istanbul as part of the Sabancı Foundation Short Film Platform Meetings. A number of Turkish cinema and TV celebrities including Berrak Tüzünataç, Caner Özyurtlu, Melikşah Altuntaş, Müge Ozan, Harika Uygur, Nesim Bencoya, Serkan Acar and Pelin Esmer attended the meetings. The workshops enabled young filmmakers to meet with cinema masters and benefit from their experience and knowledge.
Before the award ceremony was held in January 2020, the jury of the competition was announced. The jury was composed of Turkish director Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun and actress Hazal Ergüçlü, the world-famous contemporary director Najwa Najjar, Macedonian superstar Labina Mitevska and Italian festival consultant Teresa Cavina. At the award ceremony, the top three out of 13 short films were announced, and the winner was awarded 15 thousand TL, the second 10 thousand TL, and the third 5 thousand TL.
The 4th Short Film Competition, which received a record number of 490 applications in its fourth year, has been covered 109 times in the print media, 680 times in the online press, 70 times on television channels and 1 time on radio channels, and reached 18,409,969 people in total. The winners of the 4th Short Film Competition streamed in the Sabancı Foundation's YouTube channel and viewed 63 thousand times.