Aus der Ferne

At the time I was shooting the film, the public discussion about Turkey‘s accession process to the EU had become quite intense. And it still is. It became almost the major task of the film to avoid immediately falling into the trap associated with the current slogans about Turkey and the stereotypical imagery. Occident, Orient, the West, the East: I can‘t associate anything real with these terms. The starting point for the film was to be able to get an impression at all, and not to conform to some theory or to illustrate something you thought you already knew. I wanted to keep my eyes open for simple, concrete things in everyday life in this country. (Thomas Arslan)