International Antalya Film Festival

Antalya Film Festival

50th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival logo, October 2013.
Location	Antalya, Turkey
Founded	1963
Awards	Golden Orange
Language	Turkish
Website	altinportakal.org.tr

The Antalya Film Festival previously known as Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (Turkish: Antalya Altın Portakal Film Festivali) is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, is the most important film festival in Turkey. Since 2009, the event, which takes place in the autumn months at the Antalya Cultural Center (Antalya Kültür Merkezi, AKM), has been organised solely by the Antalya Foundation for Culture and Arts (Antalya Kültür Sanat Vakfı, AKSAV) and has included an international section within the main body of the festival. The most recent edition of the festival was the 52nd International Antalya Film Festival (November 29–December 6, 2015).

The cultural activities like concerts and theater plays, which started to take place in the 1950s at the historical Aspendos Amphitheatre, formed headstone of the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival today. These events held in the summer months under the honorary patronage of Dr. Avni Tolunay, found ever increasing interest of people and became traditional until the beginning of the 1960s. In 1963, the festivities turned into a film festival with the initiation Dr. Avni Tolunay, who became the mayor of Antalya that year. As the logo of the film festival was chosen orange, the most important symbol of the region, along with sea, historical elements and the Venus statute. The orange becomes not only a figure within the logo but gives also the festival its name.

The 1st Golden Orange Film Festival was held in 1964. Its mission was formulated by Avni Tolunay as to promote the Turkish cinema, to motivate Turkish film producers for high quality works and to help Turkish cinema penetrate the international film platform. The Golden Orange Feature Film Award was called soon the Turkish Oscar following the enthusiasm created in the cinema world with its high performance within a short time. In 1978, the festival went international by incorporating plastic arts for the first time.

Until 1985, the Golden Orange Festival was organized by the patronage of the Municipality of Antalya. That year, the organization was taken over by the newly established Foundation for Culture, Arts and Tourism in Antalya (Antalya Kültür Sanat Turizm Vakfı, AKSAV). From 1985 until 1988, the incorporation of an international music festival called "Akdeniz Akdeniz" ("Mediterranean Mediterranean") added another dimension to the festival. In the years 1989 to 1994, the municipality, tourism companies and the chamber of commerce in Antalya performed the organization of the Golden Orange Film Festival jointly. Finally, the festival became institutional with the establishment of the Foundation of Golden Orange Culture and Arts Foundation. The institution serves under the name Antalya Culture and Arts Foundation (Antalya Kültür Sanat Vakfı) since September 2002.