Semih Kaplanoglu was born in 1963, in Izmir. He received BS in Cinema Television from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Dokuz Eylul Universiy, Izmir in 1984.

He was the scriptwriter and director of the 52 Episode TV serial “Sehnaz Tango” which was a prestigious work in TV at the time.

Semih Kaplanoglu’s debut “Away From Home” (Herkes Kendi Evinde), apart from winning many awards, attended to many festivals around the world.

His second feature film “Angel’s Fall” (Melegin Dususu) has received a wider interest among international film critics and audience. After having World Premiere at the 55th Berlin Film Festival, the film has won The Best Film Award in Nantes 3 Continents, Kerala International and Barcelona Independent Film Festivals. And the FIPRESCI Award was given by the international jury in 24th International Istanbul Film Festival. The film still continues its journey among international festivals all around the world.

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Born on 16.7.1962 in Braunschweig. elementary school in Ankara, Turkey. Returned to Germany In 1971. Studied German Literature and History for a year in Munich. Practical training in film. Studied Film from at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. He has been working as a writer and filmmaker since 1992.

Thomas Arslan belongs to a group of German directors, who have been labelled “Berlin School“. What they have in common is an unusual level of aesthetic reflection. It makes itself felt - as an absence of cliché and stupidity - in every single frame for example of his film “From Far Away (Aus der ferne)” that begins in Istanbul and moves to Turkey’s most eastern regions.

Turkey is the country of his childhood and this might explain why he prefers to show children in this film. Children immersed in play and activity, but also children at work and children reacting playfully to the camera’s presence, thereby always making the camera’s absence felt, the absence of that which makes you see what is there.

Arslan’s camera moves very little. It follows and presents the movement East by filming the roads travelled on the way. Occasionally it opens places and spaces in wonderful sweeping pans, giving a sense not simply of an openness to the world’s “being there”, but also of the power of a documentary to make it visible - within the limits, of course, of the tautologically possible.

Thomas Arslan’s austere films, reminiscent of Robert Bresson, probably provide the most precise social analyses. They explore the various paths open to those of mixed ethnicity: viz. crime (DEALER, 1999), adaptation or return (GESCHWISTER (“Brothers and Sisters”), 2000) or the search for self-determination (DER SCHÖNE TAG (“A Fine Day”), 2002), and his heroes and heroines invariably come up against the boundaries set by society. Where can cultural “halfbreeds” go in Germany? That is the question posed in the films of the ’90s. Virtually anywhere, say the films of Fatih Akin. Virtually nowhere, say those of Thomas Arslan.

Sources:

Turkish Cinema Newsletter

FilmPortal.de
More reading about Thomas Arslan’s works:

“From Far Away” a film by Thomas Arslan
German Film and Migration - A History of Perception 

One more thing: ‘German-Turks’. Thomas Arslan for example

Between Cultures - Third-Generation Immigrant Cinema

Born in Los Angeles, Leslie became a traveler at the age of one. First, her US Air Force father moved her and her family all over America, and then all over the world.

It was while she was in Rome that she began her career in the arts, first in music and theatre. After a couple of years there, she moved to writing and the production side of entertainment in San Diego after getting a degree in Marketing and English Literature from San Diego State.

But not until 1985, after she received her JD from Lincoln Law School did she move to Turkey – To Diyarbakir as a civilian contract specialist for the American government. Over her 15 years in Turkey, she taught English and contract law (of course), represented American companies in the military market, and . . . repaired helicopters for the Turkish Army! She also worked as a legal and technical consultant for several Turkish and American companies, including Etap Holding (previously Coca Cola Turkey) of Izmir and Allied Signal of New Jersey.

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Mennan Yapo (Mennan Yapicioglu) was born in 1966 in Munich to Turkish parents. Since 1995, Yapo has written several screenplays in German as well as in English; he produced three short films as an executive producer and has appeared as a supporting actor in Peter Greenaway’s “The Pillow Book” (1996) and Wolfgang Becker’s “Good Bye, Lenin!” (2003). Yapo’s first directing project, the short film “Framed”, was supported by the FilmFernsehFond Bayern and the Filmstiftung NRW.

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Mercan Dede believes that when you put digital, electronic sounds together with hand-made, human ones, you can create universal language, capable of uniting old and young, ancient and modern, East and West. It’s a bold claim, but the Turkish-born and Montreal-based musician/producer/DJ has the career and the music to back it up. When he takes the stage with his group Secret Tribe, he hovers at the side behind his turntables and electronics, occasionally picking up a traditional wooden flute, or ney to float in sweet, breathy melodies, while masters of the kanun (zither), clarinet, darbuka (hand drum) and whatever other instruments he’s decided to include that night, ornament his grooves and spin magical, trance melodies to match the whirling of the group’s spectacular dervish dancer, Mira Burke.

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Turkish artist Fikret Atay creates videos that offer short vignettes of life in Batman, a Kurdish city near the Iraqi-Turkish border. Using a hand-held camera and natural lighting, Atay films local residents as they perform traditional dances, beat makeshift drums, and mimic guerrilla maneuvers.

His simple style lends a frank authenticity to the images, yet the meanings of the performers’ actions remain mysterious to viewers who are unfamiliar with the local culture. Despite the difficulties of filming in the highly charged political atmosphere of Batman, Atay’s insistence on the importance of location gives the work a presence and power unattainable in any other setting.

Little lessons in joy

The transformative power of art is the real subject of Fikret Atay’s trio of brief videos at the Hammer Museum.

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