Culture Ministry seeks return of film funding over ‘political’ Cappadocia documentary

The Culture and Tourism Ministry has asked director Bingöl Elmas to repay funds granted for a documentary on ecological destruction in Cappadocia, after labeling the film "political."

The ministry's General Directorate of Cinema is demanding 175,000 liras (~3,670 US dollars) provided for the production of the Şiirli Odanın İzinde (In Pursuit of the Poetic Room), plus interest.

Changing criteria

Elmas claimed that the directorate increasingly evaluates funding applications based on film content rather than technical quality.

“In documentary filmmaking, as far as I have witnessed, films used to be assessed technically,” she said. “They would look for problems such as a black screen left in the film or unreadable subtitles. In recent years, however, the film’s content has also become part of the assessment.”

However, after completing her documentary on Cappadocia—a region in Central Anatolian famous for its fairy chimneys and tourist attractions—and submitting it to the directorate, Elmas did not receive a response for a long time. She was eventually informed by phone that the decision to support the movie was reversed.

“When they called, I thought they were going to mention a technical problem,” said Elmas. “I expected them to say the CD would not open or that there was some technical fault. Instead, they told me, ‘Your film was found to be political'.”

After the phone call, Elmas repeatedly tried to contact officials at the General Directorate of Cinema and eventually spoke with a deputy director general. 

“They told me, ‘In your film, you hold our ministry responsible for what is happening in Cappadocia. You present our Area Directorate as the responsible authority. This is not something we can accept,’” Elmas said. “I told them that, as a citizen, I had documented the reality of what was happening.”

The official denied Elmas's request for a reassessment by a relevant board, she said.

The documentary follows a resident campaigning against road construction in Cappadocia. Elmas asserted that the film aimed to present the events as they unfolded.

Elmas said the official notice canceling the support reached her months late, while interest was calculated from the date the funding was originally paid. 

“When the payment is made, its value is eroded by inflation. But when they demand it back, they calculate interest on a daily basis," she added. 

Increasing pressure on independent filmmakers

Elmas said she later learned that other directors had faced similar practices with some films accepted only after certain scenes were removed.

Some filmmakers choose not to speak publicly about their experiences Elmas said, arguing that is important to share what they went through. “We are being asked to retreat further. The more we retreat, the less space remains for us," she said.

“Filmmakers in Turkey are not financially strong,” she added. “The slightest intervention can turn everything upside down. You are disrupting not only production but also people’s lives. This amounts to intimidating many others.”

İsmail Doğan, a member of the Cinema Workers’ Union (Sine-Sen) told bianet that Elmas’s case was one of several practices independent filmmakers had recently faced.

“Demanding the return of support because of a film’s content, or requesting changes to films, pushes directors toward self-censorship. This directly affects independent film production," he said.

Doğan warned that public funding mechanisms are becoming tools of censorship.

bianet contacted the General Directorate of Cinema but was unable to reach an authorized official before publication. (SGE/EMK/VK)