ABSTRACT
Through extensive research, dialogues with film-makers and screenings of pertinent films, this chapter investigates cinema’s stand and contribution to the often taboo subject of sexual choices and LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) identities in Iran and Turkey. While Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, aids those seeking sex change, Turkey, which used to be somewhat of a haven for Iranian gay people as homosexuality is not illegal, has been following a policy of curbing any activity related to LGBTI issues. This chapter refreshes the historical representation, under-representation or ill-representation of non-endorsed sexual identities in cinema from cross-dressers, gender benders, female impersonators, ‘lumpen woman’, ‘subtle winks’ to lesbian women in male imaginaries and explores LGBTI films both inside and outside the borders of the two countries in focus. Some of the works examined in detail are Dakhtaran-e Khorshid/Daughters of the Sun (Maryam Shahriar, Iran, 2000), Aynehaye rooberoo/Facing Mirrors (Negar Azarbayjani, 2011), Circumstance (Maryam Keshvarz, 2011) including a documentary on homosexual Syrian refugees in Turkey, Mr Gay Syria (Ayşe Toprak, 2017).
