Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A project to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the guest-worker treaty between Turkey and Germany

Duvarlar, Mauern, Walls is a feature-length (83 min.) trilingual (in Turkish, German, and English) documentary film about the effects of the fall of the Berlin Wall on the immigrants from Turkey living in post-wall Berlin. It is also a snapshot of this immigrant community in 1991, as most of the filming for Duvarlar, Mauern, Walls, including many hours of interviews (both on audio and video), took place that year, during the 30th anniversary of the guest-worker treaty between Turkey and Germany. Since its completion in 2000, Duvarlar, Mauern, Walls has been shown at conferences, universities, seminars, film festivals, and community groups in Germany, Turkey, Switzerland, USA, Denmark, Norway, Egypt, and France. It has been a useful teaching tool and a discussion-starter about issues such as migration, guest-workers, cultural identity, belonging, history of Berlin, Berlin Wall, xenophobia, racism, etc.
Although Duvarlar, Mauern, Walls has been shown in numerous places, it is not distributed on DVD or online and remains largely inaccessible. It has not been broadcast on television, nor has it been distributed on DVD or via the Internet. Those interested in screening this film, especially academicians, teachers, researchers, social workers, and students can only access the film through its director. Moreover, hours of audio and video recordings, which did not make it into the edited 83 minutes of the documentary remains unknown and inaccessible.
This year I am trying to make this documentary available to the public through DVD or online distribution and a web-based audio-visual digital archive. As 2011 is the 50th anniversary of the guest-worker treaty and the beginning of migration from Turkey, this project will be a meaningful way to commemorate this historical event and create a valuable resource for the public.
I appreciate any type of support.

Can Candan

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