Portrayal of transgenders in Turkish films, or lack thereof

This week marked Pride Week for LGBT communities. Turkey might be more accepting and tolerant of the first three letters of the LGBT communities, but when it comes to transgender people, not so much

Thousands marched yesterday in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, proudly waving the rainbow flag as they brought an end to a month of pride. June is the month when we see pictures adorned with the colors of the rainbow and even more colorful LGBT communities walking together across the world to celebrate pride.

The idea behind the celebration of pride is to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots that kick-started the gay rights movement in the United States, and more so, remind the status quo that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities demand an end to ostracization and equal rights.

While we’re used to seeing pictures from Western countries of over-the-top celebrations of pride, carefully picked by the media to marginalize the events, Turkey itself is not new to Pride Week, which concludes with the Pride Parade.

The very first Pride Week was organized in 1993 when various panels and events took place behind close doors because the Istanbul Governor’s Office had denied permission for more high-profile activities. It wasn’t until a decade later that Pride Week would close with a parade that was attended by a mere 30 people. The number increased exponentially each year, with around 10,000 people gathering and marching against homophobia and transphobia last year. But to the mainstream media, it’s still a marginal event that does not have much news value.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)

Turkish transgender film gets marks for bravery

Director, writer, producer Emre Yalgın’s debut feature, ‘Teslimiyet’ (Other Angels), is a brave attempt to shed light on the lives of the transgender community in Istanbul – since such women are usually subjected to one-dimensional stereotypes. While the transgender characters and actors impress, the film fails when the straight characters walk in

Followers of Turkish movie blogs and movie pages on Facebook might have noticed last week that there was a lot of chatter urging people to go see the feature Teslimiyet (Other Angels). Although you could read about its groundbreaking subject matter, and why we had a social duty to watch it in theaters, we had yet to see a film review among the dozens of blog entries.

Other Angels is the first feature movie to take a candid look at the lives of the transgender community in Istanbul since 1993’s Dönersen Islık Çal (Whistle If You Come Back). The heavy virtual traffic was thanks to those sensitive about the tragic lives of transgender people in Turkey. Here was a chance to make transgender people more visible, a chance to watch them as multidimensional characters as opposed to the simplified and unfair stereotypes they were accustomed to being depicted with. The movie follows the lives of four transgender women living together in the underbelly of Istanbul. They are all sex workers, as is the case unfortunately for most transgender women in Turkey. Save for the novice Sanem (Didem Soylu), the other three are street-smart, true warriors in a world where they are constantly on the lookout.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)