The Bodrum International Film Festival, a joint effort of the Eurasia Art Collective (ASK) and the local municipality, was scheduled to mark its sixth edition later this summer.There has been no official announcement about the festival being canceled this year, but an unofficial letter by “one of the festival's enthusiasts,” actually sent to the Ankara Cinema Association (ASD) and forwarded to Turkish media by the ASD on Friday, complained that they have “found out with despair that the festival would not take place this year.” The letter, signed İlknur Birsel, was also posted on the movie Web site Sadibey.com.
Birsel, in her letter, said that it was a fact that “the festival had not received much attendance ... but it had still managed to create its own fan base” among holidaymakers in Bodrum and the town's locals. Birsel also noted that there were doubts whether the new mayor of Bodrum, Mehmet Kocadon, had an effect on the festival being canceled. Two solutions Birsel proposed in her letter for the festival's continuation were films to be shown for a certain admission fee and better promotion of the event aimed at foreign tourists.
