Rome Turkish Film Festival opens

ROME - Anadolu Agency

The third “Film Festival Turco di Roma” (Rome Turkish Film Festival) opened in the Italian capital yesterday. 

The honorary president of the event, Ferzan Özpetek, spoke about the festival and his new film. Noting that the reviews for his 10th film “Allacciate Le Cinture (Fasten your seatbelts) were satisfactory, Özpetek also said the opera he made in Rome would continue on to China. 

“La Traviata” will be staged in Hong Kong, while “Aida” will be on stage in Brazil’s Sao Paulo. “La Traviata” was performed for the first time in Napoli and will be in Hong Kong until March 22. Özpetek, better known for his films, has been directing operas for a few years. 

After “Aida” tours Sao Paulo, it will go before Chinese audiences next year.

On the other hand, Özpetek’s “Magnificent Presence” will be shown in Japan. The “Loose Cannons,” another feature of Özpetek, will also be adapted to the Japanese theater, having previously been staged in France. 

The Rome Turkish Film Festival will continue until Sept. 29.

A total of 15 Turkish films will be screened over the three days of the festival, which aims to focus on promoting contemporary Turkish cinema in Italy. 

Yılmaz Güney is the honorary award winner at this year’s festival. His wife, Fatoş Güney, will be there to pick up the award.