Festival honors famed US actress

ANTALYA - Anadolu Agency

Actress Ellen Burstyn was presented with the lifetime achievement award at the opening ceremony of the 51st Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. AA Photo

The 51st Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival opened this weekend in the southern province with a presentation of a lifetime achievement award to Oscar-winning U.S. actress Ellen Burstyn.

Burstyn, who won the best actress Oscar in 1974 for her role in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” received her award at the opening gala of the festival at the EXPO Center. 

The actress stars in Rachid Bouchareb’s film “Two Men in Town,” which was screened in the festival’s world cinema section. She also attended the screening of the film on Oct. 11. She answered questions from participants after the screening.

Festival awards on display

An exhibition featuring awards given to various artists over the previous 51 years was also a part of the festival. The awards were brought from the houses of these artists for display.

At the opening of the exhibition, festival director Elif Dağdeviren said they had brought together the most important symbols of the festival. “This festival has a symbol as significant as its name and logo. It is the Venus statuette,” she said.

In a documentary on the life of late Turkish filmmaker Halit Refiğ, who won the best director award at the festival in 1964, Dağdeviren said they had seen a photo of the 51-year-old statuette from the festival and asked his wife, Gülper Refiğ, to display the award in the exhibition. She said this year’s statuette was inspired by that award and that the exhibition has gained a new meaning, since this year was the fifth anniversary of the death of Refiğ.

The exhibition displays nearly 80 awards, including some from artists such as Hülya Koçyiğit, Yavuz Özkan, Meral Çetinkaya and Oktay Kaynarca, said Dağdevrien. She added that some were very similar to each other and some were very different. 

The posters of the award-winning films are also displayed in the exhibition.

The festival will continue until Oct. 18.