That Frankfurt likes to read has been proven by the success of "Frankfurt reads a book" for quite a few years now. Now, tribute is to be paid to cinema in a similar way. The concept is very similar to that of "Frankfurt liest ein Buch": Within one day, the diversity of Frankfurt's cinema landscape is celebrated and a film shot in the Main metropolis is (re)discovered by Frankfurt residents. The first edition, which will take place on Sunday, October 30, will focus on the cult thriller "Happy Birthday, Turk!". To the event around the film released 30 years ago, Doris Dörrie, Hansa Czypionka, Özay Fecht and many other guests are expected.
The film adaptation of Jakob Arjouni's 1985 novel of the same name takes viewers into the Frankfurt chasms of the early 1990s and shows how private detective Kemal Kayankaya counters everyday racism with sarcastic humor during his investigations in Frankfurt's station district.
"The film was made in the early 1990s, at a time when racism, rejection, stereotypes and prejudice culminated in the most serious racist attacks of the post-war period shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and terms such as 'migration biographies' or 'immigration society' had not yet found their way into public debates," explains Ina Hartwig, head of the Department of Culture and Science. "The film represents an important contemporary document that has lost nothing of its topicality in view of current discussions."
"Happy Birthday, Turk!" was shot largely in the Main metropolis, to the astonishment of the press at the time. The Journal Frankfurt wrote in 1992: "Germany's most successful film director [wants] to prove to the (film) world that more can be produced in Frankfurt than 'Tatort' episodes and early evening series for television. She wants to make the first big, attractive feature film, of which all of Frankfurt has long dreamed."
The director Doris Dörrie and the film team are coming to Frankfurt: Among them the producer Gerd Huber and the actors and actresses Hansa Czypionka, Şiir Eloğlu, Özay Fecht, Lambert Hamel, Doris Kunstmann and Leon Ömer Şimşek, also the Frankfurt author Mathias Altenburg alias Jan Seghers and many other guests.
The extensive program includes 14 events. The film screenings with discussions on various topics related to film are accompanied by the supporting program with reading, exhibition, city tour and more.
You can find the detailed program at: frankfurt-shows-a-film.de
