Fatih Akin and collaborators on transnationality

A couple of people asked me to post the Fatih Akin and Idil Üner quotes I referenced in class yesterday. Here are my translations, along with links to the original German interviews for anyone who is interested.

Akin:
"I am in flux, back and forth, on the bridge. I’ve noticed that I still have my largest audience in Germany, but also a new one in Turkey. And I’ve started to think for both markets. What I write should work here—but also over there. In my experience, if a film works in these two cultures, I can be fairly sure that it will be understood in France or Asia or Mexico. My two places of socialization, Germany and Turkey, represent globalization, so to speak: Whoever understands both systems understands the worldwide contexts. Thus, what I make becomes world cinema." From here.

Üner:
"I’m not a German, I’m a Turk; that’s how I feel. I have a German passport. To say it better: I’m a Berliner with Turkish roots. I don’t really have much to do with the typical second or third generation Turks. I stay away from the whole Kanack Attack movement. I’m definitely not going to call myself a name that was used to insult my parents, a name they are still afraid of. I’ve never had the feeling that I had to clamp onto the Turkish community just to protect my identity or because otherwise I feel pushed away by others. I have seven good friends: two or three Germans, Turks, Greeks. Sometimes we sit with the film crew in Hamburg, and then we’re made up of ten nations. But we have absolutely no need for explanation, designation, or categorization.
We, as the children or grandchildren of the immigrants, have it a lot easier. We profit from the order here, we can go to school, don’t have to work in order to support our families. We can build our lives securely. However, we do have a connection to the whole problem, because we still aren’t completely accepted—not here and also not in Turkey. That’s material for our stories and our films. Fatih Akin didn’t make anything up for Short Sharp Shock. We have the good luck to carry two sides around inside us. The Turkish side is very temperamental, the German is the orderly, that holds its feelings back, in order to function better. This mix is an advantage.” From here.

I have several other links to interviews and articles if anyone is interested, just send me an email and I'll be happy to give you a list.