Turkish writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan has responded to criticism over his participation in the Iranian government-sponsored Fajr Film Festival, saying it should not be seen as an expression of support for the Iranian regime.
Award-winning director Bilge Ceylan, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2014 for Winter Sleep, came under fire earlier this week from the Iranian Independent Film Producers Association (IIFMA), which wrote an open letter asking the renowned director to reconsider his participation in the film festival in the southwestern Iranian city of Shiraz. Mr. Selyan will serve as the festival’s head of the jury.
IIFMA, which is chaired by Dubai-based dissident Iranian producer Kaveh Farnam, claimed that Bilge Seylan’s participation “effectively reinforces the image that the government is trying to present about the country’s cultural situation, one that is inconsistent with the real experiences of people facing censorship, repression and bondage.”
IIFMA’s open letter notes that Iranian security forces have recently killed hundreds of anti-regime protesters in various crackdowns, particularly during the 2022-2023 nationwide “Women, Life, Freedom” movement.
“Following the widespread repression of mass protests during the Women, Life and Freedom movement, the Islamic Republic is trying to normalize everything by holding state-sponsored events and ceremonies,” IIFMA continued. “Among them, the Fajr Film Festival is one of the most important showcases for this effort, a showcase that today has little meaning to much of the Iranian art world.”
In addition to Winter Kills, Bilge Ceylan has also starred in Three Monkeys (2008), Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011), The Wild Pear Tree (2018), and most recently, About Dry. “Boycotting a film festival can, of course, be understood as a form of resistance, but it deprives the people who live there of the films that will be screened,” he said in a statement. When I see this kind of footage and encounters, it feels like I’m punishing them for some reason, and that doesn’t seem right to me. ”
Below is Bilge Ceylan’s full statement to Variety regarding the controversy.
“The Fajr Film Festival has been around for at least 40 years. Like many filmmakers, I have been here many times. I met (Theo) Angelopoulos here, I received an award from the Bela Tar jury here, and just a few months ago I gave a master class in Tehran, where I I realized how valuable such encounters are for young filmmakers and film students living in Iran.I witnessed an extraordinary brilliance of youth that I have rarely seen anywhere else.”Iran is a dynamic society with great films from which I learned a lot. Filmmakers living in Iran need hope and gatherings like this more than others, as they continue to make films and find a way forward, no matter how difficult and complicated the situation. Of course, boycotting a festival can be understood as a form of resistance, but depriving people who live there for whatever reason from screening films and encounters of this kind feels like you’re punishing them. It seems to me that all festivals are shaped by complex political dynamics, and refusing to participate for political reasons is akin to sacrificing art to politics, but if our participation in festivals should not be construed as government support, we would continue to be exempt from participation in most festivals in the world. The boundaries that political systems create between people, and the boundaries of affirming culture and art as something that transcends politics. ”
all the best,
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
