Director Senka Domanović Serbia / Croatia 2018
87 Min., OV with English subs
Director Emek Bizim İstanbul Bizim initiative Turkey 2016
48 Min., OV with English subs
Followed by a talk with Kaspar Aebi and Senem Aytaç
Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung @ SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA
Film programme and discussions with a focus on Belarus
Curated by Marina Naprushkina and Agnieszka Kilian
Films with absent protagonists, after the GDR, after 1990
Curated by Anna Zett and Philipp Goll
Curated by Sebahattin Şen
Curated by Necati Sönmez
Fields of action in the environmental crisis
Curated by Sarnt Utamachote, Malve Lippmann, Rosalia Namsai Engchuan and Pia Chakraverti-Würthwein & Eirini Fountedaki
Curated by Özge Calafato
Curated by Eirini Fountedaki, Cornelia Lund & Holger Lund (fluctuating images), Philip Rizk and Shohreh Shakoory
Curated by Kaspar Aebi
Curated by Popo Fan
Curated by Sarnt Utamachote and Rosalia Namsai Engchuan
Curated by Popo Fan, Tobias Hering, Malve Lippmann, Branka Pavlovic, Can Sungu, Sarnt Utamachote and Florian Wüst
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
Contract Labor and Internationalism in the GDR
Curated by Tobias Hering and Sun-ju Choi
Romani Perspectives in Film
Curated by Hamze Bytyçi
Curated by Amal Ramsis
Curated by Malve Lippmann and Can Sungu
The so-called individual and economic freedoms within the EU have fundamentally changed the labor market and the living conditions of its people. While some benefit from open borders and the free movement of capital, others encounter asymmetric power structures and exploitation. Some people choose to migrate on account of unemployment and poverty, in the hope of leading a better life in another country. Yet even those that stay develop ideas and ways of asserting themselves within the system. Economic hardship can become an opportunity, but at the same time it serves as a breeding ground for right-wing populism throughout Europe. INTERFERENCES, these are moments in which growing inequalities become visible. In seven film evenings, the series draws attention to stories in which individuals search for ways of dealing with them.
Can Sungu studied film and visual communication design in Istanbul and at the Institute for Art in Context at the Berlin University of the Arts. He has given workshops and seminars in the field of film and published texts on film and migration. As an artist, he participated in numerous exhibitions, including at MMSU Rijeka, Künstlerhaus Vienna and REDCAT Los Angeles. He is co-founder and artistic director of bi‘bak.
Malve Lippmann studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and at the Institute for Art in Context (UdK) in Berlin. As a freelance stage designer and artist, she has been internationally responsible for the design of numerous performances, opera- and theatre productions. Since 2010, Malve Lippmann has been working as a curator and cultural manager, leading artistic workshops and seminars and is active in various cultural- and community projects. She is co-founder and artistic director of bi'bak and SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA.
Queer Feminist Rebels
Curated by Pembe Hayat KuirFest / Pink Life QueerFest, Esma Akyel and Esra Özban
Director Afraa Batous Syria, Lebanon 2015
82 min., OV with English subs
Followed by a talk with Lisa Jöris and Afraa Batous
Chinese X Queer X Film
Curated by Popo Fan
The Figure of the Migrant
Curated by Ömer Alkın
Curated by Necati Sönmez
Shifting Narratives
Curated by Florian Wüst
Narratives and Memories of Transnational Families
Curated by Malve Lippmann and Can Sungu
By Esra Özban
Syrian Society and Politics before and after 2011
By Amer Katbeh
Perspectives on Mobility in African Film
By Enoka Ayemba
By Marie Rasper and Hanna Döring
Mobilities between tourism and migration
By Malve Lippmann and Can Sungu
By Florian Wüst
Parent's and Children's Fates in the Context of Labor Migration
By Malve Lippmann and Can Sungu
Social Criticism in German-Turkish Migration Film
By Can Sungu
By Branka Pavlovic
OV with English subs
Followed by a talk with Can Sungu
Director Carmen Losmann Germany 2011
90 min., OV with English subs
Director Valeska Grisebach Germany, Bulgaria 2017
121 min., OV with German subs
A group of German construction workers set out onto a construction site in the Bulgarian province. The foreign land and the rough, poorly developed landscape awaken their desire for adventure. At the same time, they are confronted with their own prejudices and feelings of mistrust. For two of the men, the nearby village becomes a stage of competition for the recognition and favor of the villagers. Using the example of an EU infrastructure project, Western depicts a little noticed direction of labor migration within the EU from west to east, along with its political and individual difficulties.
Director Nikos Labôt Greece, France 2019
99 min., OV with English subs
For the first time in her life, the housewife Panayiota takes a paid job. She works as a cleaning lady in a newly opened shopping center to feed her family, which is suffering due to the economic crisis. Although she is ruthlessly exploited by the company, for the first time she experiences a sense of self-empowerment through her own salary. With the new colleagues Panayiota experiences the happiest time of her thus far dull life – until the first layoffs happen. Her Job tells the story of the emancipation of a woman in the context of the crisis as both a collapse and a new beginning.
Director Ken Loach UK 2007
96 min., OV with English subs
When Angie gets fired for no good reason from the job placement agency where she works, she uses the opportunity to start her own agency with her roommate Rose. The agency primarily employs workers from Eastern Europe – often illegally. While initially, Angie and Rose see their new business as a way out of their own economic hardship, the agency soon takes advantage of the migrants’ situation by exploiting them. When a deal with a client bursts, the situation dramatically escalates and Angie has to consider how far she wants to go to save her skin. It's a Free World outlines an ambivalent situation without making a one-sided judgement.
Director Marianna Economou Greece 2019
72 min., OV with English subs
The Greek village of Elias, hit hard by the economic crisis, is about to die out. The two cousins Christos and Alexandros together with the grandmas of the village decide to try their luck with organic tomato cultivation. The secret recipe for their tomato sauce is the music of Wagner, which is played on the fields to make the tomatoes grow better. When Tomatoes Met Wagner contrasts the absurd discrepancy between production conditions and market expectations with the inspiring motivation of people who strive to continue despite everything.
Director Martina Parenti and Massimo D'Anolfi Italy 2013
80 min., OV with English subs
The military testing range Salto di Quirra in Sardinia is located in a seemingly unspoiled natural landscape, between mountain ranges and the coast. But since 1956, weapon tests have been carried out here regardless of the environment and the population. Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti document the traces of devastation: the soil is highly contaminated and malformations in the humans and animals grazing on the experimental area frequently occur. By bringing together minimalist images of landscapes with archival footage, Dark Matter depicts an apocalyptic reality that is completely unknown to many.
Director Danis Tanović Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Slovenia 2013
75 min., OV with English subs
Nazif can hardly feed his family by selling metal scrap and old car parts on the outskirts of Sarajevo. When his pregnant wife Senada learns that her unborn child is dead, they must act quickly; but without health insurance, nobody wants to carry out the vital operation. A race against time begins. The amateur actors in An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker play an episode from their own lives, which director Danis Tanović condenses into a winter novella.
Director Nikolaus Geyrhalter Austria, Italy 2018
113 min., OV with English subs
At the Brenner border pass, new measures are planned to seal Austria off from migrants. A fence is being considered in addition to border controls between North and South Tyrol. The residents feel torn: many fear the border fence as well as the reputedly threatening alienation of their native Tyrol. For two years, Nikolaus Geyrhalter documented the region around the Brenner and draws a portrait of a border region which refuses to calm down.
