Documentary ‘Seyran Ates: Sex, Revolution and Islam’ continues to travel the world
IAWRT Norway vice president Nefise Özkal Lorentzen’s film “Seyran Ates: Sex, Revolution and Islam” has travelled the globe and continues its journey in 2022 and beyond.
It was screened in 29 film festivals in 13 countries in 2021. It has been shown at 16 film festivals in 12 countries so far in 2022. In all, the film has been seen in 21 countries: Denmark, Canada, USA, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, Norway, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, China, Tukey, Serbia, Sweden, Australia, Bangladesh, France, India, Ethiopia, Spain, Greece.
What the film is about:
In the 1960s, the hippies championed the idea of a sexual revolution. They received neither Fatwas nor bodyguards. Today, Seyran Ateş – a Turkish-German lawyer, feminist, and one of the first female imams in Europe – is fighting for a sexual revolution within Islam. In return, she was shot, received fatwas and death threats, and now has to live under constant police protection.
The film has received the following awards:
- BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE | NEW YORK CITY INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL | USA | 2022
- AUDIENCE AWARD – BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE | FIRE!! MOSTRA BARCELONA LGBT FILM FESTIVAL | SPAIN | 2022
- BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE | INTERNATIONAL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL MERLINKA | SERBIA | 2022
This award-winning documentary was also long-listed for an Oscar at the 94th Academy Awards.
For more info on the film, read here.
Nefise is a Turkish-Norwegian writer, filmmaker and professor at the faculty of Audiovisual Media and Creative Technologies at Innland University, Norway. She received her B.A in Political Science at Bosphorus University in Istanbul and her M.A in Media and Communication at the University of Oslo.
Over the past two decades, she has produced and directed several controversial documentaries related to Islam. As a result of her dedication to LGBTQ rights and human rights activism through her films she has been named one of the TOP 10 immigrant role models in Norway.
Her trilogy of films entitled, Gender Me (2008), A Balloon for Allah (2011) and Manislam (2014), brings alive these untold stories through public visibility. Her recent film Seyran Ates: Sex, Revolution and Islamshows that change within Islam is possible.
Nefise has received several awards and nominations, and her films have premiered in prestigious festivals such as IDFA, San Francisco Film Festival, One World Film Festival, Hot Spring Film Festival, Rhode Island Film Festival, CPH: DOX and Goteborg Film Festival among others. She was nominated for the History Makers Award in NYC.
