UK nominates movie on gender-based violence in Turkey for Oscars

LONDON

A British-made documentary about pervasive gender-based violence in Turkey has been selected as the United Kingdom’s Oscar nominee for the 94th Academy Awards, to be held in March in Los Angeles.

Directed by Chloe Fairweather, “Dying to Divorce” has been selected to represent Britain at the Oscars as the official entry in the Best International Feature Film category.

The movie underlines murderous misogyny and the politics behind the wave of femicide in Turkey, a country where one in three women is subjected to some form of domestic violence.

At the heart of the documentary is the work of İpek Bozkurt, the campaigning Turkish lawyer and activist who has guided two Turkish women, Arzu and Kübra, who starred in the documentary.

In the documentary, both Kübra and Arzu tell the uphill battles they had given following the domestic violence they faced, a highly traumatic process due to the prejudices in society.

The film has already been praised at European film festivals, receiving multiple nominations and prizes, however, it is not clear whether it will be screened in Turkish cinemas.

The list of nominations will be revealed on Feb. 8 and the 2022 Oscars will take place on March 27.