ASYAS ELMAS von Ellen Rudnitzki

Kurdish woman Asya Elmas is transsexual and lives in Istanbul. To fight against violence and discrimination, she organizes a beauty contest for transsexuals.

We accompanied Asya with our camera for several weeks. During this time, she and her friends prepare a beauty contest for transsexuals. For Asya, it is a political event that draws attention to state inadequacy and violence as well as everyday discrimination in patriarchal Turkish society and seeks solutions. On the way there, during the preparations, while shopping, sewing clothes, printing and distributing posters, Asya shows us the shadowy world of transgender people, but also her political commitment, an acceptance that she has achieved despite the fact that, like most transsexuals, she has to work as a prostitute.