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Ein Fest für Beyhan

Celebration for Beyhan
Retrospective 2019
© Ayse Polat
The director, born 1970 in Malatya, Turkey, uses surrealistic scenes to trace the odyssey of a young woman between two different worlds. She spent her childhood in the stark Anatolian countryside and now lives in a large city in northern Germany. In her imagination, she returns from here to there. Trains, train stations, tracks – Beyhan’s existence has something transitory about it. That state is rendered into words in an exchange with a fellow train traveller, played by Otto Sander: “Are you on your way somewhere, or on your way back?” “Neither, or rather, both.”
by Ayşe Polat Germany 1994 German, Turkish 25’ Colour

Crew

Director Ayşe Polat

Additional information

Film print: International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

Ayşe Polat

Born in 1970 in Malatya, Turkey, Ayşe Polat studied German, philosophy and cultural studies and works as a director, screenwriter and producer. Her debut film Auslandstournee (2000) won several prizes at international festivals. Her second film En Garde (2004) opened the Locarno Film Festival and was awarded the Silver Leopard for Best Film and Best Actress. In 2006, Polat staged her first theatrical work at Berlin’s Hebbel am Ufer theatre, entitled “Otobüs.”

Filmography

1992 Fremdennacht; 14 min. 1994 Ein Fest für Beyhan; 25 min. 1997 Gräfin Sophia Hatun; 16 min. 2000 Auslandstournee; 91 min. 2004 En Garde; 94 min. 2010 Luks Glück; 91 min. 2013 Die Erbin; 75 min. 2016 Die Anderen; 65 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021