The 34th Istanbul Film Festival cancelled its film competitions as well as the closing ceremony this week due to the withdrawal of more than 20 filmmakers in a protest against government censorship. The festival is a major film showcase for the region and is regularly attended by members of the HFPA.
Monday a group of 22 filmmakers pulled out of this year’s Istanbul Festival to protest the government ban of a Turkish documentary Bakur (North). The documentary is among a handful of works vying for notice in the film festival’s first National Documentary competition. The documentary is in the IKSV official program booklet and had been scheduled for screening on Sunday, April 12. The project was considered one of the most anticipated films of the festival, with a rare behind the scenes access to the outlawed Kurdish PKK rebels and their base in Turkey.
The government, which has been embroiled in a long-standing struggle against members of the Kurdish minority, banned the showing just hours before the screening citing its lack of a proper registration permit. The cancellation prompted more filmmakers and critics to band together and publish an open letter condemning the government for “oppression and censorship.” 22 filmmakers subsequently withdrew from the festival, forcing the organizers to cancel screenings as well as the majority of competitions and the closing ceremony. The show of solidarity was supported by festival organizers and national film professionals in a challenge to government restrictions imposed on Turkish films. Film festival director Azize Tan issued an official statement: “The right of free expression through cinematic works in artistic media is crucial, and we hope that this whole process will reach a consequence where a positive attitude will prevail.”
The unprecedented turn of events at the festival which started on April 4 and was scheduled to run till April 19 is the latest instance of censorship to trouble the Government led by hard line Turkish president Recep Erdogan. Last year Turkey obscured Twitter for several days following unrest that roiled the capital. Earlier this year Facebook agreed to censor images of the prophet Mohammed on the government’s request. Last week Erdogan sharply criticized the Pope following his recognition of the Armenian genocide.
In a show of solidarity, the festival and film professionals are calling for changes to the regulations and restrictions to locally produced films, rules that do not apply to foreign
film products. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association firmly believes in the value of film as a forum for unfettered free expression. At the last Golden Globes held only days after a terrorist attack killed 12 journalists at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and after the Government of North Korea called for the censorship of the Sony comedy The Interview, HFPA president Theo Kingma said: “The freedom of artistic expression… is a beacon across the globe… We stand united everywhere from North Korea to Paris”.
Here’s a link to the festival’s announcement: 
http://film.iksv.org/en/archive/newsarchive/p/1/1120
Lynn Tso