Curatorial diplomacy and audience development in film-based cultural policy: German films and the Kino Program Türkiye

This article examines how film diplomacy operates through sustained curatorial practice and audience development within arm's-length governance structures. Focusing on German Films Service + Marketing GmbH (German Films) and its collaboration with the Goethe-Institut through the Kino Program Türkiye (2015–2024), the study moves beyond symbolic understandings of cultural diplomacy to analyze its organizational, curatorial, and audience-oriented dimensions in practice. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative case study design based on document analysis, program-level data, and semi-structured interviews with institutional actors. Through thematic analysis, it traces how institutional architecture informs curatorial choices and audience development strategies. The findings indicate that Kino's effectiveness derives from continuity, thematic coherence, and dialogic formats rather than short-term visibility or promotional spectacle. By foregrounding socially critical and plural representations of German cinema, the program fosters credibility and sustained exchange instead of one-directional national messaging. The article conceptualizes this practice as curatorial diplomacy, in which curatorial decisions structure the conditions of cultural encounter. While focusing on the German Films–Kino framework as a case study, the article situates the analysis within broader discussions on institutional coordination, curatorial continuity, and audience strategy in international film promotion. In doing so, the article contributes to cultural management scholarship by showing how audience-centered curatorial practices can function as durable and ethically grounded instruments of film diplomacy.