Thank You, San Sebastian

The journey of my second feature film, Marriage A-la-Mode, continues. Its second rejection came from the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. I had previously attended a festival with my first feature film, A Hero of Our Time (2023), which was part of the Work in Progress section. Because of this, I already knew one of the programmers. Since I didn’t have the media connections to announce the completion of the film, I sent a personal press release email to everyone I knew in the industry. My core message was simple: The film is completed. This way, I documented the completion date and kept key industry figures informed.

My message didn’t contain any demands or requests, just information. However, the programmer kindly said he would like to see the film and offered me a fee waiver for an official submission. I accepted his offer and submitted the film. And the expected happened: it was rejected.

The rejection message was as follows:

Dear Mirac,

I would like to thank you for letting us watch your film MODA EVLILIK.

The selection committee has watched it with great interest but, unfortunately, I am sorry to tell you that, we have not found the accurate place to include it within the program of our forthcoming edition.

Thanking you for your confidence and your interest in our Festival and, hoping that we will cooperate in future occasions.

Best regards,

Fair Enough

Although this message, like those from other festivals, was a standard rejection, and I still don’t know if they watched the film (with great interest or not), at least they didn’t charge me a submission fee that equals a month’s rent where I live in Turkey. I also found it positive that the programmer’s personal email was included in the message. It shows they don’t hide behind an institutional identity and stand by their decision.

I know my film doesn’t meet the current expectations of these festivals, but I believe that if they had accepted it, no one could object to it either technically or artistically. And saying I wasn’t included in the selection because they did not find an accurate place for the film is a polite excuse, but actually, it’s literally true. Directors like myself, who value technique, theory, style, film history, and artistic evolution, don’t have much of a place at festivals anymore; they want directors with socio-political agendas and specific identities backed by European funds. I don’t know what they will make of it, but I sent my reply and closed this page to move on.

My response was as follows:

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t have been able to find that accurate place either.

Thank you, and I wish you a successful festival.

Best,

Mirac Atabey