‘Gender and Identity in Cinema’ Film Week Banned in Yıldız Technical University

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The administration of Yıldız Technical University (YTÜ) in İstanbul has banned the "Gender and Identity in Cinema" film screening week organized by the cinema club of the university.

As reported by daily Evrensel, members of the cinema club were told by the university administration, "You are encouraging homosexuality. This issue is our red line". The movies planned to be screened in the film week were Ma Vie En Rose, Boys Don't Cry, Fat Girl, XXY and Tomboy.

Speaking to Evrensel about the ban, a student member to the cinema club has indicated that they have experienced similar incidents before.

'We cannot make any sense of the bans'

Indicating that movie posters were not allowed because they have a cross on them and a planned interview with director Emin Alper was not allowed because he was a signatory to the declaration "We will not be a party to this crime" prepared by Academics for Peace, the student also said:

"YTÜ Cinema Club is a community that has been trying to survive within this institution for 31 years. However, it is faced with impositions, preventions and censorship it has never experienced before. In the period when political pressure is increasing, the cinema club has been faced and is still faced with preventions that it cannot make any sense of.

"In a university, a cinema club where students gather in a screening room and talk about life should not bother anyone and should not worry anyone, either. People can talk about philosophy, literature, painting, photography and cinema. They can find a remedy for their daily problems with art and talk and, more importantly, they can improve themselves in that way". (EMK/SD)