Panel on Turkish German cinema at the SCMS Conference in Philadelphia
Panel at the SCMS Conference in Philadelphia, March 2008.
Daniela Berghahn, leader of the Migrant and Diasporic Cinema Network, convened a panel entitled 'Turkish German Dialogues on Screen' at this year's SCMS (Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference) in Philadelphia. The panel brought together several speakers who had already contributed to the first Conference organised by the Network in Oxford in 2006 and who all share a particular interest in New Turkish German Cinema and in current trends in Turkish film culture.
In a richly illustrated presentation, Professor Randall Halle (University of Pittsburgh) examined experimental Turkish German films by Ayse Polat, Kutlug Ataman, Neco Çelik and Kanak Attak, questioning the parameters of formal experimentation and realist depiction as modes of contending with the hot button issues around migration in Germany and Europe today. Professor Deniz Götkürk (University of California, Berkeley) explored how dressing up in uniform in Serif Gören's Polizei, a popular Turkish comedy set in Berlin-Kreuzberg, mobilizes masquerade and mimicry for purposes of mockery and challenges rituals of governance and images of authority. Professor Savas Arslan (Bahecesehir University) argued that Turkish national cinema is currently a cinema 'in trans': a new discourse about the ‘cinema of Turkey’ indicates a shift away from earlier predominantly nationalist approaches. Dr Daniela Berghahn (Royal Holloway, University of London) considered the representation of identity formation in Turkish German coming-of-age films and suggested that diasporic youth operate as a mediator between cultural difference and seemingly irreconcilable ethnic dichotomies thus functioning as tropes of hybridity in public discourse and popular culture.
For a photo of the contributors to the SCMS Conference Panel, see the Photo Gallery
A special issue of New Cinemas on Turkish German Dialogues on Screen, guest-edited by Daniela Berghahn, is currently in preparation, due to be published in 2009.
Posted by Daniela Berghahn on 13 Mar 2008 •