Making a film with your own family can sometimes be the only way to create an unbiased and less censored space for the stories of individual family members and yourself, and to make experiences open to discussion, precisely through the presence and witnessing by the camera and a team – including experiences of violence. Biene Pilavci’s film is a feminist analysis of a heteronormative family and a Turkish-German diasporic family history. »Will I ever be able to find happiness? If even my parents and their parents couldn’t?« Diary entries and old VHS recordings provide the foundation for this impressive family film. It not only tells the family story from the different perspectives of individual family members, Pilavci also addresses social taboos and criticises the difficult, racist working and living conditions of her family in Germany. It also represents a remarkable attempt at a dialogue involving all members of the family. The collaborative filmmaking process creates an opportunity and a form of empowerment for parts of her family and herself, while also engaging the audience with her analytical view of the smallest unit that exists in society – the family. It is a view of family and society that no person can truly escape.

Guest: Biene Pilavci

Awards for »Dancing Alone«
Lobende Erwähnung der Jury – DOK.fest München
Bester Dokumentarfilm – Achtung Berlin
Bester Dokumentarfilm – Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival
Bester internationaler Dokumentarfilm – Astra Filmfestival Sibiu/Rumänien
Bester internationaler Dokumentarfilm – Cronograf, Chișinău/Republik Moldau