Taşkafa stories of the street Yalan Dünya film yapım ; filmed and directed by Andrea Luka Zimmerman ; producer, Gülen Güler

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Grasshopper Film (Firm), publisher, film distributor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dogs--Turkey.

Dogs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (66 min.)

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. Grasshopper Film 2016

Language Note:

In English, interviews in Turkish and German with English subtitles

Summary:

Taşkafa is a feature length documentary essay about memory and the most necessary forms of belonging, both to a place and to history, through a search for the role played in the city by Istanbul's street dogs and their relationship to its human populations. Through this exploration, the film opens a window on the contested relationships between power and the public, community and categorisation (in location and identity), and the ongoing struggle/resistance against a single way of seeing and being. Despite several major attempts by Istanbul's rulers, politicians and planners over the last 400 years to erase them, the city's street dogs have persisted thanks to an enduring alliance with widespread civilian communities, which recognize and defend their right to co-exist. Taşkafa gathers the voices of diverse Istanbul residents, shopkeepers, and street-based workers, all of whom display a striking commitment to the wellbeing and future of the city's canine population (a community of street dogs - and cats - free of formal ownership but fed and cared for by numerous individuals). Taşkafa is structured around readings by John Berger, from his novel King, a story of hope, dreams, love and resistance, told from the perspective of a dog belonging to a community facing disappearance, even erasure. In Taşkafa, this voice is gifted to a wider community and range of perspectives: to dogs, a city and, finally, to history. John Berger's text and delivery take the viewer on a journey from Karakoy to Hayirsiz'ada, the island where, in the 1800's, tens of thousands of dogs were exiled to die. Offering a collage of testimonials to the inestimable value of non-human populations to the emotional and psychological health of the city and a striking statement.

Notes:

Title is part of the Projectr EDU collection

Description based on online resource; title from title screen

OCLC:

1255892452

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license