h. nazan ışık—
25 August 2015—
What happened, why it happened, why Director of the Istanbul Film Festival for the past 9 years Azize Tan is stepping down?
Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), Istanbul Film Festival has announced that as of October, Azize Tan, Director of the Istanbul Film Festival for the past 9 years, is handing the post over to the Istanbul Film Festival’s Assistant Director Kerem Ayan. And Bulgu Öztürk, the Istanbul Film Festival team as Coordinator since 2005, was appointed as Assistant Director of the festival.
Istanbul Film Festival doesn’t explain the reason for going through this restructuring after 9 years.
Let’s try to remember what happened since the 34th Istanbul film Festival kicked off with an opening ceremony on Friday night, 3 April 2015.
The festival started, shows began, everything went as programmed until an announcement from the festival on 12 April.
Cancellation of Bakur / North directed by Çayan Demirel and Ertuğrul Mavioğlu.
It said “The Cinema General Directorate of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has sent an official letter to the IKSV on 11 April, reminding that films produced in Turkey need to have obtained a formal registration certificate in order to be screened at festivals.”
And continued: “Screening of films produced in Turkey without this certificate results in legal sanctions, therefore Istanbul Film Festival will not be able to screen films that don’t have the aforementioned certificate.
As such, the screening of Bakur / North directed by Çayan Demirel and Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, announced to be realised on Sunday, 12 April, will not be made. A future screening date of the film will be announced on the condition that it acquires this registration certificate.”
And added: “Films produced outside Turkey are exempt from the this regulation. Istanbul Film Festival believes that this exemption should apply for films made in Turkey as well. Istanbul Film Festival has been holding talks regarding the extension of this exemption to locally produced films as well and will continue these talks. However the statute that requires the registration certificate is still in effect. Therefore other films produced in Turkey that are in the festival programme also need to obtain this certificate.”
The National and International Golden Tulip Competitions, National Documentary Competition and the Closing Ceremony? Not this year!
An important programme change was announced: “Following the cancellation of the screening on 12 April, 20 + film directors pulled their films from the festival. Instead, at the scheduled screening date and time, the film crew would be present at the movie theatre to discuss the current situation with their audience.
On 13 April, The 34th Istanbul Film Festival organised a press conference, attended by Azize Tan, the director of the festival, as well as the jury members of the festival competitions, and filmmakers whose films are included in the festival programme.
In the press conference, the festival announced that the film screenings would continue, but the National and International Golden Tulip Competitions, National Documentary Competition and the Closing Ceremony were cancelled.
“….an opportunity that brings film industry together” said Azize Tan.
Azize Tan, director of Istanbul Film Festival, stated that this regulation, even if it was not implemented in practice, created a massive problem for festivals and filmmakers for a long time, and the festival has previously conducted negotiations to change it. Tan continued: “I hope that this situation converts into an opportunity that brings film industry together to change this regulation. In order to overcome the problems in the industry, I think that a new film regulation should be enacted and it should secure the freedom to screen films at the festival without any problems.”
On 19 April, 34th Istanbul Film Festival came to the end. The festival announced that the 171 short and feature length films in the festival reached to 130 thousand cinephiles in two weeks in a total of 455 screenings, across 8 movie halls. Out of the 455 screenings in the festival, 115 were held with the participation of the film’s director, actors, screenwriter and/or producers, who presented their film before the screening and answered the questions from the audience afterwards.
Maybe it was not as planned, but the festival caught a lot of attention, went well.
What happened? Why Azize Tan is stepping down? Did she quit?
Istanbul Film Festival has announced that Azize Tan will continue her support to the Istanbul Film Festival as Advisor.
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