Screening of "This Is Not Me" at Cinema Galeries
EED took part in the L'Heure d'Hiver film festival in Brussels with the screening of a documentary on the hidden lives of three gay men in Istanbul.
On Sunday 19 March, the European Endowment for Democracy co-hosted the screening of Turkish documentary “This Is Not Me”, by Jeyan Kader Gülşen and Zekiye Kaçak at Cinema Galeries in Brussels.
The screening was part of the 2023 edition of L’Heure D’Hiver, a film festival focused on Middle Eastern cinema organised by Cinema Galeries, which this year was dedicated to the city of Istanbul.
“This Is Not Me”, produced with EED support, tells the stories of three homosexual men, Mustafa, Mehmet and Yusuf, who give up their daily lives to immigrate to Istanbul. Caught between two worlds and forced to lie because of their family pressure and their conservative culture, Mehmet and Yusuf, who are family men, maintain secret relationships with their male lovers. Mustafa is in a relationship with Mehmet and has maintained this love story for 15 years.
The screening was followed by a Q&A with the two directors, who discussed how having to hide their sexual orientation is a sadly common occurrence for many LGBTQI+ individual in Turkey, and so is having to lead a double life due to societal pressure.
