Something Missing In 51St Edition Of Antalya's Altın Portakal

If there was a documentary to portray the events that occurred before and during the 51st Antalya Altın Portakal (Golden Orange) International Film Festival, it could almost be a remake of Kurosawa's “Rashomon.”

It all began two weeks ago when the documentary preliminary jury declared that one of the films they had selected, the Gezi Park protests documentary “Yeryüzü Aşkın Yüzü Oluncaya Dek” -- which had already screened in several national festivals before -- was removed from the lineup by the festival committee due to its content, which could possibly be the cause for a trial in light of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). After the righteous protests of the film community declaring that no film festival had the right to judge a film by the penal code and that this was mere censorship, the documentary was added back to the lineup by the committee.

Yet, the issue could not be solved as a major miscommunication continued; the festival did not openly and bluntly apologize and chose to move forward with a diplomatic and defensive tone. And so director Reyan Tuvi and the rest of the documentary competition lineup, save for two films, decided to withdraw from the festival, leading the festival to cancel the documentary competition.

It wasn't just the documentary community that protested the festival, but also a large number of film critics and journalists, several jury members, directors and producers who had films in the short film competition and the sidebar project market. The makers of national feature competition films signed a petition saying they would not withdraw, but would continue their struggle with censorship. This petition was signed by all films, save for Kutluğ Ataman, whose film “Kuzu” (The Lamb) ironically ended up winning the festival's best film award.

Yes, despite all the labor, all the pizzazz and all the money that poured into the festival this year, there was still an unspoken bitter taste in the air for the delegates who chose to participate in the festival for all good intent. Colleagues who chose not to participate were dearly missed, especially film critics and journalists who proved through their absence that they are an irreplaceable component of the national festival circuit by way of highlighting and discussing the lineup.

How can one comment on the victory of Ataman, the only director who did not get involved in the censorship discussion, someone who also has a reputation for looking down upon the Gezi protesters?

Surely “Kuzu” is a very meticulously crafted and well narrated film that deserved to be considered for the main award, and lead actress Nesrin Cavadzade definitely merited her award for her allegorical performance of the myth of Medea, but still one cannot notice the irony in that the big cash award of TL 350,000 was given to the filmmaker who was the most silent during the days of heated discussion, when issues of state-supported art, censorship and auto-censorship were high on the agenda.

In my personal view, the strength of “Kuzu” strength was on a par with the inventive film “Sivas” by Kaan Müjdeci, who had to remain content with the Special Jury Prize that he shared with Levent Soyarslan's “Oflu Hocayı Aramak” (Looking for Oflu Hoca), an energetic mockumentary dressed with unapologetic political satire. But the Special Jury Prize has no monetary benefits.

Onur Ünlü's black comedy “İtirazım Var” (Let's Sin) received the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards in front of an unsurprised audience. Ünlü has long been a screenwriter known for his unapologetic style, and he had already proved in this year's İstanbul Film Festival that he is also a capable director. During his acceptance speech, Ünlü read out a text signed by all national feature competition directors, declaring that they would donate a percentage of their monetary awards to activities abolishing censorship and helping form an independent film center.

Nevertheless, I can't help thinking that Müjdeci was a very strong candidate for the Best Director award.

The Best First Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards were bequeathed to Erol Mintaş's “My Mother's Song.” An admirable endeavor in depicting the effects of gentrification on a Kurdish family, Mintaş's film sheds a new light on Kurdish-driven stories by setting his tale not in the provinces but in the heart of İstanbul.

Several young generation filmmakers, including Mintaş, emphasized the importance of the notion of “Cinema of Turkey” as opposed to “Turkish Cinema” during their acceptance speeches. The difference between the two was highlighted during the ceremony via a nationalistic remark by 82-year-old director Erdem Göreç, who insisted that there was no “Cinema of Turkey” as he was giving the Film Directors Guild Award to Ömer Uğur for his rom-com “Guruldayan Kalpler” (Grumbling Hearts). But when veteran Uğur picked up his award from Göreç, he merrily declared “Long Live the Cinema of Turkey!” to a raving crowd.

The night ended on an anti-climatic note as Ataman picked up his award from Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, the recipient of this year's Altın Portakal Lifetime Achievement Award. One would have never thought that one would run into Kiarostami and Jean Claude Van Damme, who was presented with a special award by the festival, on the same stage, but this is Altın Portakal, with all its paradoxes!

EMİNE YILDIRIM (Cihan/Today's Zaman)