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synopsis
The film begins as a love story between Cahit Cubuk, a poor, handsome Turk, and a young, naive woman from Stuttgart. Hired as a cook, Cahit is one of the first immigrant workers in Germany in the 60's. She wants to become a teacher but is forced by her conservative family to drop out of university. The young woman falls in love with the charismatic Turk. She gets pregnant. And then discovers that Cahit already has a wife and two daughters back in Turkey. Six months into her pregnancy Cahit tells her his seven year old daughter Nazmiye regularly writes him heartbreaking letters, and he needs to visit his familiy. She grudgingly allows him to go back to Turkey for what she believes is a short vacation. Cahit Cubuk never returns. The young woman's family abandons her for unseemly behavior. She, being in her third trimester of her pregnancy is forced to keep working in a hospital in order to afford her pending childbirth. It is a punishing existence. Just minutes before going into labor she has to clean the floor in the delivery room. She gives birth to a boy, Marcus Attila. She writes Cahit and tells him he has a son. He is thrilled, he has always wanted a son. It is spring 1967. Cahit Cubuk tries to convince his German lover to bring his son, Attila Marcus to Turkey. He wants her to live with him and his Turkish wife in Ankara. She refuses. He is determined to see his son. Although he is penniless he hitchhikes to Germany and seeks asylum. But is turned away. It seems he will never see his son. Thirty-eight years later. The son, Attila Marcus -- a well-known German filmmaker -- sets out to find his father. He travels to a remote village in Turkey where his now 72 year-old father lives. He wants to meet his father and hear his story. But he learns much more. He meets his half-sisters Nazmiye and Nursen, who call him "the unreachable star in the sky". The girls, now being grown women and mothers themselves, have suffered from a lack of love all their lives -- their father's attention has always been on his missing son. He was never there for Nazmiye and Nursen, simply because they were GIRLS. For the first time in their lives they confront their father with their hurt feelings, with the support of their brother. They ask: Why is a boy worth more than a girl? Initially, the father doesn't want to talk, but once questioned, he is forced to give answers. The meeting between father and son which was planned as a happy ending to a long story, turns out to be a complicated process of getting to know and accepting each other and each other’s cultures.
reviews
An autobiographical film about a German-Turkish encounter between father and son after over 30 years. The result is a multi-faceted, riveting dialogue not only between father and son but, above all, between very diverse cultures. “My Father the Turk” eschews the settling of old scores, instead it presents in subtle nuances the fate of a family that ranges far beyond the purely personal. Marcus Vetter and Ariane Riecker (co-writers and directors) follow the numerous aspects of this personal family drama in such detail that the gripping story expands into a tightly-crafted portrait of customs and morals.
(Funkkorrespondenz, 04.08.06)
A documentary film that could hardly be more personal and moving - and is also absolutely gripping. The intimacy of the troubled emotions of the father and half-sisters is preserved, sensitive shots and hand-camera scenes capture the dignity of the frank admissions. Corinna Harfouch’s voice-over reading the diary entries of Marcus’ mother Gerlinde showcases these as a quietly recounted life story of its own.
(Westdeutsche Zeitung 03.08.2006)
Marcus Vetter searches for his roots with precise and compelling camera work, undertaking a moving act of brinkmanship between different cultures. Even at close quarters the film preserves a respectful distance, observing the protagonists as they overcome their estrangement.
(Der Spiegel, 31.07.2006)
Where else would one have the opportunity of finding out exactly what happened when in the late 1960s in West Germany a 23-year-old German woman from a conservative, middle-class family and a 29-year-old Turkish cook, with a wife and family back home, fall in love and have a child: how rigorously their environment reacted, what moved them and how they spoke to one another?
(Süddeutsche Zeitung, 01.08.06)
In his film Marcus Vetter plays his double role as observer and observed quite openly. He does not spare himself, he asks and answers questions, puts the other members of his family in the spotlight and focuses on existential questions. The result is a journey full of surprises. Corinna Harfouch reads the passages from his mother’s diary quite beautifully, hitting a suitably undramatic and unpretentious tone. It is a film about parents’ love which is never a matter of course: those who have not experienced it cannot pass it on. Harsh attitudes are the result of a harsh life. The film moves easily along with its protagonists and in so doing delves ever deeper into existential questions. Why are men far more highly regarded in Turkish culture than women?
Why was it so important for Cahit to have a son?
(epdmedien, Fritz Wolf, 12.08.2006)
“My Father the Turk” is a moving film about two people getting to know not only one another but also a different culture. It is a courageous film.
(Frankfurter Rundschau, 01.08.06)
In this very personal film Marcus Atilla Vetter not only opens up his heart, he also has the filmic and dramaturgic means to project this very private story of a separated family into a further dimension. With passages from his mother’s diary and carefully compiled archive footage, he retraces a section of contemporary history from the 1960s. “My Father the Turk” is above all about life itself – about grief, happiness, joy and pain, pangs of guilt and bitter disappointments. A courageous, very moving film that is both inspiring and encouraging since despite its subjectivity it never takes sides for or against the respective persons. A balance that rarely succeeds and that rivets us here for over 90 minutes.
(Berliner Zeitung 1.08.06)
crew
written and directed Marcus Vetter and Ariane Riecker
cinematography Dragomir Radosavljevic
editor Saskia Metten
voice Corinna Harfouch
format Digibeta, 8mm
length 88:30min
year of production BRD 2006 ARD/SWR/ARTE
awards/nominations
INT. FLAHERTIANA FILMFESTIVAL, RUSSIA, 2007
DOCUPOLIS – INT. FILMFESTIVAL BARCELONA, 2007
FESTIVAL DE CINE DOCUMENTAL CHILEREALITY 2007
9TH ANNUAL NEW YORK TURKISH FILMFESTIVAL 2007
PRIX EUROPA 2006
GOLDEN GATE AWARD SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVAL 2007
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILMFESTIVAL NÜRNBERG 2007
AUDIENCE AWARD FILMFESTIVAL VERA FINNLAND 2007
NOMINATION FOR ADOLF GRIMME PREIS 2007
NOMINATION FOR BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERGISCHER DOKUMENTARFILMPREIS 2007
OFFICIAL SELECTION „JORIS IVENS COMPETITION“, IDFA, 2007
OFFICIAL SELECTION GÖTEBURG INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVAL, 2007
OFFICIAL SELECTION SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2007
OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVAL UKRAINE, 2007
OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVAL ECUADOR, 2007
OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERNATIONAL BELLARIA FILMFESTIVAL ITALIEN , 2007
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