Turkish cinema , despite being held back by economic and political constraints, looks poised for a global breakthrough this year. Its milestone Berlin 2026 contingent — comprising three feature film premieres, two of which are competing for the Golden Bear — kicks off the campaign. For years, Turkey’s government, headed by authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been muzzling filmmakers’ voices through censorship laws and state funding constraints on projects that didn’t seem to toe