Numerous settlements have grown in recent years on the outskirts of Mersin, a city on Turkey’s southern coast. Their structure and appearance is unusual for Turkey: large residential blocks in a circle around a kind of park, with big swimming pools, meeting places, restaurants, and bars in the middle. The apartment balconies all face this artificially constructed center; the residents have turned their backs on the outside. Many of the residents here are 'Deutschländer' – Turks who lived for many years in Germany, saving their money to enjoy life this way now. But they have not really returned to Turkey. Too much has come between them and their old homeland. So the returnees sit on their balconies, beside the pool, or in the restaurant in the evening – and remain among themselves. "Today, almost every documentary film brims over with commentary, leaving the images to limp behind. I want viewers to see something; the pictures are not there to just prove something. The people in these settlements surprised me. They are great at telling stories – about Turkey, about Germany, about their ideas and dreams: dreams they saved for, that they traveled for, that they try to live, and that they have lost." Aysun Bademsoy
Production: Harun Farocki Filmproduktion
Cinematographer: Sophie Maintigneux
Sound: Annegret Fricke
Editor: Clemens Seiz
Producer: Harun Farocki
With: Miray Özdemir, Deniz Özdemir, Şakire Çom, Fikret Çember, Kutlu Çember, Pinar Keskin, Güler Keskin, Mümin Gökçeoğlu, Gökhan Gökçeoğlu, Cemil Uyanik, Meliha Uyanik, Göknur Uyanik, Serhat Uyanik
Format: HD, Color
Running time: 83 min., 25 frames/sec.
Languages: German, Turkish
