Synopsis
Semra Ertan was born in Turkey in 1956 and moved to Germany in 1972. She worked as an interpreter and wrote over 350 poems. In 1982, she publicly burnt herself on a street in Hamburg, in protest against xenophobia and racism.
“Mein Name ist Ausländer” (“My name is foreigner”), is the title of a poem by author Semra Ertan. In 1982, in protest against racism in the Federal Republic of Germany, the migrant worker from Turkey set herself on fire at the age of 25. Cana Bilir-Meier offers a portrayal of Ertan’s life through subtle montage of text fragments and footage mosaics. It is a patchwork of history shaped by essayistic storytelling.
Text: Sebastian Höglinger
“Mein Name ist Ausländer” (“My name is foreigner”), is the title of a poem by author Semra Ertan. In 1982, in protest against racism in the Federal Republic of Germany, the migrant worker from Turkey set herself on fire at the age of 25. Cana Bilir-Meier offers a portrayal of Ertan’s life through subtle montage of text fragments and footage mosaics. It is a patchwork of history shaped by essayistic storytelling.
Text: Sebastian Höglinger
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