MAFF Press Conference
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Speech Text of MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı
Esteemed members of the press, distinguished guests, dear friends,
I greet you all with respect and affection.
Today we are here together in order to share MÜSİAD’s culture and arts vision. On this occasion, I am greatly pleased to introduce to you the Altınçark Short Film Festival, the first of which we are holding this year.
As MÜSİAD, from the day we were founded we have given priority to production, to exports, to development, to entrepreneurship and to employment. We have developed solutions and vision in many fields, from industrial zones to export markets, from financing to digitalization. But at the point we have reached today we also know very well that sustainable development is not measured by economic indicators alone. Cultural production, art and the world of thought are the cornerstone of this structure.
Distinguished guests,
Today Türkiye is opening up to the world not only with its industrial products but at the same time with its ideas, its stories, its television series and its cinema films.
As of 2023 our television series exports exceeded USD 750 million. Turkish productions are watched in nearly 150 countries of the world. Film festivals, digital platforms and the production of visual content are now an important element of global competition.
When we look at this picture, we as MÜSİAD asked ourselves the following question: how can we, as the business world, contribute more to this developing creative economy?
Our answer was the Altınçark Short Film Festival.
With this festival we are not only supporting art; at the same time we aim to contribute to the development of cultural exports, to encourage the production of young talents and to lend our shoulder to the strengthening of the domestic narrative.
Just as we take responsibility in every field of production as MÜSİAD, from now on we will also have a say in the production of culture. This festival is a beginning for us.
The Altınçark Short Film Festival will turn into a permanent and sustainable structure in the field of culture and arts, one that can create funds and provide production support. Because we believe that exporting our culture is not only our national pride but at the same time our strategy for economic growth.
As the business world we must be part of a structure that does not keep its distance from cinema, from culture and from art, but that understands it, supports it and develops it. It is with this vision that we set out.
I thank first and foremost our Festival President Mr Sadettin Budak and everyone who has contributed to the process of the festival’s formation. I also offer my gratitude to all the jury members, to the sector representatives who have given their support and to our members of the press.
I believe that the Altınçark Short Film Festival will become one of Türkiye’s cultural brands in a very short time. And on this journey we will grow together.
I respectfully greet you all.