The Act of Non-Translation: Audiovisual Yeşilçam Aesthetics in German Film
With their own distinct iconographies and sounds, innovative, polyglot filmmakers such as Fatih Akın and Ilker Çatak--but also already older generations of directors such as Korhan Yurtsever and Tevfik Başer—challenge and innovate German film. In this paper, I would like to discuss this group of filmmakers who through their unique aesthetics that draw from Yeşilçam cinematic traditions create new visions of German/European film. This is achieved, among other things, through the “untranslated” filmic sights and sounds that they use, drawing on Turkish cinematic traditions. Ultimately, I am particularly interested in the conscious, confident act of such non-translation of audiovisual Turkish German aesthetics and traditions, the blatant use of these images and sounds in German film, and the resulting effects these might have on German film in general.
