Series
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PRACTISING REVOLUTION

Film programme and discussions with a focus on Belarus

Curated by Marina Naprushkina and Agnieszka Kilian

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Stories, continued

Films with absent protagonists, after the GDR, after 1990

Curated by Anna Zett and Philipp Goll

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Critical Conditions

Fields of action in the environmental crisis

Curated by Sarnt Utamachote, Malve Lippmann, Rosalia Namsai Engchuan and Pia Chakraverti-Würthwein & Eirini Fountedaki

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Curated by Eirini Fountedaki, Cornelia Lund & Holger Lund (fluctuating images), Philip Rizk and Shohreh Shakoory

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Curated by Popo Fan, Tobias Hering, Malve Lippmann, Branka Pavlovic, Can Sungu, Sarnt Utamachote and Florian Wüst

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Director Aylin Kuryel and Fırat Yücel Turkey 2019

57 min, OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Aylin Kuryel and Fırat Yücel

Director Furqan Faridi, Ashfaque EJ, Shaheen Ahmed and Vishu Sejwal India 2019

43, OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Shivramkrishna Patil and Susanne Gupta

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KuirFest Berlin 2019

Queer Feminist Rebels

Curated by Pembe Hayat KuirFest / Pink Life QueerFest, Esma Akyel and Esra Özban

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Skin

#95

Director Afraa Batous Syria, Lebanon 2015

82 min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Lisa Jöris and Afraa Batous

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Ideology in Turkish Cinema

The Figure of the Migrant

Curated by Ömer Alkın

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Ideology in Turkish Cinema

In Turkey by the 1960s and ‘70s, the distinctions between Islamic-conservative, national and socialist positions were already starkly divided. The films from the Yeşilçam film industry in particular make these political conflicts visible. What is remarkable about these films from the period is that migration to Western Europe often serves as a figurative motif to engage with political and ideological conflicts in Turkey: the migrant functions as a vehicle to peddle the ideological agenda of the films. Acting as representatives of the three contrarian positions, the films from Yücel Çakmaklı, Halit Refiğ and Yılmaz Güney play a significant part in German migration history, despite remaining largely unknown in Germany. At the same time, they enable an understanding of the present ideological makeup of the country: between Islam, nationalism and (left-wing) revolutionary drives.

Subtitled for the first time in English, the commented film screenings open up access for the wider public to an important source of the cultural memory of migration.

Ömer Alkın is a media & cultural studies scholar and filmmaker. His research focuses on migration, film and racism. His writings have appeared in numerous books and journals. Most recently, “Die visuelle Kultur der Migration. Geschichte, Ästhetik und Polyzentrierung des Migrationskinos” (2020, transcript). He lives and works in the Ruhr region and in Cologne.

To the events

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BITTER THINGS

Narratives and Memories of Transnational Families

Curated by Malve Lippmann and Can Sungu

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Beyond the War

Syrian Society and Politics before and after 2011

By Amer Katbeh

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Films

Director Yücel Çakmaklı Turkey 1974

90 min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Ömer Alkın

MEMLEKETİM

It is the 1970s in Vienna. The modern Leyla from Istanbul meets the budding Turkish medic Mehmet. They quickly develop feelings for each other. Yet Leyla must soon discover that Mehmet has very different ideas to her: he is planning to move back deep into Anatolia after finishing his education to serve his country. But Leyla’s love for Europe is too big. Will the two lovers find a way out of the dilemma?

Yücel Çakmaklı (1937-2009), born in Anatolian Afyonkarahisar, founded in 1964 the genre Millî Sinema (National-Islamic Cinema), dedicated to the Anatolian-Islamic reality of the country and its rich history. Çakmaklı created numerous series and feature films that primarily dealt with islamic-conservative attitudes and were historically motivated. In his earlier films, Çakmaklı’s characters convert from Westernized individuals to devout Muslims.

Ömer Alkın is a media & cultural studies scholar and filmmaker. His research focuses on migration, film and racism. His writings have appeared in numerous books and journals. Most recently, “Die visuelle Kultur der Migration. Geschichte, Ästhetik und Polyzentrierung des Migrationskinos” (2020, transcript). He lives and works in the Ruhr region and in Cologne.

Director Yücel Çakmaklı Turkey 1973

91 min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Ömer Alkın

OĞLUM OSMAN

At the end of his engineering course in Germany, Osman returns to his conservative Muslim family in Turkey. Upon his arrival, however, his parents notice a complete change in their son. Osman is only interested in women, alcohol and gambling, seeing his return to his Turkish identity as a regression. After a fight with his parents, Osman moves back to his girlfriend Helga in Germany. Yet soon he changes his perspective, embarking on a journey to rediscover his lost Turkish-Islamic roots.

Yücel Çakmaklı (1937-2009), born in Anatolian Afyonkarahisar, founded in 1964 the genre Millî Sinema (National-Islamic Cinema), dedicated to the Anatolian-Islamic reality of the country and its rich history. Çakmaklı created numerous series and feature films that primarily dealt with islamic-conservative attitudes and were historically motivated. In his earlier films, Çakmaklı’s characters convert from Westernized individuals to devout Muslims. 

Ömer Alkın is a media & cultural studies scholar and filmmaker. His research focuses on migration, film and racism. His writings have appeared in numerous books and journals. Most recently, “Die visuelle Kultur der Migration. Geschichte, Ästhetik und Polyzentrierung des Migrationskinos” (2020, transcript). He lives and works in the Ruhr region and in Cologne.

Director Halit Refiğ Turkey 1964

102 min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Ömer Alkın

GURBET KUŞLARI

A family of six, the Bakırcıoğlu family, migrates from Anatolia to Istanbul to try to make it in the city. When the garage they bought turns out to be a con, the family resorts to working poorly-paid jobs. Whilst the two sons struggle with the urban image of women, the sister makes an acquaintance with the liberal high society. There, one of the playboys sexually exploits the good-natured Anatolian. The situation quickly escalates for all involved.

Around the middle of the 1960s, the filmmaker Halit Refiğ (1934 - 2009) put into practise his own version of a “National Cinema” with Ulusal Sinema. He developed it as a reaction to contemporary Turkish film critics who wanted Turkish cinema to emulate the European model. With more than 60 films and numerous series, Refiğ attempts to elevate and distinguish Turkey’s own culture from the West. Refiğ’s films and texts for Ulusal Sinema functioned as a source of inspiration for several generations of classical film-makers in Turkey. 

Ömer Alkın is a media & cultural studies scholar and filmmaker. His research focuses on migration, film and racism. His writings have appeared in numerous books and journals. Most recently, “Die visuelle Kultur der Migration. Geschichte, Ästhetik und Polyzentrierung des Migrationskinos” (2020, transcript). He lives and works in the Ruhr region and in Cologne.

Director Halit Refiğ Turkey 1969

100 min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Ömer Alkın

BİR TÜRK’E GÖNÜL VERDİM

Eva, from Germany, searches for the former “Gastarbeiter” (guest worker) İsmail in his Turkish hometown Kayseri. She hopes to build a future with her former lover and her son. When İsmail rejects both her and their child, the villager Mustafa takes on the humiliated and helpless woman. Eva falls in love with the good-natured Anatolian and soon starts to take up the ways of the village women. Only after this does İsmail become envious and attempts to win back the German woman and their son by any means possible.

Around the middle of the 1960s, the filmmaker Halit Refiğ (1934 - 2009) put into practise his own version of a “National Cinema” through Ulusal Sinema. He developed it as a reaction to the contemporary Turkish film critics who wanted Turkish cinema to emulate the European model. With more than 60 films and numerous series, Refiğ attempts to distinguish and elevate Turkey’s own culture above the West. Refiğ’s films and texts for “Ulusal Sinema“ functioned as a source of inspiration for several generations of classical film-makers in Turkey. 

Ömer Alkın is a media & cultural studies scholar and filmmaker. His research focuses on migration, film and racism. His writings have appeared in numerous books and journals. Most recently, “Die visuelle Kultur der Migration. Geschichte, Ästhetik und Polyzentrierung des Migrationskinos” (2020, transcript). He lives and works in the Ruhr region and in Cologne.

UMUT

#89

Director Yılmaz Güney Turkey 1970

100 min., OV with English subs

Followed by a talk with Ömer Alkın

UMUT

The impoverished carter Cabber loses his horse and cart in a traffic accident in town. After he realises that he will no longer be able to support his family through paid work, he decides to earn his money through roundabout means. So with his last bit of money he invests in a ticket in the national lottery. When this does not come to anything, he throws himself into searching for an intangible treasure lost in the distance: indefinitely leaving his wife and child...  

At the end of the 1960s, the Kurdish actor and filmmaker Yılmaz Güney, originally Yılmaz Pütün (1937-1984), scrutinized the country’s capitalistic structures with his Devrimci Sinema (“Revolutionary Cinema“). His films strongly take up the side of the oppressed. In 1981 he went into exile in Paris and died there two years later. His film Yol (1982) won the Palme d’Or at the film festival in Cannes. 

Ömer Alkın is a media & cultural studies scholar and filmmaker. His research focuses on migration, film and racism. His writings have appeared in numerous books and journals. Most recently, “Die visuelle Kultur der Migration. Geschichte, Ästhetik und Polyzentrierung des Migrationskinos” (2020, transcript). He lives and works in the Ruhr region and in Cologne.

BABA

#90

Turkey 1971

96 min., OV with English subs

BABA

The caretaker Cemal decides to move to Germany as a “Gastarbeiter” (guest worker) to provide a better life for his family. After a German doctor deems Cemal unfit for work, his dreams are shattered. But then his boss’s son commits a murder and Cemal’s employer offers him a fateful deal: if Cemal says he committed the murder, then his boss will take care of his family and provide compensation when he is released. Cemal agrees…

At the end of the 1960s, the Kurdish actor and filmmaker Yılmaz Güney, originally Yılmaz Pütün (1937-1984), scrutinized the country’s capitalistic structures with his Devrimci Sinema (“Revolutionary Cinema“). His films strongly take up the side of the oppressed. In 1981 he went into exile in Paris and died there two years later. His film Yol (1982) won the Palme d’Or at the film festival in Cannes.