Incest: The last taboo in Turkish cinema and TV

The recent controversy around a Turkish film dealing with incest reminded many of a similar brouhaha over another film on incest two years ago, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç’s warning to TV producers to keep incest away from screens

Red flags were raised amid media delirium last week when the head of the jury for a national film festival openly condemned a movie on moral grounds, allegedly threatening to ban the movie from entering the national competition.

The festival was the Golden Orange Film Festival, the biggest one in Turkey. The head of the jury was the ever-controversial Hülya Avşar, who had made headlines in the summer when a member of the jury resigned in protest over her selection, questioning her judgment and knowledge of film.

The film, which became the most talked-about film of the festival, was director Çağatay Tosun’s sophomore feature Derin Düşün-ce (a word play that could mean “Deep Thought” or “When Derin Falls,” referring to the little protagonist’s name). And the controversial subject matter was incest, a no-go area in Turkish cinema, television, literature and pop culture.

At the film’s center is the 8-year-old girl, Derin. Growing up in a broken, dysfunctional family, Derin knows nothing about being a child. After her mother’s death, she tries connecting with her father in every possible way, which includes encounters with sexual undertones. At the film’s premiere, some of the audience apparently went berserk, with some accusing Tosun’s film of “bordering on child porn.”

Click here for the article (Hürriyet Daily News)