Zenne Dancer (2012)
Director: Caner Alper | Mehmet Binay
Country: Turkey
Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes
“ZENNE DANCER” is the story of a trio of unlikely friends: AHMET – a boy from eastern Turkey born into a repressively conservative family; CAN (Djan) – a flamboyant male belly dancer (Zenne) nurtured by a loving and fiercely protective mother; and DANIEL – a wounded German war photographer who chances upon these interesting yet contrasting boys in Istanbul, a city bidding to become the ‘European Capital of Culture’ in 2008. Throughout the film, the audience is exposed to the humiliations endured by gays who are banned from serving in the Turkish army on the grounds that they are “sexually deviant” and therefore unfit to serve. Yet in order to be exempted, gays are required to provide photographs showing themselves engaged in passive sexual intercourse with a male partner. Some are forced to undergo invasive anal examinations in order to prove that they are gay. As the story unfolds, the audience also learns about Daniel’s scarring experiences in war-torn Afghanistan. Daniel’s western outlook inadvertently accelerates Ahmet’s looming death. Can’s fury and anguish find an outlet in his eerily graceful yet oddly asexual dances that punctuate the film.
“ZENNE DANCER” has been inspired by the true story of Ahmet YILDIZ, who was murdered for being gay at the age 26 by his own father in 2008.
Country: Turkey
Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes
“ZENNE DANCER” is the story of a trio of unlikely friends: AHMET – a boy from eastern Turkey born into a repressively conservative family; CAN (Djan) – a flamboyant male belly dancer (Zenne) nurtured by a loving and fiercely protective mother; and DANIEL – a wounded German war photographer who chances upon these interesting yet contrasting boys in Istanbul, a city bidding to become the ‘European Capital of Culture’ in 2008. Throughout the film, the audience is exposed to the humiliations endured by gays who are banned from serving in the Turkish army on the grounds that they are “sexually deviant” and therefore unfit to serve. Yet in order to be exempted, gays are required to provide photographs showing themselves engaged in passive sexual intercourse with a male partner. Some are forced to undergo invasive anal examinations in order to prove that they are gay. As the story unfolds, the audience also learns about Daniel’s scarring experiences in war-torn Afghanistan. Daniel’s western outlook inadvertently accelerates Ahmet’s looming death. Can’s fury and anguish find an outlet in his eerily graceful yet oddly asexual dances that punctuate the film.
“ZENNE DANCER” has been inspired by the true story of Ahmet YILDIZ, who was murdered for being gay at the age 26 by his own father in 2008.
