In 1961, the young writer Onat Kutlar goes to Paris to study philosophy. After discovering his passion for cinema at the Cinémathèque Française he decides to found a Cinematheque in Istanbul to bring the world of art cinema to Turkey. Although the Turkish Sinematek came to a tragic end in 1980, it quickly established an intellectual film culture that continues to influence Turkey today.

A City Runs Through the Festival is an anatomy of the Festival through the eyes of its own audience.

The film tells the story of two old friends, Ahmet and Kemal, who work together to solve a murder. Ahmet, nicknamed "Baba," makes a living as an accountant. His son Ali, who works as a laborer at the same factory, is a union member. The factory manager pressures Ahmet to convince his son to leave the union. During a strike that breaks out at the factory, Ali is killed. Ahmet seeks help from Kemal, a businessman and his army buddy, to find his son's killer. Throughout this process, both Kemal and Ahmet begin to question their own lives.