The 2026 selection of SALT’s screening program “Is This Our Last Chance?” focuses on forests as shared living spaces. Spanning from the Amazon Basin to the Congo River, and from Siberia and Canada to Southern Europe, the films examine how forests are managed, transformed, protected, or neglected. The screening program, which addresses the impacts of these processes on daily life, local knowledge, and ecological continuity, is accompanied by talks and forest walks.
Screenings
The screenings held at the Open Cinema in SALT Beyoğlu began on February 18 with the documentary Walden (2018) and continued with Taming the Garden (2021). The program went on on February 21 with a talk by Uğur Zeydanlı, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Nature Conservation Centre, addressing topics such as forest fires, deforestation, the biodiversity crisis, and ecosystem restoration.
Screened on the same day, Paradis (2022) focuses on the struggle for survival in the face of forest fires triggered by the climate crisis in northeastern Siberia. Another film in the selection, Delikado (2022), brings to the screen the struggle of environmental defenders in the Palawan region of the Philippines.
L’Arbre de l’Authenticité (2025), to be screened on Tuesday, February 24 at 7:00 pm, focuses on two scientists who worked at a research center dating back to the colonial period in the Congo Basin, examining the history of forestry research and its relationship with present-day environmental injustices.
Havumetsän lapset (2024), to be screened on Thursday, February 26 at 7:00 pm, follows young activists who mobilize against industrial logging in the northern forests of Finland.
The Program Is Open to All
Ebru Taşcı Firuzbay, Deputy General Manager of Garanti BBVA and Vice Chair of the SALT Board of Directors, stated that the program aims to raise awareness about forests and invite audiences to reflect on their responsibility to protect ecosystems. SALT General Director Deniz Ova noted that this year the program focuses on forests, and that the screenings at the Open Cinema will be accompanied by online screenings and forest walks.
Prepared by Alâ Taleb from SALT, the “Is This Our Last Chance?” program is free of charge and open to everyone. The films will be screened in their original languages with Turkish and English subtitles.
The program will continue on Saturday, February 28 with Valentina e i MUOStri (2024), Anyox (2022), and We Are Guardians (2023). The films in the selection will also be available to watch online via saltonline.org between March 1–8. In addition, forest walks guided by biologist Burçin Çıngay will be organized in Aydos and Belgrad forests on March 1 and 15.
