Hard to Bear: Women’s Burdens in the Cinema of Yeşim Ustaoğlu

Abstract

The history of female Turkish feature film directors began in the 1950s, but, amongst more than twenty women directors, only a few have made a significant contribution to Turkish film history. Furthermore, since 1990, the most important characteristic of these directors has been that they have ignored women’s issues in their films. Instead, they have focused on relevant political matters and events, including the Kurdish problem, Armenian emigration, relationships between Turks and Greeks, and the 1980 coup when the Turkish military overthrew the civilian government (Öztürk 2004). The release of some of these films caused much debate in Turkey, but they were shown at international film festivals and released abroad with less controversy. Relationships with “Others,” namely Kurds, Armenians, and Greeks, have always been sensitive topics in Turkey, especially after the military coup, and have been virtually taboo in mass media such as film. Liberal Turks consider the diversity of other nationalities and ethnic groups to be enriching, but right-wing conservatives have often found “otherness” to be threatening, particularly when linked to past hostilities. Women directors are among the brave artists who have risked their careers to raise these issues. Clearly, their films were not made for mainstream commercial markets.