Streaming platform Mubi has canceled a four-day film festival in Istanbul to protest the Turkish city’s banning of the new Luca Guadagnino-directed film Queer.

Queer, based on William S. Burroughs novel and starring Daniel Craig as a gay expat living in Mexico, was supposed to be opening film of the festival.

Mubi, the global streaming platform, production company and film distributor, has cancelled its Turkey film festival over local censorship of the film ‘Queer’. The company said it is taking a stand for “protecting freedom of expression.

"This ban distances not only a film but the entire festival from its meaning and purpose," Mubi Fest Istanbul organizers wrote on social media.

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The streamer MUBI says it has scrapped a film festival due to take place in Turkey this weekend. The decision was made after authorities said the streamer could not screen the new movie, Queer. The acclaimed film comes from Italian director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name,

Luca Guadagnino's highly-anticipated new romantic drama Queer has been banned in Turkey, and an entire film festival has been canceled because of it. Queer, which stars Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey as two American expatriates living in Mexico in the 1950s who have a profound connection and spark a steamy love affair,