The Turk­ish vari­ety artist Zeki Müren was a nation­al phe­nom­e­non. Born in 1931, he began his career as a respectable singer on the radio, before shift­ing direc­tion and becom­ing a flam­boy­ant night­club idol. He would dress effem­i­nate­ly, with lots of makeup and jew­el­ry, and while he was never explic­it about it, his homo­sex­u­al­i­ty was a public secret. A tal­ent­ed singer, he attract­ed a broad audi­ence and became a symbol for Turk­ish unity. After his sudden death in 1996 – a heart attack during a TV appear­ance – he received a state funer­al. Just how deeply Müren affect­ed the lives of dif­fer­ent people becomes clear with this inter­ac­tive tele­phone hot­line. Over 800 people have called in to leave a mes­sage for the deceased singer. (idfa)

Explore a selec­tion of those calls in the phone booth in front of the cinema.