The Turkish movie "Butterflies" has won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival. For 36-year-old director, screenwriter and co-producer Tolga Karacelik and his team, the win was a pleasant surprise.

While accepting the award, Karacelik said the movie had been shot in just 18 days. He had applied for financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism but was denied. Though his previous movie, "Ivy" (2015), had received funding from the ministry and went on to win multiple awards at domestic and international film festivals, Karacelik and his friends relied on crowdfunding to finish this one.

After the festival, when asked why the ministry denied him funding, Karacelik said that was not a question he could answer. Al-Monitor spoke with a former employee of the Culture and Tourism Ministry who said on condition of anonymity, “All public statements of those seeking funds are monitored. If it is seen as critical to the moral values of the society or the principles of the state, then your application is disqualified.”

Karacelik’s "Ivy" had strong yet subtle political messages, and movie critics were surprised the ministry had granted it funding. During the Antalya Film Festival's award ceremony, Karacelik announced he was dedicating the award to jailed journalists Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, and the speech by the award-winning star of the movie, Nadir Saribacak, was censored by pro-AKP media outlets.