Metin Akdemir
Scenes I Imagine (2020) From the 1980s onwards and in tandem with significant feminism gains, some influential productions which are categorized and widely accepted as “Women’s Film” took their place in the history of Turkish Cinema.
Scenes I Imagine examines why the "queer implications/possibilities" that these so-called "Women's Films" entail are portrayed as friendship, companionship or sisterhood or why they are represented / cannot be represented as queer relations.
“I always liked films which tell stories that unfold among women. Although some of these do not clearly show us a queer relationship, some allusions in them make me think that the relationship between women characters is more than just friendship. Are these possible queer relationships my readings or can they not reveal their implications because of censorship? Or are they just stories about women’s friendship? I set out to see what may happen when I approach these films from a queer perspective and add the scenes I imagine. I know that I will not reach an absolute. What is more appealing is this ambiguity.” – Metin Akdemir
Metin Akdemir A queer activist, artist and director, Akdemir won national and international festival awards for his shorts, I've Come and I'm Gone (Ben Geldim Gidiyorum, 2011) and The Küpeli Baths (Küpeli, 2013). His films have been screened at numerous festivals, among them Sarajevo, IDFA and Jihlava. Akdemir produced works of art with the KaraPembe Queer Art Collective and participated in the organizing committee for LGBTQ+ themed contemporary art exhibitions since 2012. He regularly puts together exhibitions featuring the work of queer-feminist artists under the series titled, "Boundary-Less", and is an active member of the "Dudakların Cengi" queer performance artists . He has recently completed his documentary work Scenes I Imagine that deals with censorship of queer desire in Turkish cinema.