Almanya Acı Vatan

Introduction by Ömer Alkin

Almanya Acı Vatan (Germany, Bitter Homeland) follows the lives of Güldane (Hülya Koçyiğit) and her husband Mahmut (Rahmi Saltuk), who enter into a sham marriage in order to move from Turkey to West Berlin as migrant workers. Combining comedy and melodrama with social criticism, the film shows an intimate look into the lives of Turkish factory workers in West Berlin from the perspective of workers themselves. Directed by renowned filmmaker Şerif Gören (1944-2024), the film was produced and distributed by the Turkish film industry, an historic example of a foreign film production shot in West Germany. (CK)

The screening is also part of the film series Postmigrantische Audiovisionen at University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein.

Ömer Alkin is a media and cultural studies scholar who focuses on aesthetics, migration, racism and audiovisual education. In 2019, he published his study Die visuelle Kultur der Migration, the first encompassing analysis of Turkish-German cinema that includes Turkish productions.