Film Festivals

Off Set 2018 TIFF Portrait Series: Sibel

Published on September 26, 2018

Our final portrait before we go “mute”, Franco-Turkish filmmaker team Çagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti made their way from Locarno Film Fest into TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema section with Sibel – their third feature after the Cannes ACID section selected Noor (2012) and Ningen – which was selected for TIFF back in 2013. Tipped by the fest as a “modern-day Cinderella story of female empowerment” starring Damla Sönmez. Çagla and Guillaume were on hand for the TIFF premiere. Here is our photo of the pairing — but apart.

Çagla Zencirci, SIBEL / Photo © Marie France L’Ecuyer IONCINEMA

Guillaume Giovanetti, SIBEL / Photo © Marie France L’Ecuyer IONCINEMA

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).