Diasporic Cinema: Turkish-German Filmakers with particular emphasis on generational differences

This PhD dissertation seeks to explore the work and artistic trajectories of Turkish-German filmmakers, focusing in particular on generational differences between them. It privileges filmmakers with a migratory background, who have experienced dislocation, deterritorialisation and who have been marginalised. The thesis is based on the premise that the experience of migration and diaspora has had a manifest impact upon the creative process. Over forty films made by seventeen filmmakers between the 1980s and 2000s about the Turkish diasporic community and their experiences in Germany are analysed within four main thematic frameworks: changing narratives/discourses; the shift in the representation of space; the shift in the use of music; and the shift towards hybrid aesthetics and genres. This reasonably wide scope makes it possible to closely monitor presumed generational differences, and to draw attention to some lesser known filmmakers and their work. It also encapsulates the nascent third generation Turkish-German filmmakers, whose work has not yet been the subject of academic discussions. While this research project examines the concept of diasporic cinema in more general terms, it endeavours to apply key concepts such as the “dialogic imagination”, the “pleasures of hybridity” and the notion of an “accented style” to the specific case of contemporary Turkish-German cinema. In doing so, it combines a literature review, a textual analysis of the selected films and a critical content analysis of the pertinent news materials featuring Turkish-German filmmakers in the Turkish press