HIDDEN, UPROOTED, LEFT BEHIND

Children, whose parents work abroad and who are left alone in their home country are referred to as "suitcase children", "commuter children" or "euro orphans". Almost 700,000 children of Turkish migrant workers have spent their childhood between Turkey and Germany, as well as numerous cases from Greece, Italy or Yugoslavia from the period of recruitment agreements. Today, it is rather the Eastern European EU countries, where a large part of the population is working in the West because there is no way to earn enough money in their own country. But also in other countries around the world, this fate of children of labour migrants is a sad reality. In five films and three lectures, the stories of families suffering under the circumstances of labour migration are told.

With kind support of Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit des Landes Berlin (LEZ) and the Aktionsfonds QM Soldiner Strasse in the frame of the programme Zukunftsinitiative Stadtteil, Soziale Stadt – Investition in die Zukunft.

Can Sungu is a freelance artist, curator and researcher. He studied film, interdisciplinary arts and visual communication design in Istanbul and Berlin. He gave lectures on film and video production, curated various programs and events on film and migration, and took part in numerous exhibitions. He has worked as a juror and consultant for the Berlinale Forum, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, among others. He is co-founder and artistic director of bi‘bak and Sinema Transtopia in Berlin. Since 2023 he is curator for filmic practices at HKW in Berlin.