Luca Guadagnino thinks Turkey’s ‘Queer’ ban helps the movie “become more cult”

Luca Guadagnino, the director known for films like Call Me by Your Name and this year's Challengers, addresses the situation with his latest movie at a film festival in Turkey earlier this month.

Queer, an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ unfinished novel, features Daniel Craig as William Lee, an American expat in Mexico City, a character reflecting Burroughs himself. Drew Starkey from Outer Banks plays Eugene Allerton, a former soldier and attractive young man with whom Lee becomes romantically involved.

The film was scheduled to open Mubi Fest Istanbul earlier this month. However, just hours before it was set to begin, Mubi, the international streaming service and festival organiser, canceled the entire event after the Turkish government prohibited the screening of 'Queer'.

In a conversation with ‘Entertainment Weekly’, Guadagnino raises questions about whether “the government of Turkey or whoever on the board decided this had actually seen the movie or [if] they're only making that decision based on what they've read about the movie.”

“Either way,” the Italian filmmaker adds over Zoom, “they're helping the movie to become more cult than less. They’re shooting on their feet, these people.”

On November 7, Mubi announced that the District Governorship of Istanbul's Kadıköy municipality notified them of the ban on Queer's screening. The government cited that the movie "contained provocative content that would endanger public peace and that the ban decision would be implemented for security reasons.”

'Queer' includes several sequences of explicit sexual encounters between Craig and Starkey's characters. While homosexuality is legal in Turkey, EqualDex notes that the government does not recognise gay marriage, and gay men are barred from military service and blood donation.

In response to canceling the festival, Mubi described the move as “an intervention that restricts art and freedom of expression.” A statement from the platform emphasises, “Festivals are breathing spaces that celebrate art and cultural diversity and bring people together. This ban distances not only a film but the entire festival from its meaning and purpose.”

Speaking more generally about the sex scenes in Queer and not specifically about Turkey’s ban, Craig states to EW, “I feel like the physical act is the least interesting thing. We're all grownups. This is what people do. But the only thing that's interesting, and what I think hopefully works about the scenes is the emotional journey of each character. That's what we wanted to get across. I think that's why they work.”