New cinema law to support foreign films in Turkey

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Ertuğrul Günay says that they aim to finish the draft law on Turkish cinema and present it to the Council of Ministers before the closing of the legislative year.

Representatives from the Turkish cinema sector gathered June 13 at the Kadir Has University Cibali campus to discuss the new Turkish cinema draft law, the in eight years.

The last arrangement on the cinema sector was made and carried in 2004. A joint work with the relevant ministries and cinema sector officials for a new draft law had been needed for a long time, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay said at the meeting.

“Since the arrangement that we made in 2004, we have provided 10 times more support to the cinema sector than in the last 14 to 15 years. It couldn’t meet all the needs of the sector, but it seriously accelerated the sector’s [growth] in the last seven years. Now it should be disciplined more and made more regular with some rules,” Günay said.

He said that they aimed to finish the draft law and present it to the Council of Ministers before the closing of the legislative year. “As you know, the number of Turkish cinema films fell to six and seven and the number of cinema goers decreased to 2 million in the beginning of 2000. In recent years the number of Turkish films reached to 60 to 70. And the number of Turkish film viewers exceeded those of foreign films. This is the goal of many countries that give importance to cinema and Turkey succeeded in [accomplishing it]. Actually, some popular films also contributed to this success, but films with artistic values have also been made in this process and they gained a big success in international festivals,” Günay said.

The new Turkish cinema draft law will change the types of films they supported, Günay said. “According to the current law, we do not give support to films including pornography and violence. Now we include films with ‘hate speech’. We are making new arrangements to not support films including hate speech.”

Strategy Committee

He said they would also form a Strategy Committee instead of the current Advisory Committee to determine the basic needs of the cinema sector and create a road map for the future.

With the new law they would also provide support to foreign films for the first time, Günay said. “It is evident that cinema makes a big contribution to tourism. For example, I still watch the famous film ‘Roman Holiday,’ ‘Casablanca’ and ‘Barcelona.’ We already do our best for such productions but we think that it would be easier to appear in the world market if we collaborate with a foreign film company.”

He also said they wanted to make a joint production with Japan for a film about the Ertuğrul Frigate and are hopeful to make a similar project with Azerbaijan.