Mubi cancels Istanbul festival after Turkey bans Queer by Luca Guadagnino

Mubi has canceled its Mubi Fest Istanbul, scheduled for November 7-10, 2024, after Turkish authorities prohibited the screening of Luca Guadagnino's film Queer, which was to open the festival. The film, starring Daniel Craig as a gay, drug-addicted expat in Mexico, was deemed by officials to contain 'provocative content that would disturb public peace.' Mubi, the streaming platform founded by Turkish entrepreneur Efe Cakarel in 2007, announced the cancellation on its Turkish Instagram account, stating that the ban was a limitation of freedom of expression and that the festival's purpose was undermined. The festival was part of a global tour spanning Europe, North America, and Latin America from July to December 2024, with previous stops in Manchester, Mexico City, São Paulo, Chicago, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, and Santiago. The Istanbul edition was sold out. The tour will now skip directly to its final stop in Milan on December 13-15. Queer, based on William S. Burroughs' semi-autobiographical novel, premiered at the Venice Film Festival nearly two months earlier and includes explicit sex scenes. Homosexuality was decriminalized in Turkey in 1858, but the country has not held a Pride parade in ten years, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has referred to queer people as 'perverts.' In 2020, Netflix canceled a local production featuring a gay character after failing to secure government filming permits.