Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm

Love, Deutschmarks and Death | Liebe, D-Mark und Tod
The German Federal Republic’s 1961 recruitment agreement with Turkey not only brought “guest workers” to Germany but also their music. Cem Kaya’s dense documentary film essay is a tutorial in Turkish-German recent history that tells a tale of assembly line jobs, homesickness and family reunification, the bazaar in the elevated railway station at Berlin’s Bülowstraße, xenophobia and racism, the wistful songs of the early years and the hip-hop of the post-reunification period. These are the stories shared by musicians beginning with Metin Türköz and Yüksel Özkasap, to the psychedelic Derdiyoklar and the chart-topping rapper Muhabbet. Their music has evolved a long way from that of German bands and has always developed out of the Turkish community and its desires. This is the world of Radio Yilmaz, various music cassette labels, protest rocker Cem Karaca’s German exile, and wedding bands that also sing in Kurdish and Arabic to meet the demands of the market. Extensive archival research and an interest in Turkish popular culture are recurring themes in Cem Kaya’s work. With Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm, he has created a rhythmic and vividly narrated cinematic encyclopaedia of Turkish music in Germany.
by Cem Kaya
with İsmet Topçu, Ömer Boral, Yüksel Ergin, İhsan Ergin, Metin Türköz, Adnan Türköz, Yüksel Özkasap, Cevdet Yıldırım, Ercan Demirel, Cavidan Ünal, Ata Canani, Cem Karaca, Betin Güneş, Aykut Şahin, Fehiman Uğurdemir, Cengiz Öztunç, Dede Deli, Mustafa Çetinol, Erdal Karayağız, İzzet Nihat Yarsaloğlu, Hatay Engin, Yasin Kıran, Aytaç Kıran, Serdar Saydan, Serkan Kaynarcalı, Rüştü Elmas, Mustafa Deniz, Oktay Vural, Orhan Amuroğlu, Ümit Gücüyener, Sultan Korkmaz, Bekir Karaoğlan, Ümit Çağlar, Ali Ekber Aydoğan, Killa Hakan, Kabus Kerim, Derya Yıldırım, Tümay Koyuncuoğlu, Rossi Pennino, Kutlu Yurtseven, Erci E., Alper Ağa, Boe B., Tahir Çevik, Volkan Türeli, Nellie, Muhabbet, Aziza A., İmran Ayata, Bülent Kullukcu, Ibrahim Ertalay, Ilkay Kökel, Mehmet Yozgut
Germany 2022 Turkish, German, English 96’ Colour & Black/White Documentary form

With

  • İsmet Topçu
  • Ömer Boral
  • Yüksel Ergin
  • İhsan Ergin
  • Metin Türköz
  • Adnan Türköz
  • Yüksel Özkasap
  • Cevdet Yıldırım
  • Ercan Demirel
  • Cavidan Ünal
  • Ata Canani
  • Cem Karaca
  • Betin Güneş
  • Aykut Şahin
  • Fehiman Uğurdemir
  • Cengiz Öztunç
  • Dede Deli
  • Mustafa Çetinol
  • Erdal Karayağız
  • İzzet Nihat Yarsaloğlu
  • Hatay Engin
  • Yasin Kıran
  • Aytaç Kıran
  • Serdar Saydan
  • Serkan Kaynarcalı
  • Rüştü Elmas
  • Mustafa Deniz
  • Oktay Vural
  • Orhan Amuroğlu
  • Ümit Gücüyener
  • Sultan Korkmaz
  • Bekir Karaoğlan
  • Ümit Çağlar
  • Ali Ekber Aydoğan
  • Killa Hakan
  • Kabus Kerim
  • Derya Yıldırım
  • Tümay Koyuncuoğlu
  • Rossi Pennino
  • Kutlu Yurtseven
  • Erci E.
  • Alper Ağa
  • Boe B.
  • Tahir Çevik
  • Volkan Türeli
  • Nellie
  • Muhabbet
  • Aziza A.
  • İmran Ayata
  • Bülent Kullukcu
  • Ibrahim Ertalay
  • Ilkay Kökel
  • Mehmet Yozgut

Crew

Director Cem Kaya
Screenplay Cem Kaya, Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
Co-Written by Ufuk Cam
Cinematography Cem Kaya, Mahmoud Belakhel, Julius Dommer, Christian Kochmann
Editing Cem Kaya
Sound Design Henning Hein
Sound Fatih Aydin, Armin Badde, Tarik Badaoui, Thorsten Bolzé, Dalia Castel, Tim Gorinski, Cem Kaya, Kris Limbach, Jule Vari
Line Producer Mario von Grumbkow
Associate Producer Yan Schoenefeld
Producers Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay, Stefan Kauertz, Claus Reichel, Florian Schewe

Cem Kaya

Born in Schweinfurt, Germany in 1976, he studied communication design in Stuttgart and worked first as a producer, editor and director of commercials and music videos before moving into documentary. His film Remake, Remix, Rip-Off, about the Turkish Yesilçam film industry that remakes Hollywood blockbusters for the domestic cinema market, premiered at Locarno. He is also a cinematographer and worked with others filming the investigative documentary 77sqm_9:26min, about the reconstruction of the NSU murder of Halit Yozgat, which premiered at documenta 14.

Filmography

2003 Die kalte Platte (The Cold Plate); documentary, co-directors: Chi-Hun Whang, Guido Negenborn 2005 Do Not Listen!; short film 2010 Arabeks – Vom Straßensound zum Massenpop (Arabeks); medium-length documentary, co-director: Gökhan Bulut 2014 Remake, Remix, Rip-Off – About Copy Culture and Turkish Pop Cinema; documentary 2022 Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, Deutschmarks and Death); documentary

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022