screamonly Finally, and after waiting for so long I had the chance to see Zenne Dancer after I got the DVD from Istanbul.if there is one word to describe how I felt after watching the movie; it lift me breathless.allot of emotion runs through your mind while watching this movie, between the sweet feeling of the friendship and the innocent love story in development and the heartache watching the emotion that each of the characters went through as the movie continues.I want to applaud each person who was involved in this movie for this amazing creation from the actors who did their roles so naturally and let the story express their emotion so effortlessly; from the writers who wrote a simple yet magnificent script that can speak to anyone regardless their orientations or behavior values, a script that was written directly to the human heart in each one of us; from the cinematographer who let his camera fly between the face expressions to the wide angles expressing the atmosphere so perfectly; from the art director and the costume designer who expressed the emotions and the mood in each scenes through amazing colors, sets and beautiful places; from the great musician whom music was telling the story that at some point I can hear the words without actually hearing any. last but not least thank you for each of the directors for leading and working with such an incredible team and for bringing Ahmet's story to life in such beautiful portray and imagination.I did not know Ahmet before except for what I read about him after the accident but after the movie, I felt like I lost a best friend, someone I relate to, someone who used to be a soul, a human being who felt love, pain, happiness and fear before transforming into a name on the grave yard or a title in the newspaper.thank you so much for such an emotional yet great experience, it was totally worth my tissue box :')

Bulent Boytorun What a gem of a movie. It touches you on so many points. Obviously, a majority of the film is about the internal storms of gays living in a society as intolerant as Turkey has become. The hypocrisy is, however, how open the Turkish Society was to gay inclinations and even encouraged them until one hundred years ago. Zenne (or Kocek) is a very old Turkish word and they were male dancers accompanying the acrobats during celebrations.But the movie does not go into those details anyway. Actually, I don't even classify Zenne as a gay movie. It's a very human movie. Has a rather slow rhythm, considering the genre, but builds up progressively and you just can not help but feel with the characters. Their turmoils, their emotions, their struggles and their passion.And then there is the music, and the photography. In a way everything about this movie somehow fits together. Well done team for a really good movie. Well spent two hours.

sarpkoral I had the opportunity of seeing the film during the film festival in Antalya which is equivalent of Turkish Oscars and liked it a lot.Not only me but an audience of almost 1200 people stood up and were applauding during the entire ending, in tears, which was even more shocking to see in a film festival... The applause was not only for a brilliant movie of course but mostly to a long term-suffered in silence-society who had to say to the Turkish Military 'ENOUGH'! All Turkish men are required to perform military service. But gay men can be exempted from conscript duty provided they first prove their homosexuality."Zenne" depicts the degrading process its main characters endure at an army recruiting center.In the film, military doctors perform anal examinations and hurl homophobic insults at conscripts. They also demand photos of the characters having sex with other men.Gay rights activists say the military has long demanded graphic photo and/or video evidence from men asking to be released from military duty.Zenne Dancer moved Turkish media and about a 100,000 watchers from homophobia to a moving apology.As a groundbreaking film launched, Turkish attitudes to gay and trans-gender people have slowly started improving – in the media at least Zenne Dancer, finally hit the screens, nationwide cinemas, after winning five major awards at the country's foremost film festival, and receiving a shower of attention from the mass media – a shower that unfortunately quickly turned cold.In daily parlance the word ZENNE refers to a man who dresses up like a woman and dances in front of an audience, a custom that goes way back to early Ottoman empire. The film itself is inspired by a true story, that of Ahmet Yildiz, a student who was gunned down by his own father for being openly and unrepentantly homosexual. His was not the first hate crime in Turkey, nor the first gay Honor killing, but probably the first to draw such widespread attention. The film and the subsequent media coverage played an important role in increasing awareness about the hardships trans-gender and gay communities endure in Turkey's patriarchal society.I suggest to everyone to sit and enjoy how a modern and secular country like Turkey's LGBT people live and try to exist in life with breath taking cinematography and acting. ERKAN AVCI and TILBE SARAN are incredible with KEREM CAN like a Greek Statue, as a portrait of a flamboyant traditional dancer.

melihahg Zenne, M.Caner Alper and Mehmat Binay's debut movie was crowned with five awards at the country's foremost film festival Golden Orange Festival in Antalia, Turkey: •SIYAD Best Film (Association of Turkish Filmmakers) •Best First Film •Best Cinematography •Best Support Female Actor •Best Support Male Actor Zenne is inspired by the true story of Ahmet Yildiz, known as a victim of the first Turkish gay honor murder. The fact that Yildiz was killed by his own father, who hasn't been brought to trial since then, is shocking enough to make this movie very interesting. According to the trailer, movie tells the story of "an unlikely trio". In the first part of the film you are being introduced to those three "friends": Can – a free-minded person who is trying to avoid military service (which is obligatory in Turkey) and dances in nightclub as Zenne (the word in colloquial Turkish means male belly dancer) Daniel – German photographer trying to run away from his own troubled past Ahmet – An university student in Istanbul, born and raised in very traditional family in South-Eastern Turkey As their friendship develops, viewer is slowly but surely drawn into turbulent story of homophobia in Turkey, which culminates with the recruiting procedures for homosexuals in Turkish Army. Acting is excellent. It is unbelievable (if not a scandal) that Erkan Avci (Ahmet) is awarded Best Support Male Actor although he is acting the main character role. Besides him, Kerem Can (Can), Tilbe Saran (Sevgi) and Unal Silver (Yilmaz) also did amazing job. There are a couple of dance scenes, which brings Can's inner world to viewer. Those scenes are well blended into movie, usually using parallel editing technique. It is all matched perfectly with Demir Demirkan's dance music. Not to forget Paolo Poti, an Italian composer, who wrote the dramatic score. Technical side of the movie is really superior. Colors and sound mixing are at such level, one wouldn't expect from the Turkish movie. At the end I would like to say that Zenne is a movie I would strongly recommend. Although it describes Turkish society, it also goes far beyond, questioning generic values such as family, pride, tradition… It will definitely leave strong impact on viewers all around the world.