Receding Rainbows

Sun, Aug 22, PROG – 2

In 2016 Azerbaijan was ranked as the worst country in Europe for LGBTI population in the annual review of International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). Four years later, in 2020 ILGA Europe again declared Azerbaijan the worst country for LGBTI rights, with the country falling from the score of 5% to just 2% on a scale where zero indicates gross human rights violations and 100 percent is the greatest degree of equality under the law. Turkey followed with a score of 4%.

This mix package of three films underlines the prejudice and discrimination faced by transgender people in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Let’s hope this situation soon improves, and the Rainbow flag will fly high there too.

Devran, a 23-year-old transman, left his home in western Azerbaijan to seek hormonal therapy for gender adaptation surgery in the capital city Baku as more options are available there. Still Devran has to face prejudice and discrimination as not many doctors or health clinics are willing to treat transgender people, even for basic medical treatment.

Lives that get united and get threatened in a single night… a woman who is running away because she was subjected to domestic violence by her husband, a trans woman trying to hold on to life by cooking, and an illegal immigrant who is at the edge of suicide.

In September 2017 police carried out brutal attacks against the LGBT community in Azerbaijan. Dozens of people were arrested and subsequently tortured and raped in prison. Through animation and narratives, this documentary tells the plight of Roma, Katrin and Lisa who fall victim to those police raids. Later they found refuge in Istanbul, but still live under fear as LGBT individuals are one of the most vulnerable groups in Turkey.