World  Cinema Carnival 2023 is proud to announce its films under the Official Selection category. After a rigorous process of reviewing, this year only 23 films from 15 countries have made it to the final list among hundreds of submissions worldwide.  

Given the number of films selected this year, it might seem unusual for anyone familiar with our nature of programming for the first three consecutive years 2020 – 2022, where we usually give priority only to the visibility of new and unconventional artists and their works. 

As a festival born out of the crisis of covid-19 timeline, we are in the progress to reframe our philosophical structure and ideological manifestation. Following this discourse, we are keeping our priority on visibility, and pluralistic participation but also focusing on the nourishment of exceptional talent which requires close attention to each and every detail in the process and in the making! 

Artistic Director – Santasil Mallik expresses his regards, “With due respect to all the great works we have received so far and we hope to receive more in the coming years. We believe we can find your association intact in this prosperous journey.” Head of Programming (official Selection) – Pelin Çılgın added, “Our kindest request to our fellow artists and alumni not to take the negative outcome as a form of a harsh comment on the quality of their work but as a growing festival, it is not always possible to make a space accommodating for everyone at one go! We believe these propositions won’t come in the middle of our auspicious relationship.”

On this note, we are extremely happy to announce that Sibi Sekar (India), Charlotte Clermont (Canada),  Dmitri Frolov (Russia) and Giorgos Efthimiou (Greece) are returning to the festival with their recent wonders! While emerging artist Rebecca Shapass from the United States has made an exception by drawing our attention to include her two exceptional works in the festival! Explore the complete list of works and artists selected for the official programming of the 2023 edition of World Cinema Carnival.