cinematographer | berlin
cinematographer | berlin
Direction: Martina Priessner
Editing: Bettina Blickwede
Sound: Robert F. Kellner
Production: Claudia Wolf, pangeafilm
Production partner: mpool, Telefactory
Programme Manager: Frank Seyberth, ZDF „Das kleine Fernsehspiel“
World-Premiere: 29. International Film Festival Istanbul 3-18 April, 2010
Synopsis:
They answer the phone as Ralf Becker and Ilona Manzke. Friendly, patient and competent, they work for a company based »down south« as they explain to customers enquiring as to the business location. But these call centre agents who speak perfect German with endearing regional accents are actually based a little further south than their customers might imagine, namely in huge, open-plan air-conditioned offices in Istanbul. German companies from Lufthansa to Neckermann have come here to find qualified staff for low wages.
What Bülent (30), Murat (39), Fatoş (43) and Ciğdem (33) share are memories of their childhood and youth in Germany. Now all of them live in Istanbul, three of them against their will. Fatoş and Murat were forced to go to Turkey by their parents; Bülent was deported five years ago. Only Ciğdem, the young manager with a German passport freely opted for a life in Istanbul. But even after decades in their parents’ country of origin, the other three have never really managed to make it their home. Instead, they have constructed a »surrogate Germany« for themselves.
Trailer