Turkey’s premier film festival is canceled following a documentary dispute

Turkey’s oldest film festival has been canceled amid controversy surrounding a politically sensitive documentary about the aftermath of a 2016 coup attempt. The mayor of the city of Antalya announced the cancellation of the city’s Golden Orange Film Festival on Friday night after the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry withdrew its support for the event. The ministry objected to the film “Kanun Hükmü” or “Decree,” a documentary which focuses on the hardships of a teacher and doctor who were dismissed from their jobs following an attempted coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016. The mayor blamed the festival’s administrators and artistic team for mishandling the controversy and said they’d been fired.