La Turquie censure la 7e édition du Festival international du film de Malatya

Alexandre Schmid nous apprend sur le site Preview que la septième édition du festival turc Malatya International Film initialement organisée du 4 au 10 novembre 2016, a finalement été déprogrammée par les pouvoirs publics : « La Turquie exerce un contrôle sur son cinéma, ce n’est pas nouveau. Mais les choses ont empiré depuis la tentative de putsch » des 15 et 16 juillet 2016, explique le réalisateur Kivanç Sezer dont le film Les Ailes de mon Père faisait partie de la sélection officielle. Rappelons déjà qu'en 2015, la compétition de l’Istanbul Film Festival avait dû être annulée après la censure de Bakur, un documentaire de Çayan Demirel et Ertugrul Mavioglu qui aborde le sujet de la guérilla menée par le Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK). Pour protester, plusieurs réalisateurs de films sélectionnés avaient alors retiré leur œuvre de la compétition.

Indignés par l'annulation unilatérale décidée par le gouvernement, les organisateurs de l'édition 2016 ont lancé un appel à l'aide sous la forme d'une pétition :

Malatya Film Festival Should Not Be Cancelled!

We the undersigned filmmakers, artists, journalist, film critics, scholars and politicians feel sorry, confused and shocked due to the cancellation of Malatya International Film Festival in 2016 due to some unconvincing excuses. While all the events and organizations of Malatya Governorship and Malatya Municipality continue, cancelling the film festival, which has become one of the most important artistic and cultural events in Turkey just within 7 years and whose preperations were almost completed, is just indifference towards art. While cancelling the festival without consulting the advisory comittee, which consist of proffessionals from film industry, who designate the artistic context of the festival, is a great shame, it’s also a great insolence against seasoned actress Hulya Darcan and actor Halil Ergun, who were announced as Honorary Award recepients and against Belkis Ozener, who was announced as Veteran Award recepient. This decision will also besmirch the reputation of Malatya International Film Festival in the eyes of important international film organizations like NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), who sends jury members to the festival, and FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics), whose primary criteria in acknowledging film festivals is “continuity”. We the undersigned, who have given all the supports for the festivals continuance and devlopment for years, hope that this decision will be dropped immediately. We demand Malatya International Film Festival to be organized within this year, even if not within the announced dates. We also ask all the film lovers, film guilds, cinema professionals and scholars for their supports to our petition.

URL of the Petition: : www.malatyafilmfestivaliiptaledilmesin.com

E-Mail : imza@malatyafilmfestivaliiptaledilmesin.com