53rd Antalya Film Festival to be held in October

At a recent press conference in Istanbul, Antalya Mayor Menderes Türel said they added two special film selections to the festival program related to the current political situation. 

“We have dedicated one of the selections to the July 15 coup attempt martyrs and the other section will be on refugees. We will draw attention to this human tragedy,” Türel said. 

The Golden Orange Labor Awards will be presented this year to dubbing artists Altan Karındaş and Toron Karacaoğlu, and the Honorary Award will be presented to director Feyzi Tuna and actor Yılmaz Gruda. The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to veteran singer Emel Sayın.
 
Türel said the National Feature Film Competition has an award of 100,000 Turkish Liras, while the International Feature Film Competition award is 50,000 liras. 

French actor Gerard Depardieu will be the guest of the festival this year and other guests would announced in the coming days, Türel stated, adding that the goal was to “make Antalya a city of the cinema industry.” 

“In line with this, we have started the Antalya Film Support Fund Competition. Films that were partially or completely shot in Antalya take part this competition and the winner gets 100,000 liras. We also supported the Antalya-shot scenes in the film. Forty scripts were submitted to this competition and this year, under the title Film TMR [Film Marketing Rounds], we will start the networking, communication and marketing platform for cinema professionals. These are long-term steps,” he said. 


Opening with traditional cortege

Türel said they would organize the traditional festival cortege on Oct. 15 and would also create a festival center and festival road. 

“The Glass Pyramid Congress and the Fair Center will turn into a festival center. The King Road between the pyramid and the Antalya Culture Center will become a Festival Road, and there will also be talks, signing days with actors, concerts, workshops, exhibition and social responsibility stands,” he added. 

Actor Sümer Tilmaç, an Antalya local who died last year, will also be honored at the festival, Türel stated, adding that they were waiting for a decision to be made about the issue next week.