Diyarbakır.Tourism.Romanticism.Activism

Nadir Sönmez is an actor, playwright and director. He is gay, Turkish and francophone. Diyarbakır is a Kurdish town in the southeast of Turkey.

Nadir Sönmez encountered activists, journalists and artists in Diyarbakır to research LGBTI+ activism in the city.

From the perspective of a tourist flirting with being a participant-observant anthropologist, he makes an autobiographic commentary on solidarity, networking and sex in gay culture.

His video works transport the audience into a black and white fantasy where his one-night stands with Kurdish men have the romantic status of heterosexual honeymoon memories.

Biography

Nadir Sönmez had a French baccalaureate from Galatasaray High school. Hestudied theatre at Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle University. He had an MA on theatre from İstanbul Kadir Has University.  

He is an actor, writer and director of the plays “Peki” (2017 – Pera Museum, 2021 – Sabancı Museum), “Ama” (2019 – Istanbul Fringe Festival, 2021 – Dresden European Festival for Young Stage Directors Festival) and “Les Fils des Hétérosexuels” (2021 – Paris Cité Internationale des Arts).

His first feature film “Ama” was released on Mubi Turkey, in 2022. In 2023, he was selected for International Forum at Berlin Theatertreffen.