Streaming platform Mubi has cancelled its long planned Mubi Fest Istanbul at the eleventh hour after the city governor banned a screening of Luca Guadagnino’s LGBTI+ themed movie Queer, which was to have been the opening film.
The film festival, which ran in Istanbul for the first time in 2023 after editions in São Paulo, Santiago, Bogota, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City, was to due to unfold for a second time in the city from November 7 to 10.
In a statement issued on its dedicated Turkish-language Instagram page for Mubi Turkey, the streaming platform said it was pulling the entire event in response to the ban.
“Hours before the start of Mubi Fest Istanbul 2024, which took months to prepare and was sold out days ago, we regretted to learn that the screening of Queer, which was part of the festival program and which was also the opening film, has been banned,” wrote Mubi Turkey.
“The decision states that the movie is banned because it contains provocative content that would endanger the peace of the society and that the ban would be implemented for security reasons,” it continued.
“We believe this ban is an intervention that restricts art and freedom of expression… This ban takes not just one movie away but also the meaning and purpose of the entire festival. Mubi wants to take the stance that our audience expects from us and we regret to inform you that we have taken the decision to cancel the entire Mubi Fest Istanbul.”
The platform thanked the artists, audience and supporters who had planned to participate in the festival and promised refunds in the coming days.
Set in 1950, Queer stars Daniel Craig as an American expat in Mexico City, who spends his days almost entirely alone, except for a few contacts with other members of the small American community. An encounter with Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), an expat former soldier new to the city, shows him, for the first time, that it might be finally possible to establish an intimate connection with somebody
Mubi acquired multiple territory rights for the film earlier this month including for Turkey as well as the UK, Ireland, Canada, Latin America, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain and India and all rights excluding theatrical in Italy.