Boy’s story wins big at Golden Orange festival

ANTALYA - Anatolia News Agency

DHA Photo

Hüseyin Tabak’s “Güzelliğin On Par’Etmez” (Your is Beauty Worth Nothing) took home the award for best film at Antalya’s Golden Orange Film Festival, beating out a number of strong contenders.

The grand prize was not the film’s sole success, as the movie’s protagonist, 9-year-old Abdülkadir Tuncer, was also given the festival’s best actor award, while Lale Yavaş was also named best supporting actress. In all, the film, which depicts the difficulties a young boy experiences when he has to acclimatize to life in Austria after leaving Turkey with his family, picked up nine awards at the festival.
Anna Andrusenko, meanwhile, was chosen as best actress by the festival’s jury.

Hungarian director Krisztina Deak’s “Aglaya-Aglaja,” won the best international movie award, while a documentary by Soner Yalçın, “Before Violet,” was awarded the “conscience of the society” award even though the director was unable to complete the film.

The festival’s closing ceremony, which was hosted by actor Ali Sunal, took place at the Cam Pyramid Congress Center in Antalya on Oct. 12 with the participation of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu; his wife, Selvi Kılıçdaroğlu; actor İlyas Salman; Antalya Metropolitan Mayor Mustafa Akaydın and others. Kılıçdaroğlu, together with Akaydın, jury head Hülya Avşar and Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Abdurrahman Arıcı, announced “Güzelliğin On Par’Etmez” as the grand prize winner.

Akaydın said during the ceremony that they had attempted to do their best for the festival.
The best soundtrack award went to “Farewell Katya,” while the best screenplay award also went to “Güzelliğin On Par’Etmez.”

“I cannot thank everyone in terms of the screenplay because I did it all by myself,” Tabak said.
Tabak, however, said he wanted to dedicate the award to a 12-year-old boy he met in Kaşanlı village in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş after the boy related his dream of living in Germany. The director also said he wanted to dedicate his award to his wife.

Best director

The best director award of the festival went to Erdem Tepegöz, the director of “Zerre” (The Particle). “We are only small particles in the universe and we are still thirsty for each other’s blood. Someone has to do something about it,” he said.

“Zerre” also received the best first movie award at the festival and ultimately picked up the second highest number of awards after “Güzelliğin On Par’Etmez.”

The jury special award, meanwhile, went to “The Children of the Land.”

Touching on Yalçın’s “Before Violet,” which examines the massacre of 35 mostly Alevi intellectuals in Sivas in 1993, movie producer Halide Didem Kurt said: “Finishing the movie is our responsibility. We hope we can reflect the real Soner Yalçın in the movie.”

Yalçın has been in jail since Feb. 14 as part of the OdaTV investigation in the wider Ergenekon trial, which is prosecuting an alleged ultranationalist gang accused of plotting to overthrow the government by sewing discord in society.

After her speech, Kurt also read out a letter that was sent by Yalçin from Silivri Prison.
The movie “Silent scream” received the people’s award at this year’s festival, while the best short movie award went to Rezan Yeşilbaş’ movie “Silent.”