‘Kino 2015’ showcases new German cinema in Turkey

Emrah Güler

The line-up of German films being shown at the Istanbul Film Festival, which runs until April 19, is being talked about synonymously with the words “Kino 2015.” Recent award-winners from Germany such as Sebastian Schipper’s “Victoria” or Christian Petzold’s “Phoenix” are among the highlights of Turkey’s biggest film festival, and these films are also set to be screened in another major festival, the Ankara International Film Festival, within two weeks.

“Kino 2015” is a festival of recent German films and is taking its program to the two festivals in Istanbul and Ankara, before later meeting cinephiles in the western coastal city of İzmir in May, moving to the southeastern city of Diyarbakır in the fall. The move is part of an ongoing initiative by German Films, Germany’s national information and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide.

Every year, German Films selects a country in which to showcase some of its biggest films from the past year, also showing the diversity of new German cinema. This year’s selection is Turkey, and “Kino 2015” is organized in collaboration with the Goethe-Instituts in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir.

The Project Coordinators of “Kino 2015” are Turkish film critic Engin Ertan, Fügen Uğur from the Goethe-Institut Istanbul, and Maike Schantz from German Films.

“The three project coordinators have worked together during the creative process from early stages. The selection of films, the structure, and the content, including the selection of a name, have all been a team effort by the project coordinators,” said Ertan.

“It’s not only the expanding economy and the rapidly increasing cinema admissions that make Turkey such an extremely interesting market for German cinema. The recent shared German-Turkish history is also an important basis for the reception of German films in Turkey,” said Mariette Rissenbeek, German Films’ Managing Director, in a press release for “Kino 2015.”

‘Kino 2015’ travels to four cities

“We would like to intensify our work here and give both audiences and film professionals an
opportunity to get to know the diverse quality of German film-making.” Rissenbeek also said.

This diversity is evident in the selection, which includes feature films, documentaries, children’s films and shorts, most of them screened in major film festivals and some of them being award-winners.

“Kino 2015” rightfully claims the title “festival,” as many of the films will be screened with guests meeting audiences personally.

A runner for the International Competition in the Istanbul Film Festival, “Phoenix” carries the sensibilities and aesthetics of film noir into the setting of post-war Berlin. Director and screenwriter Christian Petzold introduced his award-winner in San Sebastian and Lisbon to the festival audience in Istanbul.

Other guests include Sigrid Hoerner, the director of “Miss Sixty,” a comedy about two people defying the preconceived notions of age, as well as Klaus Maeck, one of the directors of “B-Movie: Lust and Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989,” who also DJ’ed in the afterparty of the movie.

Director Ajat Nasafi will present his documentary “No Land’s Song” in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir. The award-winning Nasafi is also competing for the Human Rights in Cinema award in the Istanbul Film Festival.

After the completion of the Istanbul Film Festival, “Kino 2015” will travel to Ankara for the Ankara International Film Festival, running between April 23 and May 3. Soon after this, İzmir audiences will get the taste of new German cinema between May 5 and 10, where the screenings will take place in the renovated Karaca Sineması.

Visit www.kino2015.org for details, and keep an eye out for the announcement of the Diyarbakır program for this fall. Auf Wiedersehen.