From Suat Köçer, Director of Malatya International Film Festival and Cinema Critic.

• Directors are responsible for their own movies and accountable to the audience. Producers, on the other hand, have to finance the film, even borrow money if necessary, but there are always worries about not getting their money’s worth. However, film critics have conscientious responsibilities. They can cruelly criticize, but they should do this within the limits of conscience and ethics.
• What will save our cinema is screening the truest and the most realistic stories.

Malatya International Film Festival

The 8^th Malatya International Film Festival, sponsored by the Malatya Metropolitan Municipality from 9^th to 15^th of November 2018, commemorated the world-famous Kyrgyz writer Cengiz Aytmatov (Chinghiz Aitmatov) on his 90^th birthday and the 10^th anniversary of his death, with a special program in which the films adapted from his works were screened.   

Chinghiz Aitmatov started his writing career in 1952 and became renowned, achieving a great reputation for his storybook Tales of the Mountains and Steppes, which won him the prestigious Lenin Prize in 1963. The works of the Kyrgyz writer, translator, journalist and statesman, which were adapted into films, were screened in the special program “Aitmatov is 90 years old” which was organized within the scope of the 8^th Malatya International Film Festival. 

“SELVİ BOYLUM AL YAZMALIM (THE GIRL WITH THE RED SCARF) HAS BEEN LISTED AMONG THE UNFORGETTABLE FILMS”

Aytmatov’s The Red Scarf was scripted by Ali Özgentürk and adapted to the screen with the name of Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım (The Girl with the Red Scarf) in 1977. The movie starring Türkan Şoray, Kadir İnanır and Ahmet Mekin drew great interest from audiences and has been among the unforgettable classics of Turkish Cinema ever since.