Zenne Dancer

What a gem of a movie. It touches you on so many points. Obviously, a majority of the film is about the internal storms of gays living in a society as intolerant as Turkey has become.

The hypocrisy is, however, how open the Turkish Society was to gay inclinations and even encouraged them until one hundred years ago. Zenne (or Kocek) is a very old Turkish word and they were male dancers accompanying the acrobats during celebrations.

But the movie does not go into those details anyway. Actually, I don't even classify Zenne as a gay movie. It's a very human movie.

Has a rather slow rhythm, considering the genre, but builds up progressively and you just can not help but feel with the characters. Their turmoils, their emotions, their struggles and their passion.

And then there is the music, and the photography. In a way everything about this movie somehow fits together.

Well done team for a really good movie. Well spent two hours.

Zenne Dancer" (Turkey 2012) A controversial film in it's homeland, this is a dramatization of the real-life "honor killing" of an Istanbul student by his family after they discovered he was gay. The tragedy centers around a trio of unlikely friends: Can (an openly gay Zenne Dancer (male belly dancer mixed with drag queen) who is in hiding to avoid Military Service to his country; Ahmet (aforementioned student, born to an eastern and very conservative family, studying in Istanbul and coming to terms with his Truth); and Daniel (a German photo-journalist in Istanbul without much knowledge about Turkish values and lifestyle). My biggest critique is that the film is a bit disjointed in it's storytelling and thus a challenge to follow....but it eventually does an excellent job of developing each of these three very different characters. Each has a different background and therefore a different outlook on life. Daniel's Western sensibilites eventually lead him to encourage Can and Ahmet to make some very dangerous choices...leaving him with the weight of guilt in the aftermath. Perhaps the most telling exchange in the film occurs between Daniel and Ahmet (after they have fallen in love) -- Daniel: Why can't you be honest and tell the truth to your parents? Honesty is the easiest. Ahmet: (crying) You don't understand. Honesty will kill me. Given our current climate in the US of an increasingly powerful polictical arm of an extreme form of Fundamentalist Christianity -- we should take heed and learn a lesson from our Brothers in the East.

Zenne Dancer, a Turkish film directed by Mehmet Binay and Caner Alper, who themselves are a gay couple, was released in January 2012. The film explores the taboo issue of LGBTQ rights in contemporary Turkish culture, as it follows the relationship between three "unlikely" friends: Can is a flamboyant belly, or zenne dancer, who does not shy away from expressing himself at any moment; Daniel, a German photographer on assignment in Istanbul, is haunted by his past; Ahmet, a university student struggling with his identity, is stuck between the dueling ideologies of his religious parents and the secular Istanbul. By analyzing the film through a critical lens and how it engages with recent scholarship, we may fashion a comprehensive understanding how Zenne Dancer is a prime example of cinema that has political and cultural implications.

The film was inspired by a true event that occurred in Istanbul on July 15, 2008. Binay and Alper's character of Ahmet is based on the Ahmet Yildiz, a close friend of theirs, who was murdered that tragic day. In the film, Ahmet, originally from the rural southeastern town of Urfa, is encouraged by his friends to come out to his conservative family. However, unlike Can, who received love and support from his family, and Daniel, who comes from the more liberal Germany, Ahmet's honesty will ultimately cause his death.

It is for this reason that making Zenne Dancer was so crucial. The film drew international coverage and success, including multiple awards at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and by the Turkish Film Critics Association. Zenne Dancer not only started conversations about LGBTQ rights and gender equality where they weren't happening, but it furthermore shifted existing portrayals of queer individuals in the media. Typically, Turkish media "ignores or laughs off violence against gays" Media also oftentimes do not show the differences between homosexuals, transvestites, and transsexuals

Although this isn't the first queer film to be released in Turkey, it is the first that actively seeks to explore the difficulties and problems faced by Turkey's gay community. In the film, Ahmet says to Daniel that his mother "likes to clean", foreshadowing the act that is meant to cleanse the family of his illicit relationship.

Because Turkey is a secular republic, homosexuality is, in fact, legal—but even with the most cursory of research, it is evident that homophobia and transphobia are rampant throughout Turkey. In 2001, approximately a decade before Zenne Dancer hit the big screen, a study measuring people's opinions of homosexuality in Turkey was conduced among college students. The results showed that students had negative attitudes toward queer individuals, mostly because of tradition

In a male-dominated and patriarchal society like Turkey, gender becomes a stratification system, ranking women below men. Because Turkish people associate gay men with the feminine, a stereotypical image with an inherent prejudice against it is called to mind

Zenne Dancer takes this issue head-on. First, Ahmet and Daniel are projected as stereotypically masculine figures. Both are burly, muscular men with deep voices and facial hair. They both just happen to fall in love with each other, as well. However, the film represents the character of Can differently. He is best described as gender non-conforming—and not to be confused as transsexual, as many zennes are in Turkey. As a Zenne Dancer he is hyper-feminized, the object of desire for other men at the club in which he perform, but "retains the marks of his own ambiguity and ambivalence" (Halbertstam 3). In an attempt to dodge being drafted into the Turkish military, which will be discussed in the following paragraph, Can stays with his aunt and her hyper-masculine lover.

Zenne Dancer also presents implications for the homophobia that is evident in Turkey is the military. "Homosexuality is regarded as a mental illness, and homosexuals are thereby banned form military service" In the film, Daniel convinces Ahmet to escape Turkey and immigrate to Germany with him. However, Ahmet is required to fulfill his military services—that is, unless he presents the army with pornographic evidence that he is a homosexual. As the final credits of the movie say, "The Turkish Military is in possession of the largest pornographic collection in Europe". But, by portraying Germany as a liberal, all-welcoming nation, Zenne has further political implications on this nation and queer asylum.

Finally, there is an additional facet of Turkish culture that is especially interesting: the stage. This topic will be explored in greater detail in the accompanied video, but it is worth contextualizing the stage and its relation to homophobia and transphobia in Turkey. The space presents yet a dichotomy—the relationship between public and private spaces. Many "heterosexual" men discriminate against queer individuals during the day, but enjoy them, and even lust them, at night. The stage, as Selen describes it, is where "queerness can safely be embodied". For example, Can does not go out in the day out of fear, but is a zenne at night. Many of the men that attend the club don't self-identity as homosexual, but are rather, in a sense, heteroflexible. As Zenne Dancer explores this topic, it manifests larger implications for society. Because Turkish culture is intolerant to queerness, men are oftentimes pushed deeper into the closest, only to express themselves in secret. From this it is logical to say gay culture is underground at its core in Turkey, allowing Zenne Dancer to be categorized as queer cinema

I had the opportunity of seeing the film during the film festival in Antalya which is equivalent of Turkish Oscars and liked it a lot.

Not only me but an audience of almost 1200 people stood up and were applauding during the entire ending, in tears, which was even more shocking to see in a film festival... The applause was not only for a brilliant movie of course but mostly to a long term-suffered in silence-society who had to say to the Turkish Military 'ENOUGH'! All Turkish men are required to perform military service. But gay men can be exempted from conscript duty provided they first prove their homosexuality.

"Zenne" depicts the degrading process its main characters endure at an army recruiting center.

In the film, military doctors perform anal examinations and hurl homophobic insults at conscripts. They also demand photos of the characters having sex with other men.

Gay rights activists say the military has long demanded graphic photo and/or video evidence from men asking to be released from military duty.

Zenne Dancer moved Turkish media and about a 100,000 watchers from homophobia to a moving apology.

As a groundbreaking film launched, Turkish attitudes to gay and trans-gender people have slowly started improving – in the media at least Zenne Dancer, finally hit the screens, nationwide cinemas, after winning five major awards at the country's foremost film festival, and receiving a shower of attention from the mass media – a shower that unfortunately quickly turned cold.

In daily parlance the word ZENNE refers to a man who dresses up like a woman and dances in front of an audience, a custom that goes way back to early Ottoman empire. The film itself is inspired by a true story, that of Ahmet Yildiz, a student who was gunned down by his own father for being openly and unrepentantly homosexual. His was not the first hate crime in Turkey, nor the first gay Honor killing, but probably the first to draw such widespread attention. The film and the subsequent media coverage played an important role in increasing awareness about the hardships trans-gender and gay communities endure in Turkey's patriarchal society.

I suggest to everyone to sit and enjoy how a modern and secular country like Turkey's LGBT people live and try to exist in life with breath taking cinematography and acting. ERKAN AVCI and TILBE SARAN are incredible with KEREM CAN like a Greek Statue, as a portrait of a flamboyant traditional dancer.

ZENNE's real thrust is suggested by an epigraph at the beginning of the film from the thirteenth century mystic Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī attesting to the power of the dance to unify people regardless of age, race or sexuality.

Can (Kerem Can) is a dancer at a gay club, whose act quite literally consumes him so that he can forget his troubles outside. They are numerous; not only is he expected to do his military service, but he has to cope with the trauma of losing his father in battle and his brother Cihan (Tolga Tekin) suffering mental disturbance as a result of his army experiences.

Can's close friend Ahmet (Erkan Avcı) enjoys the freedom of İstanbul to give full rein to his sexuality, but is shackled by his family living in Urfa in the east of Turkey who expect him to return home and marry a nice girl. In particular his mother Kezban (Rüçhan Çaliskur) has a malign influence over him, even having him shadowed while living in İstanbul.

ZENNE looks at the dead hand of tradition, which prevents Can and Ahmet from fulfilling their potential both professionally as well as sexually. They are expected to follow well-trodden paths, even if they are manifestly unsuited for that purpose. The co-directors M. Caner Alper and Mehmet Binay emphasize how restricted their opportunities actually are, despite their apparently free gay sexualities. In the end they have to toe the family or the national line, otherwise they face grave consequences.

Yet ZENNE introduces one further dimension to the story in the person of Daniel Bert (Giovanni Arvaneh), a German photographer domiciled in İstanbul who is trying to come to terms with his own personal trauma experienced in Afghanistan. As a photographer he takes a scopophilic interest in Can's lifestyle - so much so that he wants to photograph the dancer. Yet by doing so he is trying to assume power without responsibility; to "capture" the Turkish dancer in the photographic frame without understanding in the least the constraints that inhibit Can's behavior. The same also holds true for Daniel's relationship with Ahmet; the German naively thinks that Ahmet can escape his family duties by emigrating to Germany.

In the end none of the three protagonists achieve their ambitions - the victims of an often indifferent world that refuses to acknowledge difference and inhibits understanding. Nonetheless there remains the power of the dance, which has the power to join disparate souls together, even if only for a short time.

Brilliantly photographed, combining colorful dream-sequences with an acute sense of İstanbul's less salubrious areas, ZENNE deserves to be regarded as a classic of contemporary Turkish cinema.