Troy Festivals in Canakkale

Troy Festivals in Canakkale

The longest-running festival in Canakkale is the International Troy Festival (Uluslararasi Troia Festivali), which began in 1963 and usually runs for about 5 days starting on 9-10 August. By tradition the festival begins with a cortege (parade) of girls and boys dressed in flowing white robes or colorful national costumes led by Helen, who is bought over by Paris in a chariot from the other side of the Dardanelles (the European side). Participants come from all over Turkey and the world, especially folk dancing teams. Events are extremely varied and include concerts by pop stars and a German classical orchestra, activities for kids, art exhibitions, plays, and street basketball. The slogan of the festival is “Let Peace be our Culture”.

The Troy Bridge Festival (Troia Bric Festivali) usually runs for 3 days around 7-9 August and precedes the “International Troy Festival”. This has been running since 2001. The tournament takes place at the premises of the Cataltepeliler Association (Cataltepeliler Dernegi Sosyal Tesisleri). Participating teams come from all over the Marmara region. Similarly, in August the International Troy Chess Tournament (Troya Uluslararasi Satranc Turnuvasina) is held. In 2008, the sixteenth time the tournament took place, there were 247 national and international participants.

The International Troy (Open) Table Tennis Tournament (Uluslararasi Troia-Troya Masa Tenis Turnuvasi) has been going since 2005 and has also become an established event. In 2007 the team from Romania won first prize. The name of the tournament tends to vary a little from year to year.

The International Canakkale Troy Film Festival (Uluslararasi Canakkale Troia Film Festivali) is being organized from Istanbul (European Capital of Culture, 2010) supported by Beyoglu Municipality. The first festival was slated to take place in Canakkale on 21-25 July 2010 then postponed to 15-19 Sept. 2010. In connection with the festival, a panel was held on 19 June 2010 entitled “Women in Turkish Cinema as Scriptwriter, Director and Actress” (Senaryo Yazari, Yonetmen ve Oyuncu Acisindan Turk Sinemasi’nda Kadin) and another panel was held on 15 July 2010 on “Music in the Turkish Cinema from Past to Present” (Gecmisten Gunumuze Turk Sinemasinda Muzik). The “International Canakkale Troy Film Festival” is now scheduled to take place on 4-9 June 2011. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been invited.

The first International Canakkale Troy Transparent Carthorse Film Festival (1. Uluslararasi Geleneksel Canakkale Troia Seffaf Beygir Film Festivali) was announced to the media on 1 April 2010 in front of the model wooden horse from the Brad Pitt “Troy” movie on the seafront in Canakkale. This festival took place as planned, on 16-23 July 2010, showing a selection of ten of the latest Turkish films at seven different locations around Canakkale that attracted about 5,000 viewers. Brad Pitt was invited but didn’t turn up. This festival was organized by a local NGO with the slogan “World Film festivals Meet in Canakkale”. The next festival is planned to take place in June 2011.

The Gokceada Film Festival (Gokceada Film Festivali) has been held on the island of Gokceada (Imbros) within the province of Canakkale every July-August since 1997. It lasts about a week and showcases the latest feature films in Turkish cinema, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In order to encourage agricultural activities on the island, especially organic farming, the festival has been renamed the Gokceada Film Festival and Farming Fair (Gokceada Film Festival ve Tarimla Yasam Senligi). The festival takes place in different villages and open-air amphitheatres around the island and includes musical concerts, folklore displays and food competitions.

It may also be mentioned that Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who spent his childhood in the town of Yenice in Canakkale province, won the Best Director award at Cannes Film Festival in 2008 for his film “Three Monkeys” (Uc Maymun). The movie later became the first Turkish film to make the Oscar shortlist for “Best Foreign Language Film”.

There are two other Troy-named film festivals, neither of them in Canakkale. One is the Troy Film Festivalshowing short films and movies made by students at Troy University in the city of Troy, Alabama as part of Troyfest, the city’s annual arts festival, initiated in April 2009. The other is the annual Festroia:Troia International Film Festival(Festroia Festival Internacional de Cinema de Troia) in June, a more prestigious affair known as the “Cannes of Portugal" since it is the oldest and largest film event in Portugal. This has been running since 1985. It especially aims to showcase independent movies and emerging film-making talent from around the world. The name of the festival comes from the venue of the festival, the holiday town of Setubal, which lies across the bay from the Troia Peninsula on which are remains of the Roman settlement of Troia.