4^th Mercy to the Universe International Short Film Competition

Mercy to the Universe Short Film competition organized for the fourth time this year by the Siyer Foundation which has become a traditional event dedicated to the Master Prophet (pbuh) for the first time has been completed and the winners received their awards.

There was an immense participation to the organization that took place at the Haliç Congress Center.

The program started by the Qur’an chant of Eyüpsultan Mosque Imam Metin Çakar.

Following the Qur’an chant, Siyer Foundation President Mehmet Kaya was invited onto the stage to make his opening speech.

In his welcome speech, Kaya talked about the works that have been and are being planned by the Siyer Foundation adding that the Mercy to the Universe Short Film Competition that was started to communicated the blessed message of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) to today’s world in the language of cinema is continuing to raise bars.

Mehmet Kaya indicated that our Siyer Foundation strives to increase the number of directors, scriptwriters and critiques who think and act like Muslims after which he added that the Hassan b. Sabit Cinema Academy founded by the Foundation will continue its operations this year in directing, script writing, editing and film readings.

Following the greeting speech by Kaya, a collage film was screened that encompasses the past years of the Mercy to the Universe International Short Film Competition.

We Do Not Have Big Claims, We Have Big Goals

Siyer Foundation Founder Muhammed Emin Yıldırım Hoca made his speech afterwards.

Our Hoca indicated that our age has significant resemblances with the Jahilliyah era prior to Islam adding as such:

“Jahilliayh life is the life before Islam and we know it as a period of time during which the bond of humans was cut loose with humanity. Perhaps, girls are not buried alive today, however we realize that we are sharing the same age with people sentenced to darkness.”

After indicating that the similarity between Jahilliyah and this period that we are now living in is based on the fact that the bonds between Allah and life have been cut loose, he continued as such, “Today, the understanding that accepts modern life as a philosophy of life is also cutting the bonds between Allah and life. Thus, life becomes more and more meaningless and the bonds that we are responsible for establishing are cut loose one by one.”

Muhammed Emin Yıldırım Hoca indicated that we as the people of this age are obliged to establish bonds between us and Allah, ourselves, other objects after which he continued, ”Today, we do not see these issues from the perspective of Allah (cc) or from the Nebevi perspective left to us by our Prophet (pbuh) and so we have a hard time carrying this heritage over to posterity.”

He emphasized that we all are obliged to walk towards the Nebevi Horizon ending his words as such:

“We are obliged to walk towards the Nebevi Horizon as shown by our Master Prophet. However, we cannot do this only by getting angry at darkness or saying bad words to evil. We have to work for the light and do justice to whatever task that we have been assigned as  indicated to us by the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). So, this competition is the result of such an ordeal. We do not have high claims, but we have high goals. And we are expecting your prayers in order to reach those goals.”

Following the speech by our Hoca, Minister of Culture and Tourism Prof. Dr. Numan Kurtulmuş who always supported us at every stage was invited to the stage. After the greeting and acknowledgment speec by Kurtulmuş, Siyer Foundation President Mehmet Kaya provided him with a plaque for his contributions.

Our esteemed Script Writing and Short Film Jury that worked with an intense self-devotion was invited onto the stage after the calendar for the 4^th Mercy to the Universe Short Film Competition was announced and they also received their plaques for acknowledgment of their efforts.

Preliminary Jury : Abdulhamit Güler, Eda Tezcan, İhsan Kabil, Kubilay Erkan Yazıcı, Seyid Çolak, Sinan Sertel
Scriptwriting Jury : Ahmet Mercan, Elif Eda Karagöz, Emre Konuk, Gökhan Yorgancıgil, İskender Pala, Yıldız Ramazanoğlu, Yusuf Ziya Gökçek
Short Film Jury : Ali Osman Emirosmanoğlu, Atalay Taşdiken, Bahadır Yenişehirlioğlu, EmadBurnat (Palestine), Ovidio Abdullatif Salazar (England), Salim Ahmed (India), Sibel Eraslan, Şafak Tavkul

Honorary Guest of this year: Naci el-Ali

At the 4th Alemlere Rahmet International Short Film Competition, Naci el Ali was defined as The guest of Honor, Father of Hanzala, and a Symbol of Palestine.

The collage film about Naci el Ali was shared with our guests in order to get to know him better.

Following the collage film in order to present the plaque to Naci el-Ali, our honorary guestAmbassador of Palestine Dr. Faed Mustafawas invited to the stage.

“By awarding Naci el Ali we are awarding all Palestine” told Dr. Faed Mustafa Siyer to our Foundation and guests participating in the program, following by the gratitude words. TRT General Manager Abraham Eren handed the plaque of participation to  Ambassador of Palestine Faed Mustafa, who was going the greeting speech

Awards Have Found Its Owners

Among the 343 works participating in the contest from our country and various countries of the world, the15 short films where chosen to the finals. 5 scenario writes and producers where invited to the stage, after plaques where presented to them for work and success, the award ceremony has started.

Screenwriter Sema Nur Bektaş was awarded for the scenaryo titled “Zilli Top” with Encouragement Award in Scenario Competition Nomination. The contestant’s prize was awarded by our jury member Yıldız Ramazanoğlu.

Screenwriter Abdurrahman Badeci was awarded for the script named “Rüya” with the 3rd prize in the Scenario Competition Nomination. Our contestant received the award from our jury member Ahmet Mercan.

Screenwriter Abdullah Şahin was awarded for the scenaryo of “Can Kuşu” with the second prize in Scenario Competition Nomination. Our competitor received his award from Abdullah Dölek,  Eyüpsultan District Governor.

Film Director Asker Nurakun Uulu with his short film “Cinema Aşığı” was awarded by our Special Sponsor Contest Award. The contest prize was awarded by Enver Arslan, Head of Cinema General Directorate of the Ministry of Culture and Cinema.

Film Director Akif Karaosmanoğlu took the Special Prize of the Siyer Foundation’s for short film named “Kum”. The contest prize was awarded by the President of Siyer Foundation Mr Mehmet Kaya.

Film Director Omer Dashbudak took Honorable Mention Award for his short film named “Yönetmen&Öğretmen”. The contest prize was given by Arif Kaman, Chairman of the Benar Group of Companies.

Director Meerim Dogdurbekova took the Special Prize of Jury of Competition for his short film named “Bakıt”. The award of the contest was given by our jury committee member Bahadır Yenişehirlioğlu.

Animation Special Award: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… And Spring

This year in the nomination of animation, Hamza Uysal’s auspicious animation movie named “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter … And Spring” ws deemed worthy to get Alemlere RahmetSpecial Award for Animation of our International Short Film Competition. Our contestant took his prize from our jury member’s hands Şafak Tavkul.

3rd Prize of our Competition: “Home”

FilmDirector Ms Saltanat Zarnaeva, who participated in the contest from Kyrgyzstan,  for her short film named ‘’Home’’ was deemed worthythe third prize. The contest prize was awarded by Salah Abdulmaksut, the Minister of Information of Egypt during the period of Muhammad Mursi.

2nd Prize of Competition: “Deep”

Film Director Rakymzhan Kaldykoz who participated in the contest from Kazakhstan with the short film named “Deep” was deemed worthy the second prize. AK Party Istanbul deputy Halis Dalkılıç presented the contest prize.

First Prize of our Competition: “12 Hours”

Despite the one-room disadvantage, but with a strong cinematography and heart touching universal issue; succesfully reminding again about our duty to olders ,  Director Ercan Selim Öngöz won the first prize for the short film named “12 Hours”. Öngöz took the prize from the hands of our teacher Mr Muhammad Emin Yildirim, the Founder of the Siyer Foundation.

The awards given to the film owners that received a ranking are as follows:

First place prize 30.000 TL., Second place prize 20.000 TL., Third place prize 10.000 TL., Sponsor Prize 7.000 TL., Honorable Mention Prize 5.000 TL., Siyer Foundation Special Prize 4.000 TL., Jury Special Prize 4.000 TL., Animation Special Prize 10.000 TL., Script Writing Second Place Prize 5.000 TL., Script Writing Third Place Prize 2.000 TL., Script Writing Encouragement Prize 1.000 TL.

After the award ceremony, the first three films were screened.

Theme of The Coming Year: Brotherhood

By the end of program our Teacher Muhammed Emin Yıldırım was invited to the stage to explain the theme of the next 5th Alemlere Rahmet International Short Film Competition which will be organized next year with the grace of Allah.

Teacher mentioned that in the Islam society there is a big problem at the nation and country, “We want to resolve this problem with the inspiration from the world of Prophet, Lets make contribution if needed as nation, and if needed as country to overcome oll difficulties”. Telling this he has announced the theme of the next year competition as “Brotherhood”.

We thank all the competitors and guests who took part at incarnation at Gala and Award Ceremony for participation at the 4th Alemlere Rahmet International Short Film Competition.