A film by Ayse Toprak
Duration: 87 minutes/ Year: 2017/ Language: Arabic, English, Turkish, German with English subtitles
Synopsis:
Mr. Gay Syria follows two gay Syrian refugees who are trying to rebuild their lives. Husein is a barber in Istanbul living a double life between his conservative family and his gay identity. Mahmoud is the founder of Syria’s LGBTI movement and is a refugee in Berlin. What brings them together is a dream: to participate in an international beauty contest as an escape from their trapped lives and as an answer to their invisibility. Will the dream come true or will the refugee crisis and the harsh consequences of being gay in the Muslim world shatter it to pieces?
The film has been screened in Sheffield Doc/Fest, UK on 13 June 2017 (World Premiere) and Lovers Film Festival, Torino, Italy on 16 June 2017 (Italy Premiere). The film has been awarded the Special Jury Mention, 32nd Lovers Film Festival, Torino.
The Filmmaker:
Ayse Toprak is a filmmaker based in Istanbul. She received a BFA in Film &TV from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and an MA from the New School. Her work experience includes Channel Thirteen/PBS in New York, and producing for Al Jazeera in London, Doha and Istanbul. Ayse is interested in how documentaries, their subjects and colorful characters have far-reaching impacts on society. With that, films that manage to trigger a national dialogue on neglected issues, brake prejudices or breach hitherto taboo subjects became her favorite medium, as well as personal and professional ambition. She is fascinated by people who are pushed to the peripheries of society who have personal, vivid, compelling stories. Her conviction in filmmaking comes from her wish to tell the stories of such people who she feels have different ways of looking at the world, each very unique in their own ways.
You can watch the film here on 17 June 2020 at 6:30 pm.
After the screening, from about 8:00 pm IST, you can join the filmmaker for a live discussion on Facebook.
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The discussion will begin after the first screening of the film is over at 8:00 pm on 17 June 2020.
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You can ask questions by writing in the 'comment' section while the live stream of the discussion is being broadcast.
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