(Main Section: Urban-Rural Regeneration and Cultural Sustainability)

The main objective of this paper is to explore the cluster dynamics and external linkages of the Istanbul film industry through a questionnaire-based study with film producers. The paper aims to determine whether the success in the global market is created through the cluster dynamics of the local film industry. The status of Istanbul’s integration into the global market can be shown by the activities of the film industry. Clustering and local-global interactions are the main points of analysis as they are the major factors indicating integration of film clusters into global film markets. The findings show that the Istanbul film industry cluster tends towards disintegration spatially and has weak external linkages. For sustainable development and resilience against potential future crises, local-global interactions and external linkages should be integrated into the existing cluster dynamics. Consequently, this study asserts that despite the position of Istanbul on the periphery of the global economic system, through the film sector as a creative industry, its position and degree of global integration can be increased