October 26, 2017• byMichael Strangeways

Yet ANOTHER film festival in Seattle….this one supports films/video from Turkey and includes this gay documentary, MR. GAY SYRIA about Mahmoud Hassino, a gay Syrian refugee and activist in Berlin determined to show the world that gay Syrians are more than just the tragic victims thrown from rooftops by ISIS radicals…as he told Ayşe Toprak, the director of the film. ‘Look, we live. We fight.’ He wanted the world to know about the living gay Syrians, not just the dead ones.”

Hassino then creates the “Mr. Gay Syria” pageant to find a gay Syrian man to compete in the International “Mr. Gay World” pageant. The film documents his quest to stage the pageant among the gay Syrian refugee community in Istanbul, Turkey and its aftermath with a winner who must live in an Islamic world where it’s difficult to be out and gay. Because of the dangers of homophobia, several subjects in this film have their faces obscured to protect them.

This film screens one night only on Friday, November 3rd at SIFF Cinema at The Uptown.

Presented by Seattle Turkish Film Festival

Full Line Up HERE!

Friday, November 3
9:30pm
SIFF Uptown Cinema
$12

The Seattle Turkish Film Festival presents the award winning documentary Mr. Gay Syria.

Husein is a barber in Istanbul, living a double life between his conservative family and his gay identity. Mahmoud is the founder of Syria’s LGBTI movement and is a refugee in Berlin. What brings them together is a dream: to participate in an international beauty contest as an escape from their trapped lives and an answer to their invisibility.

Will the dream come true or will the refugee crisis and the harsh consequences of being gay in the Muslim world shatter it to pieces?which portrays the struggles of Syrian gay refugees living in Istanbul and their pursuit of a dream: to participate in an international beauty contest as an escape from their trapped lives and an answer to their invisibility.

The film’s director and main character will attend a Q&A over Skype after the screening.

Check out a trailer for the fundraising campaign to make the film:

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About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.