Women’s Voices at the 1001 Documentary Film Festival in Istanbul

Istanbul, 30 March - 5 April 2026, International Program Reflecting Women’s Lives Across Different Contexts

The 18th edition of the 1001 Documentary Film Festival has returned to Istanbul after a long pause, with a wide and layered program. Across different sections, a number of films place women at the center of their stories. This presence appears throughout the program and forms a clear line within this year’s selection.

based on a scene from Okurimono, directed by Laurence Lévesque

The films come from different regions, including Iran, Japan, the Balkans, and the Middle East, each approaching women’s experiences from a different angle.

In Cutting Through Rocks, directed by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, the film follows a woman in a rural area of Iran who is trying to change her position within a traditional social structure.

In Okurimono, directed by Laurence Lévesque, a Japanese-Canadian woman returns to Nagasaki and begins to reconstruct her family’s past, linked to the atomic bombing. The film moves slowly, using objects and memories to build its narrative.

Noriko becomes a bridge between generations. Her attempt to understand her mother’s past turns into a quiet act of preservation. Mothers and women have carried stories of history and trauma throughout history, passing them on to the next generation. This sense of transmission is clearly present throughout the film.

In The Sky Above Zenica, directed by Zlatko Pranjić and Nanna Frank Møller, life in an industrial city in Bosnia is shaped by heavy pollution. Women are part of this environment, where daily life is directly affected by the conditions of the city.

In Where We Used to Sleep, directed by Matthäus Wörle, a woman remains as the last resident of a village destroyed by toxic waste from a nearby copper mine. The film follows her life in this damaged landscape, moving between present time and memory, while pointing to the long-term impact of extractive industries on local communities.

The films span a wide geographical range, yet their language feels close to one another. A shared experience of women runs through them, shaped by tragedy, the effort to create change, and a deep connection to place. These stories are built on lived experience, collective memory, and social conditions. This diversity, along with the sense of balance and similarity, stood out to me as one of the notable aspects of this year’s Istanbul 1001 Documentary Film Festival.