Ankara Cinema Association is the partner of Goethe Institut’s First Films First project which is an intensive professional training program aimed at supporting young Southeast European film directors to develop their first feature-length fiction film.
First Films First consists of 4 modules, over a period of one year, which allow the participants to develop their first feature film project: Developing Stories To Scripts, Finding A Unique Visual Style For Your Film & Further Script Development, Directing Actors and Pitching & PackagingYour Project.
First Films First accepts only eight participants. The reason for this is to modify and orient the program in order to engage with the participants and meet the specific needs of each participant.
In 2016, Derya Durmaz participated this programme with her project The Bus to Amerika He participated in the program with his project. The project was selected for the Berlin Co-Production Market in 2017. The project was selected as one of the 25 best screenplays written by Female Directors at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
Two projects from Turkey were selected in 2017: Saturn (Nazli Elif Durlu) and Ram (Mete Gumurhan). Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and under construction RamCo-producers of Dutch Film Fund, Dutch Film Promotion Fund, CoBO Fund, Dutch State TV Channel VPRO and Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein are among the co-producers. in post-construction Saturn It is supported by the Turkey-Germany Joint Production Support Fund and Film Independent.
In 2018, a project from Turkey was selected. Directed by Selcen Ergun, who is in the post-production stage. Snow and Bear Co-production of Turkey, Germany and Serbia. The project received support from Turkey from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund, Serbian Cinema Center, German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund and Eurimages.
In 2019, a project from Turkey was selected. Directed by Selman Nacar Lacuna Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey, it was selected as the Best Project in the Malatya Film Platform Development Support program.
Two projects from Turkey were selected in 2020. Directed by Emine Yıldırım Apollon By Day Athena By Night He was selected for the Istanbul Film Festival Meetings on the Bridge Platform and the Berlinale Scripstation. The film received Script Development Support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey. The second project selected in the same year was Murat Uğurlu's A Deserved Kiss.