ABSTRACT
Kutluğ Ataman is a Turkish filmmaker, video artist, photographer and writer. His films have been shown worldwide and have won numerous awards, including those for best director, best screenplay and best film. Ataman’s first film, The Serpent’s Tale, is considered by film historians to have initiated what is today called Young Turkish Cinema, a clean break from the commercial exploitation movies of the past. His film Lola + Bilidikid (1998) was chosen to open the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival in February 1999. Lola + Bilidikid takes place in the gay and transvestite subcultures of Berlin’s immigrant Turks. The film considers the moral and cultural conflicts of Turkish immigrants in the 1970s. The main character of the film is transvestite Lola, who tries to achieve freedom by transforming her identity. The film largely concerns the tension between her marginalisation and repressive social and cultural codes prevalent in the 1970s.
