Hotdocs Festival | Seyran Ates: Sex, revolution, and Islam (2021)

“Either the God does not exist, or being gay is fine.” Seyran Ates: Sex, Revolution, and Islam directed by a Turkish-Norwegian director is not shy to provoke by images and sharp dialogues as quoted by Tugay, one of the film’s subject. In following her previous lines of work, ManIslam (2014), A Ballon from Allah (2011), and Kayayo (2016), she touches upon a personal and collective issue facing Norway, Turkey, Europe, Muslims, Cinema, and more broadly, the entire world. The documentary subject is Seyran Ates, a well-known feminist, female Imam, lawyer, and reformist of Islam tradition based in Germany. Ozkal’s camera follows her arduous path, narrating her struggles, triumph, family, and hopes for reforming the second-largest religion.

The documentary uses the simple language of first-person narration. Seyran lies back with the camera shooting her face from the top angle position. She divulges without fear and openly on her struggles from childhood to this day. The frame is fixated, but her power of dissent is not. It is clear from her struggles, being shot in her early career, and the heavy presence of security guards that her story is not easy to tell. Gradually, the audience gets to be acquainted with her family, the life of Tugay (Seyran’s nephew), and what she does fearlessly to spread her teachings and vision to reform Islam and its patriarchal structure. Ozkal’s narration, which takes the viewers through Seyran’s journey, is smooth and at the same time engaging. We are taken to Beijing, Oslo, Madrid, and Berlin to witness the different manifestations of the conflict between traditional Islam and the progressive version advocated by Seyran. Interestingly, one can see the universal nature of the conflict as the main protagonist switches languages and places and encounters many Muslim and authority figures whom all face the issues of not filling adequately by the teachings and traditional interpretation of Islam. As Seyran emphasizes clearly, “The only way to fight political Islam is Islam.”

The themes and questions that are covered and posed are just too many. At the core, one can notice Seyran’s preoccupation with the question of Islamic reformation and deal with its patriarchal tendencies. She dreams of a progressive Islam where sexuality is private, and there would be no shame to be a female Imam. She dreams of a community where LGBTs can practice Islam and love, not hate, dominate human relations. She thinks of a pan-Islamic utopia in which, more than being labeled a whore, discussion circles dominate. She dreams of having her family members not being hated for who they are and gravitate towards extremist ideology. She idealizes a time when Turkish men end their hypocritical lifestyles and allow more agency towards their female companions and family members. The radical portrayal of these simple requests/desires can be viewed in two evocative scenes where Seyran plays snooker; in both cases, she wholeheartedly aims to shatter political Islam and reactionary right-wing fascism symbolically and agentively.

Further, in the same vein, the last part on the gender relation reality in China enriches and reinforces the primary message. Ozkal’s camera takes us into the heartland of the Chinese Muslim community and depicts a reality in which both female Imams, Uyghur religious bias, suppression, LGBT admonition, and censorship coexist. The culminating scene of her reflecting on the Great Wall of China on these conflicts speaks volumes of the magnitude of challenges and the role that dissenters as Seyran’s can play. Indeed, China is not immune from the shared problems of Muslim issues globally, and the sexuality problem in that context has to be deeply addressed.

All in all, there is no doubt that Ozkal’s documentary informs and disturb. As much as one may get to know the 200 plus progressive mosque systems in Germany, expanding in Europe, in turn, the root cause of religious radicalism, hatred, and violence is investigated. Ozkal also dares to portray/move the shattered glasses left from radicalism and violence perpetrated by radical Islam, and in doing these, sending a clear signal that cinema has a role/voice, the future of Islam and women’s role in it is not bleak, and the dream of the sexual revolution and gender equality is not too far-fetched.

Score: A

© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.