Cinema in Turkey forum is happening for the first time as part of the Orient Express Film Days in Bern at the Lichtspiel Kinemathek ,co-hosted by the University of Bern (5th of September ,12pm).
Our Interface commission member Eda Elif Tibet will be joining in with her co-director Maisa Alhafez to speak about the film they made Ballad for Syria .As an engaged anthropologist Eda will discuss co-creation and transformative visual anthropology methodologies in the making of this self-reflexive film that mirrors the life of Maisa Alhafez a Syrian musician whom formerly fled to Istanbul and now lives in the Netherlands.
Synopsis:
A ballad, narrates poetic stories in short stanzas, hence this self-reflective musical documentary mirrors’ the life of Maisa Alhafez a musician and a Syrian refugee living in Istanbul. The film is about her longing to her loved ones as she tries to make a place for her self in the world of the displaced. Her family still in Syria, Maisa's true love (fiance) is in the Netherlands. As of the current EU-Turkey border regime, to unite is very challenging. Not giving up, Maisa works hard for her vision to transform the borders; by building a multicultural community “The oriental Istanbul Mosaic Choir”. A diverse family that sings together, in which she believes through music and love one can heal the wounds of her people and children.
Awards:
The film has been nominated for the best ethno-musicology film award by the Royal Anthropological film festival and is an an official selection of the Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival in the US along with many awards it won from the Independent Hollywood Documentary Film Festival and Calcutta Award of Free speech, has been screened in various universities around the world, and has become part of the visual anthropology curriculum in Harvard.
The film can be seen on the 4th of February at 18pm, at KINO REX Bern, followed with a brief Q&A session with Eda and Maisa.
Orient Express Film Days brings in the most recent award winning fiction and non-fiction cinema from Turkey into Switzerland, and can be followed between 2-6 September at KINO REX Bern.