Kutluğ Ataman

Kutluğ Ataman

Birth : , Istanbul, Turkey

History

Kutluğ Ataman is a Turkish filmmaker and contemporary artist. He lives in Istanbul and London. Ataman's works primarily document the lives of marginalized individuals, examining the ways in which people create and rewrite their identities through self-expression, blurring the line between reality and fiction. His films have been described as combining documentary-style filmmaking with the intimacy of the home-movie genre.

Profile

Kutluğ Ataman

Movies

Hilal, Feza and Other Planets
Producer
Set during the aftermath of the September 28 1997 military coup of Turkey, one of the most fascinating periods of modern Turkish history, Hilal, Feza and Other Planets follows the unlikely relationship between a pro-Muslim student Hilal and her friend Feza, a male transgender prostitute who aims to become a woman. With cultural and social backgrounds that are superficially, and in their own perception, polar opposites, Hilal and Feza find common ground through their separate struggles against state oppression and social prejudice. Though not always smooth or free of conflict, their friendship survives the test of time despite ingrained prejudices, and we see their mutual respect and understanding for each other grow each time they meet.
Hilal, Feza and Other Planets
Writer
Set during the aftermath of the September 28 1997 military coup of Turkey, one of the most fascinating periods of modern Turkish history, Hilal, Feza and Other Planets follows the unlikely relationship between a pro-Muslim student Hilal and her friend Feza, a male transgender prostitute who aims to become a woman. With cultural and social backgrounds that are superficially, and in their own perception, polar opposites, Hilal and Feza find common ground through their separate struggles against state oppression and social prejudice. Though not always smooth or free of conflict, their friendship survives the test of time despite ingrained prejudices, and we see their mutual respect and understanding for each other grow each time they meet.
Hilal, Feza and Other Planets
Director
Set during the aftermath of the September 28 1997 military coup of Turkey, one of the most fascinating periods of modern Turkish history, Hilal, Feza and Other Planets follows the unlikely relationship between a pro-Muslim student Hilal and her friend Feza, a male transgender prostitute who aims to become a woman. With cultural and social backgrounds that are superficially, and in their own perception, polar opposites, Hilal and Feza find common ground through their separate struggles against state oppression and social prejudice. Though not always smooth or free of conflict, their friendship survives the test of time despite ingrained prejudices, and we see their mutual respect and understanding for each other grow each time they meet.
The Lamb
Screenplay
In a small village near Erzincan (Turkey) young Mert is about to get traditionally circumcised, but the family does not have the money to follow up with the circumcision celebration. The family wants to be able to serve lamb meat to the guests of the celebration. Mert's older sister scares him that if they cannot afford a lamb the father will slaughter him instead.
The Lamb
Director
In a small village near Erzincan (Turkey) young Mert is about to get traditionally circumcised, but the family does not have the money to follow up with the circumcision celebration. The family wants to be able to serve lamb meat to the guests of the celebration. Mert's older sister scares him that if they cannot afford a lamb the father will slaughter him instead.
Kutlug Ataman
Producer
This film documents Kutlug Ataman's artistic production in a retrospective approach and elucidates his works with his own words and with commentaries by curators, art institution directors, art historians and critics who are familiar with his production through close collaboration, to witness the construction of an impressive artistic production spanning 15 years. The film also includes the excerpts from the artworks and the installation footages of their realization.
Journey to the Moon
Director
Set in a remote village in the Erizincan province in Eastern Turkey, it’s the tale of four villagers’ quest to travel to the moon during a period in the late 1950s when Turkey’s villages were being encouraged to modernise.
2 Girls
Writer
Escaping from their dysfunctional families, Behiye and Handan become best friends. Their euphoria will soon be replaced by regrets and eventual betrayal as class differences resurface.
2 Girls
Director
Escaping from their dysfunctional families, Behiye and Handan become best friends. Their euphoria will soon be replaced by regrets and eventual betrayal as class differences resurface.
Never My Soul!
Director
"Never My Soul" is a phrase taken from the cliché sentence the good-Turkish-girl character would say to her rapist in classic Turkish movies – "You can have my body but never my soul!" The film has at its center a transsexual who is pretending to be Turkan Soray, the real-life super diva of the Turkish Cinema, and her real life is similar to the melodramatic plot of a Turkan Soray movie. She was born as a boy, beaten up by her military father all throughout her childhood for exhibiting "effeminate" behavior, taken to psychiatrists at the age of thirteen to cure her sexual "deviance," then beaten up and tortured by an infamous Istanbul police chief. Now living in Lausanne, her kidneys have failed, she is on dialysis, and she has to live off of prostitution.
Lola and Billy the Kid
Writer
Murat, a Turkish gay youth living in Berlin’s Turkish ghetto, decides to come out to his family. What he doesn’t know yet is that his family has even bigger secrets to hide.
Lola and Billy the Kid
Director
Murat, a Turkish gay youth living in Berlin’s Turkish ghetto, decides to come out to his family. What he doesn’t know yet is that his family has even bigger secrets to hide.
Spikes and Heels
Director
Documentary on the Gay Games IV, held in New York City in June 1994, during widespread celebrations commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Providing a comprehensive presentation of the games and various demonstrations that took place during that week, Spikes and Heels deals with homophobia, AIDS, and gay and lesbian identity in the 90's.
Dark Waters
Producer
An American in Istanbul gets entangled in the affairs of a melancholic aristocrat and her son Haldun, leading him slowly into a dangerous web through many secret layers of the city.
Dark Waters
Writer
An American in Istanbul gets entangled in the affairs of a melancholic aristocrat and her son Haldun, leading him slowly into a dangerous web through many secret layers of the city.
Dark Waters
Director
An American in Istanbul gets entangled in the affairs of a melancholic aristocrat and her son Haldun, leading him slowly into a dangerous web through many secret layers of the city.