Chinese film wins best film at Antalya International Film Festival

ANTALYA

Vivian Qu, director of 'Angels Wear White'

The 54th Antalya International Film Festival closed with a ceremony on Oct. 27. The Chinese film “Angels Wear White” won the award for best film.

The closing ceremony was held at the EXPO 2016 Antalya Congress Center with the participation of the Culture and Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmuş.

The award for best actress was presented to the leading actress of the same film, Wen Qi and the best actor award was presented to Reza Akhlaghirad for his role in the Iranian film “A Man of Integrity.”

Speaking at the ceremony, Antalya Mayor Menderes Türel said the locals showed great interest in the festival, adding that more than 70,000 people had visited the festival valley for seven days.

“Forty-two films were screened during the festival and nearly 33,000 film lovers rushed to the open air cinema and other movie theaters,” he added.

He said masters, directors, producers, actors, youth filmmakers and many others from Turkish and world cinemas came together at the festival and 1,600 filmmakers were guests at the event.

Türel said the mobile cinema truck reached 6,000 people in 19 districts and nearly 6,000 children had a chance to see films in the children’s section of the festival.

“Our most important brand in the international field, the Antalya Film Forum, which aims to make Antalya one of the centers of the world cinema industry and the festival one of the most important ones in the world, has proven its success once again. Nearly 500 filmmakers came together in the Film Forum. Many partnerships have been signed. Valuable films and projects have participated in the festival,” the mayor added.

Awards

The festival’s Young Jury Award went to Georgian director Ana Urushadze’s film “Mother” and the Dr. Avni Tolunay Viewer Award went to Turkish director Andaç Haznedaroğlu’s film “The Guest.

“I dedicate this award to all refugee children and mothers who have left their country because of war,” Haznedaroğlu said.

The Behlül Dal Young Talent Award was presented to Şükran Aktı and the Special Jury Award was presented to the U.S. film “The Florida Project.

Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof won the award for best director for his film “A Man of Integrity.”

U.S. actor Matt Dillon, who attended the festival’s award ceremony, was presented with the Honorary Award by Kurtulmuş and Antalya Governor Münir Karaloğlu. Dillon said it was an honor to be at the festival.

“It is not my first time in Turkey but it is my first time in Antalya. I am a member of the International Refugees Association and want to say something. I really appreciate Turkey for what it has done for the Syrian refugees. Turkey has welcomed more Syrians than anywhere else in the world,” Dillon said.

Also among this year’s festival guests were U.S. actor, director and musician Adrian Grenier and U.S. actress Lindsay Lohan.

Fadik Sevin Atasoy, a jury member at the festival, said they had a busy and exciting week.

“We have seen very good films and are happy with the results. Sometimes we had difficulty deciding and there were times we debated but we were able to reach a mutual decision,” she said.