Short Film News (SFN)- The first edition of Istanbul Documentary Film Festival will be opened on 8th July.

Award-winning documentaries from around the world will be screened in this five-day event in Istanbul, Turkey.

This event is established by the Eurasia Art Collective (ASK), that is an NGO dedicated to creating intercultural and interdisciplinary platforms through art events.

One of the films to be screened in this festival is The English Surgeon by Geoffrey Smith. Nick Fraser, the producer of this film, will be in Istanbul to hold a two-days master class.

Some of the other films in this event are: The Monastery by Pernille Rose Gronkaer the grand winner of Amersterdam Festival in 2006, Alguna Tristeza by Juan Alejandro Ramirez from Peru, To See, If I'm Smiling, a critical documentary about the mandatory military service for women in Israel by Tamar Yalom, and Who Am I? by Estela Bravo.

Over 30 documentaries from around the world will be showed in French Cultural Institution in Istanbul. Also a selection of the newest documentaries produced in Turkey, put together by the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD), will be screened and will compete to win a prize.

More information about this event is available at www.documentar-ist.org