Wolfsburg
With actors Benno Fürmann and Nina Hoss. Smug, reckless car salesman Phillip Gerber (Fürmann) runs over a young boy in a tragic moment of carelessness, and flees the scene. He follows the boy’s condition until learning of his passing, but doesn’t tell the boy’s grieving and vengeful mother, Laura Reiser (Hoss). Links: IMDB, YouTube (Trailer) […]
Wir sitzen im Süden (Based Down South)
color, Germany/Turkey, Martina Priessner, 88 Min, 2010 Four Turkish-Germans born who grew up in Germany and now live in Istanbul share their different stories and divergent paths that all brought them back to their ancestral homeland: one through deportation, two forced by their parents, and only one, Ciğdem, who came to Turkey of his own […]
Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren (We Forgot to Turn Back)
This made-for-TV documentary film for the series Denk ich an Deutschland (“I think of Germany”) follows Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin and his parents (Mustafa Enver Akin and Cem Akin), as they visit the village the Akin family comes from. The elder Akins were part of a wave of so-called “Gastarbeiter” (“guest workers) who were recruited by the West German […]
Von glücklichen Schafen (Of Happy Sheep)
With actors Narges Rashidi, Marlene Metternich, Benno Fürmann, and Jascha Baum. Young Can (Baum) lives with his sister Segvi (Metternich) and his mother Elmas (Rashidi). Struggling to make ends meet, Elmas works in a brothel but keeps it from her son. When Can finds out, it drives him and his mother apart, and throws their […]
Türkisch für Anfänger (Turkish for Beginners)
With actors Josefine Preuß, Elyas M’Barek, Anna Stieblich, and Adnan Maral. Based on, but not occurring in the same timeline as, the hit German culture-clash sitcom of the same name, “Türkisch für Anfänger” finds Lena Schneider (Preuß) and Cem Öztürk (M’Barek) stuck together on an island after their plane crashes. Like in the series, however, […]
The Green Wave
Ali Samadi Ahadi’s documentary tells the story of Iran’s Green movement and the brutal repression of protests after the disputed presidential elections of 2009. Links: IMDB, YouTube (Trailer) Genre(s): Documentary
The Cut
With actors Tahar Rahim, Hindi Zahra, Makram Khoury, and Simon Akbarian. In Fatih Akin’s monumental epic chronicling one man’s experience of the Armenian genocide and its aftermath, Nazaret Manoogian (Rahim) is spared from execution by an Ottoman soldier. Nazaret henceforth ceases to speak, and spends the rest of his life trying to find his twin […]
Takva (Gottesfurcht, A Man’s Fear of God)
color, Turkey, Özer Kiziltan, 96 Min, 2006 With actors Erkan Can, Meray Ülgen, and Güven Kiraç. A tale of the corruption of religious authority, “Takva” (the Arabic word for “fear of god”) follows humble and devout Sufi Muharrem (Can), who receives a promotion from the Sheikh (Ülgen) of his religious order to become the rent collector […]
Soul Kitchen
With actors Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, and Birol Ünel. When Zinos Kazantsakis (Bousdoukos), chef at a struggling locals-only restaurant in Hamburg, is rendered unable to cook by a back injury, he stirs things up by hiring a more talented chef Shayn Weiss (Ünel) who insists on revamping the menu to haute cuisine. Juggling the tax […]
Sommer in Mezra (Summer in Mezra)
With actors Hussi Kutlucan and Abdurrahman Selvitop. Sick of urban life and his family in Berlin, Süleyman (writer-director Kutlucan) travels to his hometown in Anatolia in search of adventure. Looking for excitement with his uncle, Arzuman (Selvitop), he fails to heed the warning of a shepherd and sets off on a search for hidden treasure. […]