Love will Change the Earth

Protests against Antalya Altın Portakal (Golden Orange) International Film Festival’s exclusion of a documentary about the Gezi Park protests from its national documentary competition were growing stronger as a new group of 12 festival jury members had issued a statement urging the festival management to retract their decision.

Filmmakers Belmin Söylemez, Can Candan, Zeynep Dadak and Belma Baş and six members of the Turkish Film Critics Association (SİYAD) were among the 12 competition judges from the festival’s different sections who said in their statement that removing Reyan Tuvi’s documentary “Yeryüzü Aşkın Yüzü Oluncaya Dek” (Love Will Change the Earth) from the competition on the grounds that “it features expressions and content against Articles 125 and 299 of the Turkish Penal Code [TCK],” was not acceptable under any circumstances.

Organizers of the Antalya Altın Portakal (Golden Orange) International Film Festival have now decided to include the documentary on last summer’s anti-government Gezi Park protests in the festival’s documentary competition.

A statement made on behalf of the Altın Portakal management said the documentary, “Yeryüzü Aşkın Yüzü Oluncaya Dek” (Love Will Change the Earth), has been invited to the festival after a newer version of the document submitted recently has been reviewed.

The festival authorities have earlier removed Reyan Tuvi’s documentary from the competition on the grounds that “it features expressions and content against Articles 125 and 299 of the Turkish Penal Code [TCK].”

In a statement on Sunday, Tuvi said the Altın Festival management retracted its earlier decision after he removed the English subtitle of a Turkish swear word. “Our documentary will meet the Antalya audience in the same version it was presented to the audience in İstanbul and other festivals,” he said.