1. Program
  2. /
  3. Film Series
  4. /
  5. Cinemas of Relocation
  6. /
  7. Documentations

Documentations

Gastarbeiterstrasse + Betongen som blommar + Invandrarkvinnor

Gastarbeiterstrasse eller “langt därborta finns en liten by” (Guestworker’s road or “far away there is small village”)
Tuncel Kurtiz, Sweden 1978, 60 min., OV with English subtitles. Languages: Swedish, Turkish

Betongen som blommar (The Concrete that Blooms) 
Babis Tsokas/Tensta Film Association, Sweden 1982, 32 min., OV with English subtitles. Language: Swedish

Invandrarkvinnor (Immigrant Women) 
Muammer Özer, Sweden 1984, 18 min., 16mm, OV with English subtitles. Languages: Swedish, Spanish

The trans-European motorway, also known as the “Guest Worker’s Road”, is full of dangers for the migrants who drive to Turkey for their summer break. Gastarbeiterstrasse begins in a used car market, where workers flock to buy wheels for the journey, or to change their old cars. The camera follows them during their long trip upon which many fatal accidents happen. This portrait of this highway is a powerful documentation of the history of labor migration to Europe. Betongen som blommar was a commissioned work for the district council with the mission to provide a more positive portrait of the northern immigrant suburbs of Rinkeby and Tensta in the Stockholm region. Whereas the previous films made by Tensta film association were filmed from the perspective of the immigrant, now both voice-over and interviewees are Swedes. A transition that reveals the purpose and social place of the addressee. Invandrarkvinnor is a documentary made in collaboration with IFFI, the International Association for Immigrant Women in Sweden. Özer’s film is a rare documentation of the work of IFFI and recounts both painful and empowering stories of immigrant women.