Coppola arrived at the Mediterranean coastal town Antalya with his family (wife Eleanor and son Roman) and executive producer Anahid Nazarian. He was presented with an honour award at Wednesday night's gala which played to a full house at the Ataturk Cultural Centre (AKM). It was the first screening of his latest film after the world premiere at Rome Film Festival last Saturday.
Coppola's first film festival in Turkey has not only generated huge media interest with over 100 international and local media attended his press conference but more importantly, killed the rumour that the festival would be cut short after The Edge Of Heaven party was cancelled Tuesday night.
Turkey lost about a dozen Turkish soldiers close to its border with Iraq over the weekend in one of the heaviest losses in its clashes with the Kurdist separatist group, PKK. A spokesperson for The Edge Of Heaven said that the party has been postponed to this weekend as a respect to those killed (one of them was from Antalya).
The festival organisers said that all the other events are being held as scheduled. Indian director Shekhar Kapur is due to attend the closing gala of his Elizabeth: The Golden Age on Saturday which will be followed by the award ceremony on the next day.
Meanwhile, Fatih Akin's The Edge Of Heaven, which is in competition at the concurrent Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, won the first European Parliament's LUX cinema prize. Actress Hanna Schygulla and producer Klaus Maeck were on hand to receive the award on Wednesday in Strasbourg. The prize will cover the cost for subtitling the film in 23 languages of the European Union.
The Germany-Turkey co-production is Germany's entry for 2008 foreign-language Oscar.
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