About the Festival
The International Black Sea Documentary Film Festival is an international documentary cinema event organized to establish and strengthen cultural cooperation among the countries of the Black Sea basin, to create grounds for co-production and collaboration in cinema, and to reinforce ties with the autonomous republics of the basin and with the Turkic republics.
With its competitions, special selection, special screenings, talks and workshops, the festival also aims to build an archive that records the cultural memory of Black Sea culture and to pass this heritage on to future generations.
Our Aims
- To open the way for cooperation in cinema among the countries of the basin
- To strengthen ties with the autonomous republics of the basin and the Turkic republics
- To build an archive of Black Sea culture as cultural memory and pass it on to future generations
- To bring documentary cinema to young filmmakers, students and audiences
- To establish a lasting cooperation network among universities, public institutions, international organizations and media organizations
- To open up current topics such as artificial intelligence and new media for discussion in the context of documentary cinema
Organization
The festival is hosted by Gümüşhane University, in cooperation with Karabük University and in partnership with universities in the Black Sea region of Türkiye. FIYAB, SETEM and the Turkic World Journalists Federation are partner organizations of the festival.
Festival Calendar
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Film submissions open | 1 December 2026 |
| Pre-selection and jury evaluation | 15 February 2027 |
| Festival days | May 2027 |
Cultural Memory Archive
Documentaries with content on Black Sea culture, recordings of talks and workshops, and audiovisual material produced during the festival will be gathered in a digital archive once permission and copyright procedures are completed.