Dilim Dönmüyor – Meine Zunge dreht sich nicht

Dilim Dönmüyor – Meine Zunge dreht sich nicht

Serpil Turhan

DE
2013
Documentary
92’
Focus

»Dilim Dönmüyor – Meine Zunge dreht sich nicht is a search into my family’s past and present. In fragments from the lives of three generations, the film narrates of the painful family separation through migration, of the loss of their Kurdish identity and of the search for home.«
– Serpil Turhan

In 1973, Serpil Turhan’s parents migrated from Turkey to Berlin. For more than 30 years, her mother did not return to her home village of Erzincan in Anatolia. So, in 2011, the daughter took the opposite tack and accompanied her grandparents there, only to find an abandoned village alive only in grandparental memories. For the first time, they tell their granddaughter about their childhood – stories of a life before migration. Back in Berlin, Ms Turhan sets about documenting the lives of her parents. She talks to them about their experiences in Germany,  about their memories of the home village and why they no longer speak Kurdish.
Dilim Dönmüyor illuminates the daily life, customs and memories of a family wedged between two worlds.

Director / Script / Cinematography / Sound / Production / Contact

Serpil Turhan

Editing

Eva Hartmann

Serpil Turhan

The actress and director Serpil Turhan was born 1979 in Berlin and grew up there. After a longish stay in England, she studied drama at the Free University of Berlin and attended lectures at the German Film & Television Academy in Berlin (the dffb). In 2006, she transferred to the Karlsruhe University of Arts & Design and studied media art. Dilim Dönmüyor was her graduation film. Her work behind the camera began in 2003 as an assistant director with Rudolf Thome and Erika von Moeller as well as with her own short films. As an actress, Serpil Turhan has appeared in movies by Thomas Arslan, Rudolf Thome and Neco Celik.


Films by Serpil Turhan (Selection)
Herr Berner und die Wolokolamsker Chaussee 2010 | Minimal 2006 | Hazret 2005 | Isyan 2004