‘Growing Up Married’ – a new documentary by UEA’s Dr Eylem Atakav that explores child marriage in Turkey through four women’s voices. Its premiere in London on the 30th of October took place at the Phoenix theatre of Est Finchley.
Child marriage is a little discussed but very real issue in many cultures. Around the world, almost 39,000 girls become child brides every single day. Last year, Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s debut feature Mustang met with near universal praise and got an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language film for its portrayal of girls growing up in in a culture which expects them to marry young. But there are more stories to be told about child brides. Growing up Married, a ground-breaking new documentary by academic and filmmaker Eylem Atakav, gives us some of those stories.
Filmed by the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Dr Eylem Atakav in Izmir in 2015, Growing Up Married explores what happens following child marriages, by focusing on the stories of four women. The documentary contributes to debates around this significant, complex and emotionally charged human rights issue, and signals the need for further research and consideration on the matter.
The film features four Turkish women talking about their experiences as child brides. The oldest bride was 17 years old when she was forced into marriage, the youngest just 14. Their husbands were much older. Child marriage happens in Turkey for a number of complex and intersecting reasons. One of them is the strong presence of patriarchal values in Turkish society. Another is that families receive a sum of money for literally selling their daughters when they reach an age deemed appropriate for marriage, contributing to an unseen economy of child brides.
Turkish-born UK academic Eylem Atakav is a gender representation expert specialising in portrayals of women in Turkish cinema. During her research, she became interested in issues around honour killings and Muslim femininity. She created the UK’s first undergraduate media studies module about Muslim women’s representation at the University of East Anglia, titled ‘Women, Islam and the Media’. With Growing Up Married, her focus is on the stories of women who are rarely represented in the media.
Reviewers have called Growing Up Married “surprising, shocking and realistic at once”.
Dr Atakav teaches courses on women and film; women, Islam and media; and Middle Eastern media. She has contributed to a House of Lords Commission report on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, and is co-leading a project at UEA on British Muslim values.
