Directed by Can Candan, Ayse Cetinbas and Gokce Ince, BENIM COCUGUM (MY CHILD) is an extremely brave and forthright documentary about alternative sexualities. It begins mundanely enough, with a series of direct-to-camera interviews with middle-aged men and women talking about their experiences of childbirth, rather in the manner of Sarah Polley's STORIES WE TELL (2012). As the narrative unfolds, so these interviewees begin to talk about the ways in which they discovered how their offspring were either gay or transsexual. For people to talk with such frankness in the Turkish context is a wonderful achievement: even in the metropolitan areas of Istanbul, where people seem outwardly very free and liberal in their attitudes, the subject of alternative sexualities is seldom discussed, and when it is, it is often equated with deviance or illness. What renders BENIN COCOGUM such a groundbreaking piece is the ways in which the interviewees disclose how they came to terms with their children's sexualities - so much so, in fact, that they resolved to join a local LGBT organization dedicated to promoting equal rights. The second half of the film shows them attending meetings, talking to psychologists, and planning a demonstration where they call for equal rights - not just before the law, but in the day-to-day exchanges of life. They are shown walking down Istiklal Street, one of Istanbul's iconic streets, in a phalanx, enjoying the pleasures of community while determined to express their point of view. The fact that the interviewees discuss their feelings with such candor, as well as those of their offspring, is a wonderful achievement - especially in the Turkish context, where LGBT people are often assaulted and even killed for daring to express their sexualities. Traditions still run deep within the mainstream of society. Nonetheless BENIM COCUGUM offers hope for the future; if more people are prepared to come out in public, and then contribute to the work of LGBT organizations, both parents and children alike, then perhaps attitudes might change. We can only hope so.
