17 Hours

The festival opened with the Spanish film

17 Hours

. Set in 1981, it tells the story of a failed military coup which lasted 17 hours, against Spain's fledgling democracy.

Director Chema de la Peria pointed out that in order for democracy to function, countries needed to confront their past.

"This film is a political thriller," he said. "It makes you think how your country can change one way to another. For people it’s very important to know that if you live in a country where you are free, it’s not very easy because some people have fight maybe have died for these human rights."

Issues of social injustice

Accompanying the films are a series of panel discussions organized by Istanbul University that allow the film festival to address wider issues of social injustice.

A scene from the Venezuelan film

Brother

is about two football players, playing for a team in the slums of Caracas. While not an ostensibly political or socially critical film, using sports helps to circumvent pressures from the authorities.

"If I want to be critical about what’s going on in my country, Yes, it would probably make it more difficult for me to make it about that," said film director Marcel Rasquin. "Because our country is in such political turmoil at the moment, we filmmakers are still being wise. I don’t like to consider my film is a social criticism, even though it does have a lot of social criticism. My film goes beyond that to the human aspects of it."