CLOSING FILM: Love, Deutschmarks and Death

Sunday, November 13, 7 pm
Goethe-Institut Washington
1377 R St. NW, Ste. 300
Washington, DC 20009

Metro: U Street, Shaw (Green), Dupont Circle (Red)

Because capacity in the Goethe-Institut Washington is extremely limited, we request that all guests reserve a ticket via Eventbrite for a donation of $5 (all extra fees absorbed by organizer). The proceeds will go entirely to the Friends of the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC.

Ticket holders will be admitted to choose their seats on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tickets

Documentary. Germany (2022) 96 min. German/Turkish w/ English Subtitles

Director: Cem Kaya, Screenwriters: Cem Kaya, Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay, Featuring: İsmet Topçu, Ömer Boral, Yüksel Ergin, İhsan Ergin, Metin Türköz, Adnan Türköz, Yüksel Özkasap, Producers: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay, Stefan Kauertz, Claus Reichel, Florian Schewe, Production Company: filmfaust GmbH

The German Federal Republic’s 1961 recruitment agreement with Turkey not only brought “guest workers” to Germany but also their music. Cem Kaya’s dense documentary film essay is a tutorial in Turkish-German recent history that tells a tale of assembly line jobs, homesickness and family reunification, the bazaar in the elevated railway station at Berlin’s Bülowstraße, xenophobia and racism, the wistful songs of the early years and the hip-hop of the post-reunification period. These are the stories shared by musicians beginning with Metin Türköz and Yüksel Özkasap, to the psychedelic Derdiyoklar and the chart-topping rapper Muhabbet. Their music has evolved a long way from that of German bands and has always developed out of the Turkish community and its desires. This is the world of Radio Yilmaz, various music cassette labels, protest rocker Cem Karaca’s German exile, and wedding bands that also sing in Kurdish and Arabic to meet the demands of the market. Extensive archival research and an interest in Turkish popular culture are recurring themes in Cem Kaya’s work. With Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm, he has created a rhythmic and vividly narrated cinematic encyclopaedia of Turkish music in Germany. [72 Berlinale – PANORAMA DOKUMENTE]



Film|Neu is a cooperation of the Goethe-Institut Washington, the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington, and the Embassy of Switzerland in the United States, with support from JxJ and DC Shorts. Film|Neu is generously funded by the Friends of the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC.