Kino der doppelten Kulturen

Language: German

literally ‘cinema of two cultures’

The term is used by the German film critic Georg Seeßlen in an article which appeared in epd Film 12/2000 and is translated in the subtitle as 'Le cinema du métissage' and 'the cinema of inbetween'. 'Kino der doppelten Kulturen' or 'Métissage Filme' (métissage films) are predominantly films made by directors who belong to the third or fourth generation of immigrants. These films are often based on the filmmakers' personal experience of living in-between two cultures. Seeßlen distinguishes the 'Kino der doppelten Kulturen' from the 'Kino der Fremdheit' (lit. cinema of alterity), in his view the precursor of the Kino der doppelten Kulturen. It includes films made by German directors such as Helma Sanders' Shirins Hochzeit (Shirin's Wedding, 1975) or Christian Ziewer's Aus der Ferne sehe ich dieses Land (I See This Land from Afar, 1978) and Fassbinder's film about guest workers Katzelmacher (1969). These first German films about 'foreigners'  are well-intentioned depictions of the difficult living conditions of guest workers who are struggling to find a place in German society. The cinema of two cultures, by contrast, no longer perceives immigrants as 'foreigners' but focuses instead  on the hybridisation of cultures as well as on intracultural tensions within immigrant families. These family conflicts usually occur between the parents, who hold on to the 'old culture' and their children, who represent the 'new culture'. One of the earliest examples is Mehdi Charef Le Thé au harem d'archimedes (Tea in the harem, 1985).  

Cf. also Cinema of double occupancy

Example film: Short Sharp Shock (Kurz und schmerzlos)

References:

Georg Seeßlen, 'Das Kino der doppelten Kulturen', epd Film, 12, 2000

Cf. also Rob Burns, 'Turkish-German cinema: from cultural resistance to transnational cinema?', in: David Clarke (ed.), German Cinema Since Unification, London and New York: Continuum: 2006, pp. 127-150.

Posted by Daniela Berghahn on 29 Jan 2008 • Comment on this term