The Opening Night Gala of the 17th London Turkish Film Festival on November 24, 2011 brought a special excitement and glamour to Leicester Square's Odeon West End Cinema with a memorable mix of awards, stars and a movie premiere.
A record number of outstanding films made the short list for this year's Digital Distribution Award, sponsored by Digiturk, which annually provides distribution and promotion of a Turkish film to UK-wide audiences. A distinguished international jury, including Turkish star Mehmet Aslantug, awarded the £30,000 prize to HOME (Yurt) the first feature to be written and directed by Muzaffer Özdemir, known internationally for his role in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's UZAK for which he won the Cannes Best Actor Award. The actor received a rapturous reception from the Odeon's capacity audience as he received the Golden Wings statuette.

Congratulations to SHADOWS AND FACES, the winner of the 2011 Peoples Choice Award as voted for by audiences throughout the Festival. Derviş Zaim's powerful and moving story, set in Cyprus in 1963 at the start of the conflict between Turks and Greeks, was also an award winner at the Ankara and Antalya Festivals and its combination of engrosssing human drama and contemporary relevance now makes it a worthy winner of the LTFF Golden Wings Award.

The opening night audience was equally delighted to welcome international movie legend Claudia Cardinale, star of films by Fellini, Visconte and Leone, to introduce the night's UK premiere of the delightful BEING ITALIAN WITH SIGNORA ENRICA. A great performance and a great finale to a memorable celebration of Turkish Cinema.

The presentation of the Golden Wings Lifetime Achievement award is always a highlight of the evening and there has been no more popular a winner than the "Angel" of Turkish cinema Hulya Kocyigit, star of more than 200 films in a 50 year career. An on-screen reminder of her life and work could only really be followed by a standing ovation for the star herself, and a heartfelt reception it certainly was.