Moving between documentary and fiction, Im Niemandsland tells the story of Ahmet and his friends. Read as ‘marginalized’ by society, they cherish their own alternate world, one in which figures such as James Dean and Elvis Presley become their role models. The third part of Hans Andreas Guttner’s pentalogy, Europa – Ein transnationaler Traum (Europe – A Transnational Dream) is a non-judgemental portrayal of the life of young men from Turkey living in Munich and the conflicts they encounter. Rather, it acknowledges these very conflicts and emphasizes a kind of escapism that appears necessary when living in a state of uncertainty. (EAK)

Hans Andreas Guttner is a film writer, director, producer and founder of the production company Sisyphos Film. His best-known films are the pentalogy Europa – Ein transnationaler Traum, consisting of Alamanya Alamanya – Germania Germania (1979), Familie Villano kehrt nicht zurück (1981), Im Niemandsland (1984), Dein Land ist mein Land (1989) and Kreuz und Quer (1996).

Cem Kaya is a German filmmaker who works with found footage and archive material. In his docu-essays, he assembles clips from feature films, commercials, documentaries and private footage into crafty collages. This colorful mix of material and his own documentary observations are the ingredients for his insightful, sometimes whimsical and often hilarious docu-essays.

Esra Akkaya is a literary theorist. She is currently writing her doctoral thesis at the FU Berlin as an associate of the Selma Stern Centre for Jewish Studies and is a board member of bi’bak e.V.