"Our lives aren't worth anything"

Ebru Kırancı

Thousands of Trans*Women live in the big cities of Turkey. There has been an increase in the murder of Trans*. Hate Crimes against Trans*Women are mostly not investigated. The perpetrators can usually rely on being exempted from prosecution.

How does hate murder develop? The film accompanies Ebru, a Trans*Woman from Istanbul who fights against the displacement and murder of her companions. She has experienced exclusion from state, society and family in her own life. She wants to change Turkish society with humour, self-irony and political acumen. She meets Margarethe, a 85-year-old German retired nurse and establishes with her an retirement home for Trans*. The film shows how hate speech develops to hate murder in a structure with many different components, how hate crime works as a system. Urban transformation of Istanbul and the protests around the Gezi Park in 2013 resonate throughout the film.

Maria Binder works as a documentary film maker and human rights activist. She develops concepts for education programmes and cultural events. In her art work she realised several documentaries on the issues of human rights, gender and racism (a selection: "Who are you to speak?", about woman rights violations in Turkey; "Hope in My Heart, Oral Poetry by May Ayim", a Portrait of the Afro-German poet and pioneer of the Black German Movement; "Womens' Prison Barnimstreet. Women Speak About Their Imprisonment 1933-1945.", about a women's prison during National Socialism in Germany). Her films have been shown on international film festivals and educational events.

Written & Directed by Maria Binder
Directors of Photography Miriam Tröscher, Stefan Runge, Maria Binder
Additional Camera Ebru Kırancı, Verena Franke, Özlem Sarıyıldız
Editor Till Ufer
Dramatic Advisor Angelika Levi
Animation & Graphics Arif Özsoy
Sound Design Erik Mischijew-Out of Silence
Colour Grading Mathias Behrens-Waveline
Narrator Megan Gay, Tanya Erartsin
Music & Composition Claudia Fierke, Sabine Ercklentz, Sinem Altan-OLIVINN
Executive Production Maria Binder-Cornix Film
Co-Production İKGV-İnsan Kaynağını Geliştirme Vakfı
Supported by:

  • 10.12.2014, 18:30 Academic Gala Sabancı University
    Tuzla Kampüsü, Orta Mh. Üniversite Cd. No:27 Tuzla, İstanbul
  • 21.11.2014, 19:00 Transgender Day of Remembrance
    Şişli Kent Kültür Merkezi: Halaskargazi Cd. No:168 Şişli İstanbul
  • 09.11.2014, 18:00 German Prepremiere Filmhaus Köln
    Maybachstr. 111, 50670 - Köln / Germany
  • 14.04.2014, 21:30 World Premiere 33th Istanbul Film Festival
 

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