Mr. Gay Syria

Q&A Producer Ekin Çalışır & Greenhouse Program Director Sigal Yehuda with JBFC Programmer Karen Sloe Goodman

2017. 84 m. Ayşe Toprak. Taskovski Films Ltd.. Turkey/France/Germany. Arabic/English. Rated NR.

Series

Introduction to Artist-in-Residence Hana Mire and Visiting Artist Ekin Çalışır with WIP clips.

“A moving case for visibility in the face of hatred and violence” (SCREENDAILY)

Direct from its US premiere at MoMA Doc Fortnight, this award-winning documentary by Turkish filmmakers Ekin Çalışır and Ayse Toprak, who joined us as Greenhouse 2017 Artists-in-Residence, follows two gay Syrian refugees who are struggling for self-expression and basic human rights while trying to rebuild their lives. Husein is a barber in Istanbul living a double life between his conservative family and his gay identity and yearning to escape to Europe. Mahmoud is a journalist and the founder of Syria’s gay rights movement, living as a refugee in Berlin where he helps asylum seekers. They come together to realize a dream: to participate in the International Mr. Gay World Pageant as a forum to direct attention to the Syrian LGBTQ refugees’ plight across the Muslim world.

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PAST EVENTS

Q&A Producer Ekin Çalışır & Greenhouse Program Director Sigal Yehuda with JBFC Programmer Karen Sloe Goodman. With RECEPTION

Sunday, Apr. 22 2018, 7:00

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Turkish filmmaker Ekin Çalışır has worked at Al Jazeera Turk as a journalist and producer of short documentaries, and has produced international news and current affairs for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation. Çalışır is producer of the Greenhouse feature documentary Mr. Gay Syria and is currently directing the Greenhouse documentary feature Beats-N-Pieces, a coming of age story about teenage hip hop dancers, including a Turkish Gypsy and a Russian refugee, who live on different sides of the last divided capital of the world, Nicosia in Cyprus.

Director Sigal Yehuda has led the Greenhouse Documentary Development Program for emerging filmmakers in the Middle East and North Africa since 2007, creating a wide spectrum of award-winning films that explore themes of racism and human rights in the region. Since 2014, Yehuda has also served as Director of the Greenhouse Women Program for Arab & Jewish Filmmakers in Israel.

This film is part of the Greenhouse 2018: Emerging Documentary Voices from the Middle East and North Africa series.