Events in İstanbul

Istanbul Film Festival 2026

One of the oldest and most respected film festivals in the region, the Istanbul Film Festival runs April 9–19 across the city's most beloved cinemas, drawing directors, critics, and devoted audiences alike. The programme weaves together Turkish premieres, international competition films, and retrospectives that you genuinely won't find elsewhere in the country. A fixture on the cultural calendar since 1982, it remains the city's most serious annual engagement with cinema as art.

Hocapaşa Mevlevileri – Sema Ceremony

One of Istanbul's most enduring sacred arts experiences, the Hocapaşa Mevlevi Sema Ceremony transforms a restored 15th-century Ottoman bathhouse into a space of meditative devotion. White-robed dervishes turn in measured, hypnotic circles as live ney, kudüm, and chanted Sufi poetry fill the domed hall. This is not folkloric performance — it is a living spiritual practice, and one of the finest places in the city to witness it.

Spezzatura Quartet : Bahara Merhaba

Hocapaşa Mevlevileri - Sema Ayini - Nisan Ayı Etkinlikleri