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Lola + Bilidikid (In Person: Kutluğ Ataman)

In collaboration with the Middle East and North African Studies Program and the Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program, Block Cinema welcomes internationally recognized filmmaker and contemporary artist Kutluğ Ataman to Northwestern University to introduce and discuss two of his feature-length films. Known for his perceptive and incisive reflections on the ever-shifting social, cultural and political climate of contemporary Turkey, Ataman’s films are notable for their strong characterization and exploration of human relationships. The winner of numerous prizes and top awards at major international film festivals, Ataman has made an equally significant impact in the contemporary art world. He won the prestigious Carnegie Prize in 2004, and his works have been exhibited at museums and galleries including the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Britain, and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and at events including dOCUMENTA and the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.

Providing a glimpse into the rarely seen world of Turkish drag queens and their macho lovers in Berlin in the late 1990s, Kutluğ Ataman’s award-winning Lola + Bilidikid is a groundbreaking classic of new queer cinema. The film follows seventeen year-old Murat as he struggles with the complex, and often contradictory, ramifications of coming to terms with his homosexuality. Seeking solace in his friendship with Lola, a transvestite who works at a nightclub, Murat embarks on a journey of self-discovery that exposes the social, sexual, and cultural marginalization of young queer Turkish immigrants living in Germany.