Anyone at Home? Itinerant Identitiesin European Cinema of the 1990s
2002; Wayne State University Press; Volume: 43; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1559-7989
Autores Tópico(s)Cinema and Media Studies
ResumoIt might come as a surprise to find an article on European cinema in a special issue devoted to Middle Eastern cinema. I would like to propose here that a discussion of Turkish cinema and its nexus with European funding schemes complicates and enriches our understanding of inclusion, exclusion and belonging in the new Europe. The Turkish-German-Dutch coproduction Journey to the Sun (1999) which was produced with funding from Eurimages will be read as a paradigmatic text on questions of home and itinerancy. These questions arise not only in relation to subnational minority experiences, but also to institutional and international frameworks of funding, film production, festivals, distribution and reception. The location of many films today can only be determined by charting a new transnational geography. This implies the question whether it is conceivable to imagine a home in itinerancy, and if yes, for whom ... In December 1999, the Seventh London Turkish Film Festival took place at the Rio Cinema in Dalston, an area in North London populated largely by immigrants from Turkey, who, over a period of twenty years, have established an extensive infrastructure of bakeries, banks, butchers, mosques, prize-winning kebab restaurants, and grocery stores-an expatriate community somewhat less well know than Berlin Kreuzberg. The festival, organized by Charles Rubinstein and Vedide Kaymak, has developed into a small, but important outlet for Turkish cinema over the past years, aiming to address the local immigrant community as well as cinephiles across London. In doing so, this festival not only spreads Turkish cinema, but also functions to expand what is considered 'Turkish'. Of the eight feature films shown at the 1999 festival (discounting the short film program), three were produced and set in Germany, among Turkish youth and their families in Berlin and Hamburg. These films-Lola and Bilidikid, Dealer And April Children -had been celebrated by critics as 'New German cinemamade by young Turks' at the Berlin Film Festival, and were also shown at the German Film Festival in London. (Gokturk) Lola and Bilidikid, a film set in the gay and transvestite scene in Berlin, was also shown at the Transgender Festival. Clearly, transnational films cater to multiple audiences. Meanwhile, the owner of a Turkish bookstore in the neighborhood expressed his dismay that this film had been chosen for the opening night, suggesting that it did not present an adequate representation of Turkish society. Transnational films do not always match the taste of diasporic audiences. Four other films at the London Turkish Film Festival were co-productions between Turkey and European countries such as Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, France, the Netherlands and once again Germany, supported by the European Council's co-production fund Eurimages. These coproductions displayed primarily past or present Turkish locations. Harem Soiree is a historical costume drama, set in the Ottoman emperor's harem where a young Italian woman lives through privilege and tragedy during the collapsing days of the empire. Goodbye to Tomorrow takes place in a prison after the 1971 military coup where leaders of the student movement await execution, while Boatman plays out a Turkish Greek love story, which gives rise to amusing complications of international scope in a fishing port on the Aegean coast. The forth film, Journey to the Sun, reaches from Istanbul to the war torn regions in South Eastern Anatolia and tells the story of a Turkish Kurdish friendship, turning into a disturbing quest. Following the logic of catering to multiple audiences, it is important to note that this film was subsequently also shown at the first festival of Kurdish films, hosted by the Rio Cinema. Only one of the eight films at the festival was produced in Turkey, Propaganda, featuring Turkey's star comedian Kemal Sunal as a customs officer who returns to his home village on the Turkish Syrian border in 1948 to install a barbed wire fence running right through the middle of the village, separating long-time friends and lovers. …
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