Free screening of Kutluğ Ataman’s drama of queer Turkish identity in 90s Berlin

The German Film Office celebrates Pride with a free screening of Lola and Billy the Kid, Kutluğ Ataman’s recently restored 1999 drama based in Berlin’s queer Turkish subculture.

Years after being thrown out of his family home in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Lola performs in a group of Turkish drag queens called “The Guest Workers”. His boyfriend, the macho hustler Billy the Kid, dreams of living as man and wife in a conventional Turkish family, but Lola’s unwillingness to transition forms a rift in their partnership. Meanwhile, Lola’s younger brother Murat begins exploring his own gay desire, just as Billy’s friend Iskender falls for a wealthy German john. When Lola becomes the target of a trio of homophobic, racist teenagers, the group is forced to confront the wavering compatibility of their identities and the hostile society around them.

Blending comedy, melodrama, and even elements of Greek tragedy and the Western, Lola and Billy the Kid brings to life a found family balancing on the rich but often tense fault lines of queerness, Turkish culture, and economic precarity in 90s Germany.  

Lola and Billy the Kid was awarded the Teddy Jury Prize at the 1999 Berlinale and the People’s Choice Award (International Competition) at the 1999 Istanbul Film Festival. The new digital restoration world premiered at the 2026 Berlinale as the opening night film of the “Lost in the 90s” retrospective.

Lola und Bilidikid
Dir. Kutluğ Ataman
Germany, 1999
95 min.
With Baki Davrak, Gandi Mukli, Erdal Yıldız, Michael Gerber, Murat Yılmaz, Inge Keller, Hasan Ali Mete, Hakan Tandoğan