Emir Cakaroz

Revza Cakaroz

While the film focuses on a mother and son’s relationship, it investigates the long-term effects of the immigration of the filmmaker’s family from Bulgaria to Turkey and the life of a widow in a patriarchal culture.

The Turkish army considers homosexuality a mental disorder which exonerates young men from military service, but also requires a medical diagnosis to be reached through both psychological and more invasive (and humiliating) diagnostic procedures.’Çürük’ is an intense, entirely anonymous recording of the mortifying procedure used by the Turkish military to make it possible for gay men to exempt themselves from military service. The humiliation includes psychological tests, anal examinations and the photographical proof of gay sex.  The impact on gay men‘s self-esteem becomes more than obvious, when one of the protagonists doubtfully asks: “Do you think I'm a real man?”

What happens when your child comes out to you? In this feature documentary, parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender individuals in Turkey intimately share their experiences with the viewer, as they redefine what it means to be parents in this conservative society.

In Turkey, buses are a cheap, widespread and therefore the most important means of public transportation throughout the country. What the airplane is in America and the train is in Europe, the intercity bus is in Turkey. The documentary takes a trip through Turkey using the common people's means of transport.

Dr. Mark Fairchild, world-renowned archaeologist, traces the hidden years of Saint Paul's life in the mountainous Turkish countryside of Rough Cilicia.

The story of three Turkish men. They all grew up in Switzerland and all got deported after various criminal offenses.

Are we alone in the universe? This question has been preoccupying humanity for decades. Today, people don’t believe in extraterrestrial life. But there are witnesses from different countries, having interesting experiences. This documentary focuses on stories of a group of people from Turkey who had those kind of experiences.

Fragmentary perspectives on Human Rights and transgender (trans*) People in Turkey.  What remains at the place where a murder happened? What constitutes trans* life? How to cope with daily violence and hatred? We begin to search for traces. We follow the tracks of resistance and survival. We are collectors of the expelled. We gather fragments of trans* lives inspired by texts of Nazim Hikmet, Foucault, Benjamin and Zeki Müren. Trans*BUT is a documental research study driven by the question: “What keeps you going when all else falls away?”