EXILE NEVER ENDS wins FFF Documentary Film Talent Award 2024
Director Bahar Bektaş receives the FFF Documentary Film Talent Award 2024 for EXILE NEVER ENDS. Sincere congratulations!
About the film: “The longing for your homeland never goes away,” says the filmmaker Bahar Bektaş. Her brother is in prison in Germany. He is supposed to be deported and is waiting for the early transfer to Turkey he has requested. Because there seems to be no end to the waiting, Bahar turns her camera on her Alevi Kurdish family and examines the consequences of being uprooted. Ina Borrmann
Credits:
Writer: Bahar Bektaş. Camera: Antonia Kilian, Meret Madörin. Sound: Lara Brose. Editing: Arash Asahi. Production: Pink Shadow Films. Producer: Antonia Kilian.
About the award winner: Bahar Bektaş was born in Dersim, Turkey, and fled to Germany at the age of nine. She is a trained social pedagogue and completed a master’s degree in screenwriting / dramaturgy at Babelsberg Film University. EXILE NEVER ENDS is her debut as a director.
The jury’s statement
“It is rare for a documentary to capture the full complexity of the experience of exile. EXILE NEVER ENDS is a remarkable exception because it explores two exiles: of a Kurdish family, who fled persecution from Turkey to Germany, and of the two sons who question their relationship with the country they grew up in. It touches on issues such as generational conflict and the challenges of integration without following an agenda of its own. This multi-layered, intimate story is told by Bahar Bektaş, who sensitively traces the complex emotions of her family members, while asserting a space of her own, as she delves into the emotional and geographical realms of displacement and new beginnings. The jury was unanimous in recognising the sensitivity and exploration demonstrated by a very talented director. Congratulations!”
The film at the festival
The winning film EXILE NEVER ENDS was screened at the 39th DOK.fest München.
An award for new talent in documentary film making
Young Bavarian documentary filmmakers whose films are shown at the festival: The FFF-Förderpreis Dokumentarfilm (Documentary Film Talent Award), sponsored by FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, honours local up-and-coming directors at DOK.fest München. The prize is awarded across all series and is endowed with 5,000 euros.
Films by up-and-coming directors that were produced in Bavaria can be nominated. The directors should live in Bavaria, be born in Bavaria or have studied in Bavaria. The criterion for selection is that the director has realised up to one first or second feature film (54 minutes or more). There is no longer an age limit (previously no older than 40 years). Only feature-length films can be nominated for the FFF Talent Award.
Many thanks to our award donor and partner:
