Istancool, also known as the Istanbul International Arts & Culture Festival and IST. Festival, is an annual international cultural celebration in Istanbul, created by

Liberatum Liberatum is an international cultural diplomacy organisation, multimedia and cultural content company founded by Pablo Ganguli in 2001. It creates and presents multidisciplinary artistic platforms and promotes contemporary arts, film, media, ...

and first held in 2010 to celebrate the city's 2010 European Capital of Culture status. The festival was created and founded by the famed creative director

Pablo Ganguli Pablo Ganguli is an entrepreneur, artist, producer, director and impresario who has created and directed several international festivals, movements and summits of arts, literature, media, film, fashion and culture, through his organisation Libe ...

. Film director

Alphan Eşeli Alphan Eseli ''(Turkish: lphan Eşeli''; born March 7, 1973, is a Turkish film director, screenwriter, producer, and photographer. Eseli's critically acclaimed first feature film The Long Way Home (2013) has won the Fipresci Prize and the Golden Z ...

and his wife

Demet Muftuoglu Demet is a Turkish feminine given name and is from the Greek goddess Demeter. Other variations of Demet include Demetri, Dem, Demetria, Demetra, Metra and Demi; the common diminutive form of the name is also used as a nickname for Demet. People wi ...

, and '' Dazed & Confused'' editor Jefferson Hack were producers. Ganguli described the aims as "to bring both local and international creative minds to Turkish audiences for a programme that does not understand citizenship, passport, themes, race, gender or visa". It was the first venture of

in Turkey. Istancool was sponsored by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Güler Sabancı, W Istanbul and

Vakko Vakko is a Turkish fashion company. It produces and retails textiles, leather goods, and accessories. Vakko also operates luxury department stores under the Vakko name at Zorlu Center, İstinye Park, Akmerkez, Vadi Istanbul, and Akasya malls ...

. Guests have included global creative icons V. S. Naipaul, Zaha Hadid, Terence Koh, Haluk Akakçe, Gareth Pugh,

Lily Cole Lily Luahana Cole (born 27 December 1987)"Autobiography"
, lilycole.com. is a B ...

, Tilda Swinton, Kirsten Dunst,

Sophie Calle Sophie Calle (born 9 October 1953) is a French writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. Calle's work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the French literary movement known as Oulipo. H ...

, Reha Erdem,

Serra Yilmaz Serra (Latin for "saw") may refer to: People * Serra (footballer) (born 1961), Portuguese footballer * Serra (surname) * Serra (given name) Cities, towns, municipalities Brazil *Serra, Espírito Santo, a city in the Greater Vitória area *Ampa ...

, Courtney Love, Terry Gilliam, Michael Stipe, Gore Vidal, Daphne Guinness, Philip Treacy,

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...

, Hanif Kureishi and Stephen Frears. The festival took place for the fourth time in June 2014.

References

External links

* * Official 2010 European Capital of Culture Press Conference about Istancool: * {{cite web , url=http://gototurkey.co.uk/page_185.html , title=ISTANCOOL Festival 2010 , publisher=Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703123543/http://gototurkey.co.uk/page_185.html , archivedate=3 July 2010 Festivals in Istanbul Cultural festivals in Turkey

See also

References

External links