Turkey's Antalya Film Festival goes partly online

By Hatice Ozdemir Tosun

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Some events of the 57th Antalya Film Festival will take place online due to the novel coronavirus, the organizers announced Thursday.

"The excitement of the festival experience will spread across Turkey through online events,” a statement read.

“In a unique collaboration to this year, the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival has partnered with the online film platform, MUBI, and curated a selection of Golden Orange winning films for cinema lovers."

Six films from different years, all of them winners of the festival’s top prizes, can be accessed free of charge by MUBI members between Oct. 3 and Nov. 30.

The movies are Omer Lutfi Akad’s The Wedding, Yavuz Okan’s The Mine, Atif Yilmaz’s Aaahh Belinda, Ugur Yucel’s Toss-Up, Ben Hopkins’ The Market: A Tale of Trade, and Tolga Karacelik’s Ivy.

The cinematic festival, scheduled from Oct. 3-10 in the Turkish Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, started in 1963 as the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. It is one of the oldest and longest-running film festivals in Turkey.

- Golden Orange Film School

Film-lovers will also be able to watch a series of themed panel discussions as part of the Golden Orange Film School between Oct. 4 and 9, the press release said.

Videos of the conversations will be available on the festival’s social media accounts.

Film-maker Ercan Kesal, and actor Nazan Kesal will speak on “Family Cinema” with film critic Mehmet Acar.

Director Kivanc Sezer will discuss “How I Made My First Film” with Ahmet Gurata, a film critic and academic.

While actor Damla Sonmez is set to talk about “Being an Actress in Turkey” with film critic Evrim Kaya, screenwriter Pelin Esmer is scheduled to share her views on the discussion titled: “From Documentary to Fiction to Documentary” with producer Hasmet Topaloglu.

Film-maker Emin Alper will explore “From Story to Screen” with film critic Esin Kucuktepepinar, whereas director Ilksen Basarir, and actor Mert Firat will talk about “Making a Film Together” with Engin Palabiyik, a producer.

Meanwhile, as many as 250 students selected will have exclusive access to a program of online classes on screenwriting, production, and documentaries, etc.