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Screening in commemoration of victims of the February 2023 earthquakes

Hatay 5-15 Şubat 2024, directing Imre Azem - VOST TR, ST ENG - 90'

Followed by a discussion with the director, and a speaker from Hatay Deprem Dayanışma association. The discussion will be in English/Turkish.

Organized in partnership with Hatay Deprem Dayanışma and presented by Francesco Pasta (Politecnico di Milano) & Verda Kimyonok (École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) , IFEA).

SYNOPSIS

Documentary filmmaker İmre Azem interviewed dozens of Hatay residents for the documentary “Hatay: 17-24 April 2023” in order to understand and tell the story Hatay after the devastating 6 February 2023 earthquakes. Then came the follow-up documentary “Hatay: 1-11 September 2023”. Now Azem continues this series, which acts as an archive as well, with “Hatay: 5-15 February2024” in which we visit Hatay for the third time on the anniversary of the February 6 earthquakes. We saw many things, we learned the answers to some of the questions we were curious about in the previous documentary, and some of our curiosities and question marks have grown even bigger now. All the sadness, fatigue, anger, anxiety hidden by the destruction and the foggy weather... Moreover, it is impossible for us to pretend we did not see what we saw. The daffodils we hold tightly in our hands is still at Köprübaşı bridge, impatient to reach the Asi River. “The daffodil symbolizes hope and new beginnings,” they say, “it represents the awakening of nature and points to a brand new beginning.”

#YouAreNotAloneYouWillHeal

Künye / Credits

Yönetmen / Director: İmre Azem

Kamera / Camera: İmre Azem

Kurgu / Editing: Mesut Ulutaş

In English

In Hybrid

Zoom Registration : https://zoom.us/meeting/register/JYNsInz_SyWsRd7H0j_QuA

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Organised in partnership with SHAKK/ ANR/ Ifpo/ Lesc/ Iremam.

Organisers: Anna Poujeau (IFPO), Thomas Pierret (Senior Researcher at National Center for Scientific Research, IREMAM)

Moderator: Pinto Paulo [Professor at Universidad Federal Fluminense (Brasil)], Vanessa Guéno (Archivist Research Engineer, Center for Scientific Research, Iremam)

Speakers: Faruqi Daanish (Visiting Researcher, Alwaleed Center for Muslim- Christian Understanding, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University), Muhammad Zeyn (Phd student In Migration Studies at the University of Oxford), Messager Armin (Independant Researcher), Ghanem Aghiad (Visiting Reseearcher and Program Manager, Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po), Ezzi Mazen (Phd Candidate, School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences), Khairy Lujain (Fellowship at the Arab Council of Social Sciences).

Much has already been written about the role of religion in the 2011 Arab uprising in general, and in the Syrian revolution in particular—religious slogans and the use of mosques in the early phases of the uprisings, or the subsequent rise of Islamist parties across the region have been extensively discussed (Boëx and Pinto, 2018; Aubin-Boltanski, 2022). Many authors have focused on the Syrian conflict’s sectarian dimension, that is, on politically relevant, mutually competitive religious identities. Theoretically sophisticated accounts have proposed useful correctives to the ethno-primordialist notion that the war was a mere resurgence of ‘ancient hatreds’. They rather emphasize the fact that the ‘sectarianization’ of the conflict resulted from complex interactions between existing social and political structures, on the one hand, and the warring parties’ strategies of mobilization, on the other hand (Satik, 2013; Phillips, 2015; Stolleis, 2015; Leenders, 2016; Pinto, 2017; Belhadj and Ruiz de Elvira, 2018; Hinnebusch, 2019; Mazur, 2021). Sectarianization is an important part of the context we aim to explore in this conference, but it does not constitute the focus of our reflection. Rather, we seek contributions that address the impact of the revolution, war, and mass displacement of the Syrian population, not on sectarian identities, but on religion per se, which is broadly understood here as a set of beliefs and practices within a given spiritual tradition. The latter’s transformations in post-2011 Syria shall be examined through three main perspectives, although we remain open to other relevant approaches.

1. Doctrines and practices

Sectarian polarization had a homogenizing effect on Syria’s religious communities, whose members were often forced to align with the dominant political stance among their coreligionists (besides the literature on sectarianization, see, for the Alawites, Ghanem, 2021). Failure to do so entailed swift punishment or marginalization, as was the case for the nuns of the convent of Saint Thecla in Maaloula (Poujeau, 2021). What is less well known, however, was the specifically religious impact of that process. Early in the war, analysts observed that the military dominance of Salafi and Salafi-Jihadi armed groups gave those brands of Islam a hegemonic status among Sunni communities living in rebel-held areas, a trend that culminated with the establishment of ISIS’ quasi-state in the eastern half of the country (International Crisis Group, 2012; Lund, 2013; Pierret, 2017). We know little, however, about the consequences of that hegemony on grassroots beliefs and practices, and about its legacy in regions where Jihadi governance was uprooted, like in formerly ISIS-held territories, or was forced to moderate, like in Idlib under the control of Hay’a Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). In the latter case, evidence shows that non-Salafi doctrines remained deeply entrenched among local communities, even forcing HTS to play down (though not to abandon) its ambitions to spread its own brand of Islam (Drevon and Haenni, 2021). Likewise, in Arab regions that were once controlled by ISIS, the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) has fostered the reassertion of Sufi leaders and brotherhoods (Pierret and Alrefaai, 2021). However, the extent of the following they managed to retain, or reconstitute, remains obscure.

One knows even less about corresponding dynamics among other religious communities. Before the war, it was widely assumed that the level of religious observance among Alawites and Druzes was low in comparison with Sunnis and Christians. To what extent did this situation change during the conflict? Another issue that needs in-depth exploration is the religious dimension of conversions to Shiism, a phenomenon that has been predominantly observed in regions of Syria that fell under the direct control of paramilitary groups aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (e.g., parts of the Lebanese border area, the Deir ez-Zor province, and the southern countryside of Aleppo) (Awad, 2019; Baker, 2023). Beyond the recruitment of formerly Sunni tribesmen into these paramilitary groups, what is the real extent of Shiite outreach among these communities?

2. The reconfigurations of religious authority

As a result of the conflict, Syrian religious leaders and groups have been faced with both opportunities to assert their authority, and challenges from political actors and religious newcomers. In the realm of official religious institutions, enormous change has taken place: in Idlib, the Turkish-controlled northern border areas, and DAANES, the religious field is now administered by institutions that were established after 2011 (Pierret and Alrefaai, 2021). These institutions emerged either as a result of top-down policies on the part of the respective powers that be, or due to bottom-up efforts among Muslim scholars—who were themselves divided between pre-existing networks, and new figures propped up by armed groups, the so-called shar’is (Cole, 2014; Heller, 2014). Even the Assad regime’s religious institutions have been extensively reconfigured in the meantime, most notably through the abolition of the Grand Muftiship in 2021 (Khatib, 2023; Pierret, 2024).

The conflict has also reinforced the transnational dimension of religious structures among the different communities, either by fostering cross-border sectarian solidarities (Smyth, 2015; Pierret, 2017; Ghanem 2021), or through the worldwide dispersion of Syrian religious leaders and communities. Recent publications show, for instance, that dreams (shared via instant messaging applications) have played a crucial role in the recreation of Alepine Sufi communities across the diaspora (Pinto, 2024), and that faith leaders have located themselves at the intersection between donors and implementers of aid among refugee communities in Lebanon (Carpi, 2023). Wartime circumstances have also created new opportunities, on both sides of the frontlines and in the diaspora, for religious charities of all denominations (Akdedian, 2021) and Sunni missionary movements such as Salafi NGOs, the female-only Qubaysiyyat, the Tabligh, and the anti-Salafi, Lebanon-based Ahbash (Pierret, 2018; Aubin-Boltanski, 2023). Comparable dynamics within other sects remain largely obscure. For instance, what does the role of Druze religious leaders in the ongoing Suwayda protests tells us about the transformation of their religious field over the last decade and a half?

3. Questioning faith, challenging religious norms?

Recent opinion polls suggest that religiosity has increased again in most Arab countries after a momentaneous drop in the late 2010s (Robbins, 2023). In Syria, the latter trend was echoed by anecdotal observations and a sense of alarm among some men of religion. Common explanations for this phenomenon included the trauma caused by the atrocities (and ultimate failure) of Jihadi groups, and the fact that because of their expatriation, particularly in Europe, some Syrians have moved to a social environment in which religious norms are less constraining. Serious research is sorely lacking to make sense of this ebb and flow of religiosity, and of its underlying factors. Moreover, religious skepticism remains worthy of being studied even if it remains marginal among Syrian communities, as illustrated by a stimulating reflection on unbelief in pre-revolutionary Egypt (Schielke, 2012). Besides outright atheism and abandonment of religious observance, we also seek contributions on other kinds of challenges to established religious norms, such as pragmatic lifestyle adaptation, anticlericalism and liberal interpretations of the Scriptures.

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• Bu Kalabalığı Hatırla

Bu Kalabalığı Hatırla: İstanbul Sözleşmesi

Bu Kalabalığı Hatırla: 6284

Bu Kalabalığı Hatırla: Medeni Kanun ve Türk Ceza Kanunu Kampanyaları

Yönetmen: Vuslat Karan, Burcu Melekoğlu

Yapımcı: Kadının İnsan Hakları Derneği (KİH), Vuslat Karan, Burcu Melekoğlu

Sinopsis: Bu Kalabalığı Hatırla belgesel serisi, feminist hareketin tarihinde yaptığı/yaptığımız kampanyaları yeniden hatırlamak ve yıllar geçtikçe büyüyen mücadelemizde birlikte oluşturduğumuz kalabalıklarla hafızalarımızı ortaklaştırmak için başladığımız bir sözlü tarih projesi. Serinin ilk filmi, Nahide Opuz davasından başlayarak İstanbul Sözleşmesi’nin ortaya çıkışı ve imzalanmasında Türkiyeli feministlerin emeklerini bir kez daha görüyor, İstanbul Sözleşmesi’nden Türkiye’nin resmi olarak çıkma kararı verdiği süreçte verdiğimiz mücadeleyi yeniden hatırlıyoruz. İkinci filmde, feminist hareketin Dayağa Karşı Yürüyüş kampanyasından başlayarak 1980’li yıllardan bu yana kadınlara yönelik şiddetle mücadelesini, İstanbul Sözleşmesi’nin imzalanmasıyla paralel yürütülen 6284 sayılı Kanun’un oluşturulması ve yürürlüğe girmesindeki emeklerini bir kez daha görüyoruz. Son bölümünde, 2000’lerin başında kadın hareketinin Türkiye çapında büyük kampanyalar örgütleyerek Medeni Kanun ve Türk Ceza Kanunu’ndaki cinsiyetçi ve toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliğini yeniden üreten kanun maddelerini nasıl değiştirdiklerini ve bugün yürürlükte olan bu yasaların kadınların mücadelesiyle nasıl düzenlendiğine edildiğine tanıklık ediyoruz.

Yönetmenlerin Biyografisi

Burcu Melekoğlu, İstanbul’da yaşayan bir kurgucu, yönetmen ve motion graphics sanatçısıdır. University of Pennsylvania’da Sistem Mühendisliği lisans derecesini ve film yan dalını tamamladıktan sonra, UCLA Film ve Televizyon Okulu’nda yüksek lisans yaparak teknik altyapısını yaratıcı bir yaklaşımla birleştirdi. Bağımsız belgesel sinemanın dönüştürücü gücüne inanarak, etkili hikâyeler anlatmak amacıyla İstanbul’da bağımsız yapım şirketi MOXIE’yi kurdu. İşleri arasında, ortak yönetmenliğini, yapımcılığını ve kurgusunu yaptığı uzun metraj belgesel Blue ID yer alıyor. Film, 2022’de IDFA’da dünya prömiyerini yaparak IDFA NPO Seyirci Ödülü’nü kazandı. Blue ID, 40’tan fazla festivalde gösterildi ve 2024’te GEMFest Vancouver’da En İyi Belgesel, En İyi Kurgu ve Uzun Metraj Etki Ödüllerine layık görüldü. 

Vuslat Karan, İstanbul’da üreten bir sinemacı, yazar, hikâye editörü ve danışmandır. Marmara Üniversitesi Film ve Televizyon Bölümü’nden lisans derecesi ile mezun olan Vuslat, bağımsız yapım şirketi MOXIE’nin kurucu ortağı olarak yönetmenlik ve yapımcılık yapmaya devam etmektedir. İlk uzun metraj belgeseli Blue ID, 2022’de IDFA’nın Luminous bölümünde prömiyer yaparak IDFA NPO Seyirci Ödülü’nü kazandı. Filmle birlikte Sundance Edit and Story Lab programına katıldı ve aynı zamanda filmin hikâye editörlüğünü üstlendi. Yönettiği kısa filmleri Tangled (2011) ve Scorpion (2010) !f İstanbul Film Festivali’nde prömiyer yaptı. 2006 yılında Roman mahallelerindeki kentsel dönüşümü konu alan, belgesel-anlatı türündeki kısa filmi Uprooting from the City ile toplumsal farkındalığı yüksek anlatılara olan ilgisini yansıttı. Ayrıca, birçok bağımsız film ve projeye danışmanlık yaparak yönetmenlerin özgün ve etkileyici hikâyeler oluşturmalarına rehberlik etti.

• DARGEÇİT 

Türkiye / 2024 / Renkli / 82’ / Türkçe, Kürtçe; Türkçe, İngilizce altyazılı

Yönetmen: Berke Baş

Görüntü Yönetmeni: Berke Baş

⁠Kurgucu: Catherine Gouze, Eytan İpeker, Berke Baş

Yapımcı: Enis Köstepen

Yapım Şirketi: Hafıza Merkezi, Liman Film, inHouse projects

Ödüller:

43.⁠ ⁠İstanbul Film Festivali Ulusal Belgesel Yarışması ( 17-28 Nisan 2024)

En İyi Belgesel 

17.⁠ ⁠Documentarist İstanbul Belgesel Günleri ( 3-8 Haziran 2024)

En İyi Görüntü Yönetmeni, En İyi Kurgu

Sinopsis: 27 yıllık bir süreç… 1995 yılında Mardin, Dargeçit’te oğulları ve kardeşleri devlet güçlerinin elinde kaybolan aileler, avukatları ve İnsan Hakları Derneği ile günümüz Türkiye'sinin yargı sisteminde hakikat ve adalet için mücadele ediyorlar. Nihayet 2015’te başlayan davanın her duruşması için saatler süren uzun yolculuklar yapıyorlar. Devletin cezasızlık zırhını delmek imkânsız gözükse de “görmek isteyenler için hakikat ortada.”

Yönetmen Biyografisi

Berke Baş

Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Siyaset Bilimi ve Uluslararası İlişkiler bölümünde lisans, New School'da Medya İncelemeleri programında yüksek lisans eğitimi gördü. 1998'de ev arkadaşı Melis Birder ile inHouse projects'i kurdu, Brooklyn Halk Kütüphanesi için çektikleri Brooklyn'i Geçerken (2001) ilk uzun metraj belgeselleri oldu. 2002-2017 yılları arasında İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Sinema TV ve Kültürel İncelemeler yüksek lisans programlarında ders verdi. Kendi yönettiği Transit (2005); Nahide'nin Türküsü (2009) ve Beton Park (2010) dışında Bu Ne Güzel Demokrasi! (2008), Galata Gezegeni: İstanbul'da Bir Köprü (2010) ve Bağlar (2016) belgesellerinin ortak yönetmenliğini üstlendi. Son belgeseli Dargeçit’(2024) 1995 yılında Mardin, Dargeçit’te oğulları ve kardeşleri devlet güçlerinin elinde kaybolan ailelerin günümüz Türkiye'sinin yargı sisteminde hakikat ve adalet mücadelesi hakkında.

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In Turkish - English subtitles

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• Remember This Crowd

Remember This Crowd: The Istanbul Convention

Remember This Crowd: 6284

Remember This Crowd: Campaigns for the Civil Code and Turkish Penal Code

Director: Vuslat Karan, Burcu Melekoğlu

Producer: Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR), Vuslat Karan, Burcu Melekoğlu

Synopsis: The Remember This Crowd documentary series is an oral history project initiated to revisit the campaigns made by the feminist movement throughout history, and to collectively remember the crowds we have formed over the years in our growing struggle. The first film of the series focuses on the Nahide Opuz case, tracing the emergence and signing of the Istanbul Convention, highlighting the efforts of Turkish feminists in this process. It also revisits the struggle we fought when Turkey officially decided to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. The second film begins with the feminist movement’s "March F”or Solidarity Against Battering” campaign, revisiting the ongoing fight against violence against women since the 1980s. It highlights the creation and implementation of Law 6284, which ran parallel to the signing of the Istanbul Convention. In the final section, we witness how the women's movement organized large-scale campaigns throughout Turkey in the early 2000s to change discriminatory articles in the Civil Code and the Turkish Penal Code that perpetuated gender and societal inequalities, and how these laws, now in effect, were reformed through the efforts of women's activism.

Biographies of the directors

Burcu Melekoğlu is a director, editor and motion graphics artist based in Istanbul. With a BSE in Systems Engineering and a film minor from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Arts from UCLA School of Film and Television, Burcu combines a technical foundation with a creative approach. A passionate advocate for independent documentary film, Burcu co-founded MOXIE, an independent Istanbul-based production company, to create impactful stories. Her work includes “Blue ID”, a feature documentary she co-directed, produced, and edited, which premiered at IDFA 2022 and won the IDFA NPO Audience Award. Blue ID has screened at over 40 festivals, earning various awards among which are Best Documentary, Best Editing, and Feature Impact Awards at GEMFest Vancouver in 2024.  

Vuslat Karan is a filmmaker, writer, story editor and consultant based in Istanbul. A graduate of Marmara University with a BFA in Film and Television, Vuslat is co-founder of Moxie, an independent production company, where she continues to direct and produce. Her first feature-length documentary Blue ID premiered in the Luminous section at IDFA 2022, winning the IDFA NPO Audience Award. She attended Sundance Edit and Story Lab and worked on the film as also the Story Editor. Her previous storytelling journey includes directing short films Tangled (2011) and Scorpion (2010), both debuting at the !f Istanbul Film Festival, Uprooting from the City (2006), a documentary-narrative hybrid short about the gentrification of Romany neighborhoods, marking her interest in powerful, socially conscious narratives. She has consulted on numerous independent films and projects, guiding directors to shape authentic, resonant stories. 

• HOLD STILL

Director: Berke Baş

Turkey / 2024 / Colour / 82’ / Turkish, Kurdish; Turkish, English s.t.

Director of Photography: Berke Baş

Editing: Catherine Gouze, Eytan İpeker, Berke Baş

Producer: Enis Köstepen

Production Company: Hafıza Merkezi, Liman Film, inHouse projects

Awards:

43.⁠ ⁠Istanbul Film Festival National Documentary Competition (April 17-28, 2024)

Best Documentary

17.⁠ ⁠Documentarist Istanbul Documentary Days (June 3-8, 2024)

Best Cinematography, Best Editing

Synopsis: 27 years and counting... Families whose sons and brothers forcibly disappeared by state forces in the Dargeçit district of Mardin in 1995 are still fighting for truth and justice in Turkey's broken judicial system. While breaking the state’s wall of impunity may seem like an impossible task, “the truth is out there for those who want to see it.”

Director biography

Berke Baş

Studied political sciences at Bogazici University, Istanbul, and received her MA in media studies at New School, NY. Her films deal with Turkey’s pressing social and political issues as wide ranging as illegal migration (In Transit, 2005), women’s political rights (What a Beautiful Democracy! 2008), Armenian orphans of 1915 (hush! 2009) and trials of manhood (Concrete Park, 2010). She is the co-director with German artist Florian Thalhofer of the non-linear documentary Planet Galata, 2010 and with Melis Birder, Bağlar, 2016. Her latest film Dargecit (2024) is about families whose sons and brothers disappeared at the hands of state forces in the Dargeçit district of Mardin in 1995 who are fighting for truth and justice within the Turkish judicial system.

Türkçe - İngilizce altyazılı

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13:00 BELLEKVARİ: KuirFest’in Sözlü Tarihi

Türkiye/ 2024, renkli/ 70’

Yönetmen/ Görüntü Yönetmeni/ Kurgu : Asya Leman, Çağla Sumru

Sinopsis: Belgesel, 2011’den bu yana Ankara’da gerçekleştirilen Türkiye’deki ilk ve tek LGBTİ+ filmleri festivali Kuir Fest’in kuruluşundan günümüze varan hikayesine odaklanır. KuirFest’in kurucuları, festivalde emeği geçen gönüllü ve çalışanlarıyla yapılan röportajlarda festivalin 14 yıla yayılan serüvenini, Türkiye’nin politik iklimiyle şekillenen kültür-sanat ortamı anlatılır. Bu izlekte, festivale katkı sunan bireylerin Türkiye’de her yıl git gide artan LGBTİ+’lara yönelik baskı ve şiddete karşı politik özneler olarak üretttikleri direniş pratiklerinin KuirFest’le beraber nasıl bir örgütlenme biçimine dönüştüğü bu bir aradalığın güçlendiren yönleri ön plana çıkarılarak anlatılır.

KuirFest’in Pembe Hayat Derneği ile kurulan öz örgütlenme bağlantısı, Ankara lubunyasıyla olan bağı ve buradan aldığı kültürel sermayesini, sanat yoluyla örgütlenme pratiği geliştirerek güçlü bir politik söze dönüştürür. 2017 yılından itibaren her yıl uygulanan yasaklara ve ağır sansür engellerine karşı direnişini sürdüren festival Türkiye’de yaşayan ve kültür ve sanat alanına ilgi duyan, bu alanda üretim yapmak isteyen bir çok lubunya için alan açar. KuirFest’in, iktidar grupları tarafından varoluşları kriminalize edilen lubunyalara karşı kurumsallaşmış bir nefret üretilmesine rağmen nasıl kendini devam ettirebildiğinin sırları bu belgesel film çalışmasıyla gün yüzüne çıkacaktır.

Yüzeydeki baskı ve zorlukların ötesine bakarak, KuirFest’in kuruluş amacına ve direniş pratiğinin temelindeki saf niyete pencere açan çalışma 24-26 Ocak 2025’te Ankara’da 13. edisyonuyla gerçekleşecek festivalin “Aslına Rücu” temasını merkeze alıyor. Aynı zamanda tarihsel bir sürekliliği ve direnişin köklerini hatırlatmayı ve hafızalaştırmayı amaçlıyor. BELLEKVARİ: KuirFest’in Sözlü Tarihi, varlığının yalnızca bir film festivali değil, aynı zamanda bir mücadele alanı olduğunu; geçmiş ve bugün arasındaki bağlantıyı tanıklıkların anlatısıyla kurmaya çalışıyor.

Yönetmenin Biyografisi

Asya Leman, İstanbul ve İzmir’de yaşayan, üreten kurgucu, yönetmen, görsel sanatçı ve aktivisttir. Lisans eğitimini İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Fotoğraf ve Video bölümünde, yüksek lisans eğitimini Film-Tv bölümünde tamamladı.

2015 yılından bu yana aktivist videolar üretiyor ve insan hakları alanından sivil toplum kuruluşları ile bağımsız çalışmalar yürütüyor.

2018’de ürettiği Hükmü Yok isimli kurmaca-belgesel kısa filmde gündelik hayatta zorunlu kimlik belgesi göstermenin queer ve trans deneyimi olan kişler için nasıl bir gündelik şiddete dönüştüğünü anlatır. Türkiye’de “nüfus cüzdanının” anlamı üzerinden toplumsal cinsiyetin “kimliğini” sorgular. Bu çalışmanın ardından devletin bürokrasi aracılığıyla uyguladığı eril tahakküme karşı kurguladığı ve bürokrasinin toplumu tasnif etme biçimlerinin performatifliğini, kimlik, toplumsal cinsiyet ve mekânsallık kavramlarını iç içe geçirdiği yerleştirme olan Aile Cüzdanı işini 2021’de Barınhan’da Tabiatımız karma sergisinde ve ardından Ankara’da Ka Atölye’de solo olarak sergiledi.

2024’te Trans Hafıza Kolektifi ile beraber “Dön-Dün Bak: Türkiye’de Trans Hareketinin Tarihi” isimli arşiv sergisinin küratörlüğünü yaptı. 63. Venedik Bienali’nin “Meetings on Art” bölümüne “Queer Activisms panelinde konuşmacı olarak yer aldı.

13. Pembe Hayat KuirFest film festivalinin açılış filmi olan Bellekvari: KuirFest’in Sözlü Tarihi sanatçının ilk uzun metraj belgesel filmidir.

Çağla Sumru İstanbul'da doğup büyüdü, sinema sektöründe alaylı yetişmekte. Fotoğraf öğrenerek başladı, sonrasında kameracı, sesçi, kurgucu, yardımcı yönetmen gibi birçok rolde çalıştı. Henüz özgün üretim yapmadı, destekleyici roller üstleniyor ve öğreniyor. En çok gönüllülük ve dayanışma esaslı işlerde var olan Sumru son yıllarda iş partneri Asya Leman ile Pembe Hayat için, belgesel sinemacı olan babasıyla ise MLSA için yardımcı yönetmenliğini üstlendiği çeşitli işler yaptı. 13. Pembe Hayat KuitFest'in açılış filmi olarak gösterilen Bellekvari: KuirFest'in Sözlü Tarihi belgesel film eş-yönetmenliğini yaptığı ilk filmdir.

15:00 Belgesel yönetmenleriyle panel: Burcu Melekoğlu, Berke Baş ve Asya Leman; Moderatör : Hêvî Nimet Gatar

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In Turkish - English subtitles

Registration (before 13 March at 1:00 pm)

After your registration, a confirmation email will be sent 2 days before the event.

Identity check at the entrance

Memory-like: An Oral History of KuirFest

Turkey, 2024, color, 70’

Director, Cinematography, Edit: Asya Leman, Çağla Sumru

Synopsis: The documentary focuses on the journey of QueerFest, Turkey's first and only LGBTI+ film festival, held in Ankara since 2011, from its inception to the present day. Through interviews with QueerFest's founders, volunteers, and staff, it explores the festival's 14-year history and the cultural-artistic landscape shaped by Turkey's political climate. Within this narrative, the stories of individuals contributing to the festival highlight how their practices of resistance against increasing oppression and violence targeting LGBTI+ people in Turkey each year have evolved into a form of collective organizing through QueerFest. The documentary emphasizes the unifying and empowering aspects of this togetherness.

QueerFest's connection to the Pink Life Association and its ties to Ankara's queer community demonstrate how it transformed its cultural capital into a powerful political voice by developing an organizing practice through art. Despite the bans and heavy censorship it has faced annually since 2017, the festival continues to resist and create space for many queer individuals in Turkey who are passionate about culture and the arts and wish to contribute to these fields. This documentary reveals the secrets behind how QueerFest has managed to sustain itself despite the institutionalized hatred produced by ruling powers against queers, whose very existence is criminalized.

Looking beyond the surface-level pressures and challenges, this work provides a window into QueerFest's founding purpose and the pure intentions underlying its practices of resistance. Centered on the theme "Return to the Essence," it coincides with the 13th edition of the festival, set to take place in Ankara from January 24-26, 2025. Additionally, it aims to evoke and preserve a sense of historical continuity and the roots of resistance.

Director biography

Asya Leman is a director, editor, multidisciplinary artist, and activist who continues her productions in Istanbul and Izmir. They completed their undergraduate education in the Photography and Video department at Istanbul Bilgi University and her master's degree in the Film-TV department.

Since 2015, they have been producing activist videos and conducting independent work with non-governmental organizations in the field of human rights.

In their docu-fiction short film titled 'Hükmü Yok' (Void) produced in 2018, they portrays how mandatory ID card verification in daily life turns into everyday violence for queer and trans individuals. They questions the "identity" of gender through the meaning of "identity card" in Turkey. Following this work, they exhibited 'Aile Cüzdanı' (Livret de Famille), an installation that addresses masculine domination imposed by the state through bureaucracy and intertwines the concepts of the performativity of bureaucracy's ways of classifying society, identity, gender, and spatiality, at the group exhibition 'Tabiatımız' (Our Nature) at Barınhan in 2021 and later as a solo exhibition at Ka Atölye in Ankara.

In 2024, they co-curated the archival exhibition "Turn and See Back: Revisiting Trans Revolutions in Turkey" with the Trans Memory Collective. They were a speaker at the "Queer Activisms" panel in the "Meetings on Art" section of the 63rd Venice Biennale.

‘Memory-like: The Oral History of KuirFest' is the artist's first feature-length documentary film, which was the opening film of the 13th Pembe Hayat KuirFest film festival.

Çağla Sumru was born and raised in Istanbul. Currently growing up in the cinema industry non collage educated. They started by learning photography then worked in various roles such as camera operator, sound person, editor, assistant director. They have not yet produced original work, are taking on supporting roles and learning. Sumru, who is mostly involved in solidarity and volunteer-based work, in recent years has done various works as assistant director for Pembe Hayat with their business partner Asya Leman, and for MLSA with their father, a documentary filmmaker. Opening movie of 13th Pink Life QueerFest, Memory-Like: QueerFest's Oral History, is the first movie they co-directed.

03:00pm Panel with documentary directors: Burcu Melekoğlu, Berke Baş and Asya Leman; Moderator : Hêvî Nimet Gatar

The French Institute for Anatolian Studies (IFEA), through its research axes—the Urban Observatory of Istanbul (OUI) and the Migrations & Mobilities Axis (aMiMo)—invites you to the screening of the documentary Sweet Home Adana on Friday, March 21, at 6:30 PM. The screening will take place in the presence of its director, Nagehan Uskan, offering a visual journey that confronts oblivion and denial.

Sweet Home Adana

2024, 21 minutes
Directed by Nagehan Uskan
In Turkish and Armenian, with English subtitles

Synopsis

Sweet Home Adana is a personal narrative documentary that traces the journey of Marie, an Armenian woman who was coerced into converting to Islam, originally from the city of Adana. The film explores her unfinished quest for roots, moving from the Armenian memory sites of Adana to the diplomatic archives in Nantes, and through the destructive pursuits of treasure hunters. By weaving together these fragmented narratives, Sweet Home Adana uncovers the complex layers of denial and forgetting.

Organizers:
Verda Kimyonok (IFEA - OUI & EHESS) & Öykü Aytaçoğlu (IFEA - aMiMo & Paris 8)