In 1961, the young writer Onat Kutlar goes to Paris to study philosophy. After discovering his passion for cinema at the Cinémathèque Française he decides to found a Cinematheque in Istanbul to bring the world of art cinema to Turkey. Although the Turkish Sinematek came to a tragic end in 1980, it quickly established an intellectual film culture that continues to influence Turkey today.

A City Runs Through the Festival is an anatomy of the Festival through the eyes of its own audience.