Golden Orange festival marred by politics as Kusturica leaves Antalya

The famed director of such critically acclaimed films as “Underground” and “The Time of the Gypsies,” labeling reactions to his being a member of the jury at the festival as “barbaric and primitive,” said he was withdrawing from the jury and canceling the rest of his program in Antalya, which also included workshops with film students.

Speaking in a press conference on Sunday at an Antalya hotel, Kusturica said: “I don’t even want to make a plea, but … I’d like to thank Mayor [Mustafa] Akaydın and the people of Antalya for the warm reception. As for the culture [and tourism] minister of this country, I now see him as an enemy because he deserves this,” referring to Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay’s protest against him by not attending Saturday’s opening gala of the festival.

The 47th edition of Antalya’s annual cinematic fare is now clouded with politically charged statements and protests. The festival, billed by Turkey’s movie industry as the country’s most prestigious film festival, has thus been marred by a scandal, drawing the event away from its main target of boosting Turkey’s movie industry.

On Sunday Kusturica also noted that just a few months ago he and his No Smoking Orchestra, which also performed on Saturday in Antalya, visited the northwestern city of Bursa for a live performance as part of the city’s annual festival, where they were greeted warmly and enthusiastically by the city’s officials.

Dismissing accusations that he was supportive of war criminals, Kusturica added: “A person who has dedicated his life to opening new horizons to humanity cannot be supportive of any kind of crime. … I am known to be anti-imperialist. I have built my life and profession on this basis. … What I was fighting for [during the time of the Bosnian war] was a united Yugoslavia,” the filmmaker said.

Minister Günay was quick to reply to Kusturica’s “unfortunate statements” on Sunday. “I suppose [interpreters] provided him with false and exaggerated translations [of what happened]. I’m guessing that’s why he made those unfortunate statements while he was leaving. I wouldn’t want to speak behind an artist’s back. I wish this debate had never taken place. I wish we only watched his films [in the festival] and a politically motivated debate had not been triggered,” the minister told the Anatolia news agency. “I hope these arguments do not overshadow the Antalya film festival,” he added.

On Saturday Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Antalya City Council member Reşat Oktay protested the festival’s organizers for inviting Kusturica to the festival, shouting his objection while Akaydın was about deliver his opening speech at the festival’s opening gala at the famous Glass Pyramid. Oktay was immediately taken outside the hall by security personnel. Outside the hall, Oktay told reporters that he staged the protest “on behalf of the citizens of Antalya.” Claiming Kusturica was a “racist … who had no respect for Bosnian Muslims,” Oktay said: “Artists have to have universal [appeal]. An artist cannot be racist. I made this to condemn a person who supports massacre being invited to this festival. As a member of the Antalya City Council, I was elected by the citizens of this city. I condemn Akaydın for inviting this man to the festival.”

The Antalya Foundation for Culture and Art (AKSAV), an Antalya Metropolitan Municipality-affiliated body that has been organizing the Altın Portakal for the past two years, had announced Kusturica’s taking part in the festival in late July. However, his presence in the festival sparked ire during the past week, with several Bosnian cultural associations based in Turkey and a number of Bosnian women’s associations voicing criticism of AKSAV for inviting the filmmaker who once made comments supportive of war criminals responsible for the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 during the Bosnian war, to Antalya.

AKSAV, dismissing criticisms and protests, said in statements last week that the festival is “only interested in Kusturica’s persona as an artist.”

Upon AKSAV’s reaction, Semih Kaplanoğlu, the director of the Berlin film festival Golden Bear-winning drama “Bal” (Honey), announced on Thursday that he had withdrawn his film from the festival, where it was originally scheduled for a gala screening on Monday out of competition. Kaplanoğlu and the members of “Bal’s” cast and crew, in a statement issued Thursday, said they will not be attending any of the events during this year’s festival, as AKSAV did not backtrack from its plans to have Kusturica on the jury for the international competition.

In 2007 Kusturica was again among stars who visited Antalya for the annual festival, where he and his orchestra performed a concert during the opening gala of the event’s 44th edition. That year, Kaplanoğlu ran in the national feature competition with “Yumurta” (Egg), the first installment of his “Trilogy of Yusuf,” which was completed with “Bal.”

The 47th Altın Portakal film festival is offering 191 films from 35 countries in total. Among them, 130 productions are from Turkey. Sixty-one films in the international section round up the bill, of which 11 titles are running in the international feature competition.