The Other Side Of Istanbul

While the deliberations over Turkey’s ambivalent relationship with human rights seem to go on for ever, its capital’s best-kept secret is no longer content to stay in the shadows. Istanbul is presently home to a growing, vocal gay community actively demanding its rights. Döndü Kilic turns her camera on the lives, small tragedies and personal triumphs of everyday people, including a man jailed for his sexuality, an aspiring belly dancer currently working as a streetwalker and a 40-year-old man dreaming of escaping to the West, in an attempt to unravel what it means to be gay in contemporary Turkey. The Other Side of Istanbul was screened at the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival.

Director: Döndü Kilic

Screenwriters: Döndü Kilic, Andreas Hug

Cinematography: Vojtech Pokorny

Editing: Döndü Kilic

Featuring: Mehmet Tarhan, Mustafa Cagrici