MOVIES - April 17, 1989

Months after world-wide protests were held against Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ,” reverberations were felt in Turkey last week. Three screenings of the film were held at the two-week-long Istanbul film festival, which ended Saturday. More than 200 Turkish Muslims demonstrated against the first screening of the film, four U.S. Christians were arrested for protesting at the second, and an arson attempt was made on the cinema the night before the third, destroying a ticket office. An estimated 140,000 attended the festival--which featured 160 films--and for the first time in its six-year history Turkish authorities did not censor any of the films shown, a spokeswoman said.