Film festivals celebrate once-censored films in Turkey

This year’s International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival will hand out awards cancelled three decades ago in two consecutive years. One, as a reaction to Censorship Committee. The other, because of a military coup. In another traveling event, US and Canadian cities get a taste of once-banned filmmaker Yılmaz Güney

The upcoming International Antalya Orange Film Festival, the biggest movie event in Turkey, in September will be a memorable one, and one that will literally rewrite history. The 48th Golden Oranges will have three national competitions for feature films this year. This year’s competition, and two that were never given.

In 1979, the festival was cancelled as a reaction to the Censorship Committee, and the next year, it coincided with the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup. This year, the awards of three decades back, The Latecoming Golden Orange Awards, will be announced on Sept. 12, coinciding with the anniversary of the coup.

When the Censorship Committee decided to ban or cut three films back in 1979, Yavuz Pağda’s Yolcular (Passengers), Yavuz Özkan’s Demiryol and Ömer Kavur’s Yusuf ile Kenan (Yusuf and Kenan), all of the directors and producers competing that year withdrew from the competition.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)