INTERROGATING COLLECTIVE MEMORY, IDENTITY AND BELONGING
moderated by Gönül Dönmez-Collin
In a republic that rose from the flames of an empire and has seen three coup d’états in its modern history, collective memory is fragile and the questions of identity and belonging are often veiled by the state, society or communal pressure. The most prominent woman film-maker of contemporary Turkish cinema, Yeşim Ustaoğlu has taken a political stance interrogating guilt from loss of integrity; the »denied identities« of a nation striving for homogeneity and the amnesia surrounding the traumas of history. Her characters are determined by their spatio-temporality, the relationship of the individual to the architectural environment appearing as a crucial element. Identity is pivotal to all her films and the transition, as a private person and as a citizen, is the over-riding theme. The discussion will explore Ustaoğlu’s work as a conscientious artist and citizen, highlighting her key motifs.
Yeşim Ustaoğlu
Die türkische Regisseurin und Drehbuchautorin Yeşim Ustaoğlu wurde 1960 in Çaykara geboren. Nach einigen preisgekrönten Kurzfilmen gab sie ihr Spielfilmdebüt 1994 mit İz. Internationale Anerkennung erhielt Yeşim Ustaoğlu 1999 für ihren Film Güneşe Yolculuk, der u. a. auf der Berlinale mit dem Blue Angel Award ausgezeichnet wurde. Auch weitere Filme wie Bulutları Beklerken, Pandora’nın kutusu oder Araf wurden international auf Festivals ausgezeichnet.
Filme von Yeşim Ustaoğlu
Araf (Somewhere in-between) 2012 | Pandora’nın kutusu (Pandora’s Box) 2008 | Sirtlarindaki hayat (Short) 2004 | Bulutları beklerken (Waiting for the Clouds) 2003 | Güneşe Yolculuk (Journey to the Sun) 1999 | İz (The Trace) 1994 | Hotel (Short) 1992 | Duet (Short) 1990| Magnafantagna (Short) 1987 | Bir ani yakalamak (Short) 1984
Gönül Dönmez-Colin
Gönül Dönmez-Colin ist Filmwissenschaftlerin, spezialisiert auf das Kino des Nahen Ostens und Zentralasiens, zu dem sie federführende Publikationen vorgelegt hat. sie berät das Calcutta Film Festival, das Kerala International Film Festival, das Internationale Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg und das Samsung Women’s International Film Festival und hat in zahlreichen Jurys mitgewirkt.
