ISTANBUL HOSTS HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE
By Ali Jaafar

Variety Magazine
April 11 2007

Council of Europe backs award

LONDON – The Council of Europe is launching FACE, its inaugural human
rights film award, at the 26th Istanbul Film Festival, which runs
until Sunday.

The council’s human rights commish Thomas Hammarberg will be on hand
Saturday to award the prize to one of the 10 pix shortlisted for
the competish.

The films selected for the prize all deal with themes of political
liberty and individual freedoms.

Among the shortlist are African helmer Abderrahmane Sissako’s "Bamako,"
which puts the World Bank and IMF on trial for their role in Africa’s
economic woes, and Rachid Bouchareb’s "Days of Glory," which tells
the story of soldiers from France’s North African colonies who helped
liberate Gaul from Nazis during WWII.

Also up for the award are two features supported by Eurimages, the
council’s fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of
European films.

"The Border Post," the first co-production between all the members
of the former Yugoslavia, and Turkish pic "Home Coming" were both
funded with Eurimages coin.

Omer Ugur’s "Home Coming" is proving particularly contentious for
fest officials, given that pic deals scathingly with 1980 Turkish
military coup.

Fest officials were unclear if FACE would become a recurring part of
the annual Istanbul fest. Fest had previously included a human right
section for its past five editions.

"We hope that we can create a platform where human rights are being
discussed and hope this award can create a better understanding of
human rights in the country," said Ustumgel Inanc, head of foreign
press at the Istanbul fest.

Turkey has had a series of run-ins with the European Union over
accusations that its human rights record needs to be improved before
it can be granted European Union membership.

Political tensions have also heightened in the wake of the
assassination in January of outspoken newspaper editor Hrant Dink,
a Turk of Armenian descent, by a Turkish nationalist.

An international outcry also followed attempts last year to imprison
Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most celebrated writer, on charges of "insulting
Turkishness" after he referred to the genocide of Armenians in Turkey
between 1915-1917 in an interview with a Swiss newspaper. The charges
were eventually dropped.

"Human rights are a sensitive issue in Turkey and have been the subject
of many court cases but we’re hoping to encourage the utilization
of human rights themes and films with a certain cultural value,"
said a source at the Council of Europe, who insisted on anonymity.

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