Shirins Hochzeit

Shirin's Wedding

Farmer's daughter Shirin is facing an arranged marriage with the administrator who put her father in a Turkish prison. To escape, she flees to Germany, where she hopes to find Mahmud, the man she regards as her fiancé. In Cologne, Shirin gets work in a factory and finds a place to stay in a home. When she and the other "guest workers" are fired, her residency visa becomes invalid. Out of necessity, she works as a prostitute in the housing for Turkish men, under the thumb of a German pimp. It does not go well for long…

Shot in black-and-white reminiscent of a newsreel, the film provides a documentary perspective on the migrant workers in Germany, while the "naïve" point-of-view of the protagonist on a country that is foreign to her could trigger empathy for a population that had previously not been much explored in cinema. The story's melodramatic turn awakens strong emotional reactions. Turkish nationalists were highly critical of the film and it basically spelled the end of lead Ayten Erten’s acting career. It reached a television audience of millions before also being released theatrically.

Source: 74. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)