A partnership strengthened through art at the TAYF Short Film Festival: "Dream Factory Stories" at Atlas Cinema

The 5th TAYF Short Film Festival, which brings together the narrative power of short film with various disciplines, is enriching its program with visual arts as part of a collaboration with Dursun Gündoğdu, founder of DG Art Project. Running from May 9–12, 2026 at Atlas Cinema, the festival will present the exhibition "Dream Factory Stories," produced in partnership with DG Art Gallery & Project.

The exhibition stands out as a curated selection that expands the festival's cinematic atmosphere and invites audiences into multiple layers of storytelling.

"Dream Factory Stories" brings together works by digital artist Durmuş Bahar across three distinct disciplines — AI-assisted Fine Art prints, sculpture, and video animation — forging an original connection between cinema and digital art through a narrative arc that stretches from analog memory to an algorithmic future. The works invite viewers not only into a visual experience, but also into witnessing the transformation of cinematic modes of thinking. The exhibition's spatial design draws audiences beyond a fixed viewing experience, making them participants in an encounter in motion — creating a fluid space between the collective memory of cinema and contemporary modes of technological production.

Festival Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nagihan Çakar, commenting on the collaboration, emphasized that TAYF Short Film Festival is far more than a program of screenings: "We position TAYF as a platform where different disciplines converge and new spaces of expression open up around cinema. This collaboration with DG Art Project is a meaningful reflection of the dialogue we have been building between cinema and the visual arts. Through Durmuş Bahar's 'Dream Factory Stories' exhibition, we invite audiences into an experience where narrative is not confined to the screen alone."

TAYF Short Film Festival, which supports short film production and draws attention each year with its ever-evolving structure, is once again preparing to open new spaces of encounter at the intersection of cinema and art.