Closing Film & Talk – Love, D-Mark and Death
June 27, 2026, 19:00
Love, Deutschmarks and Death, 2022, 96’
Turkish and German; English subtitles
Speakers: Cem Kaya and Ekim Zafer Acun (ŞOKOPOP)
Moderator: Çiğdem Özdemir
The exhibition Love, D-Mark and Death will be concluded with the award-winning documentary of the same name by Cem Kaya: The 60-year history of people from Turkey in Germany, told through their music and lyrics. A range of archive material and contemporary interviews unfurls a fascinating panorama of the creative musical work of guest workers and migrants, from the first to the third generation. A breathtaking, restless, vortex-like ode, empowering and deeply enlightening.
Following the film, director Cem Kaya and Ekim Acun (ŞOKOPOP), who shared the stage at the Maxim Gorki Theater for the video lecture Pop, Pein, Paragraphen, will discuss their work with archival documentation—exploring the challenges of unearthing forgotten histories and the motivation to transform them into a vibrant collective memory.
Cem Kaya was born in 1976 in Schweinfurt, Germany. He studied communication design at the Merz Academy in Stuttgart. After graduating, he worked as a producer, editor, and director on commercials and music videos. In 2010 and 2014, he directed his first feature-length documentaries on Turkish pop culture: Arabesk (2010) and Remake, Remix, Rip-Off (2014). In 2017, he served as the visual designer for the documentary film 77sqm_9:26min by the London-based research group Forensic Architecture. The premiere of the documentary Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm, which explores the music culture of Turkish immigrants living in Germany, took place at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival. The film, which won the Panorama Audience Award there, also received awards from numerous other festivals.
Ekim Zafer Acun (Tunceli, 1988) studied Cinema and Television at Roma Tre University and UAL: London College of Communication. He took part in various exhibitions in London and Istanbul as a visual artist. In 2018, he founded ŞOKOPOP, which looks at the issues of memory, gender and identity through Turkey’s popular culture history. With his documentaries, performances, collages and video works, which come out of intense research processes, he continues to investigate sexuality and censorship through a queer lens.
Registration is not required. The talk will be held in Turkish.
Closing Film & Talk – Love, D-Mark and Death
Screening
June 27, 2026, 19:00
Love, Deutschmarks and Death, 2022, 96’
Turkish and German; English subtitles
Speakers: Cem Kaya and Ekim Zafer Acun (ŞOKOPOP)
Moderator: Çiğdem Özdemir
The exhibition Love, D-Mark and Death will be concluded with the award-winning documentary of the same name by Cem Kaya: The 60-year history of people from Turkey in Germany, told through their music and lyrics. A range of archive material and contemporary interviews unfurls a fascinating panorama of the creative musical work of guest workers and migrants, from the first to the third generation. A breathtaking, restless, vortex-like ode, empowering and deeply enlightening.
Following the film, director Cem Kaya and Ekim Acun (ŞOKOPOP), who shared the stage at the Maxim Gorki Theater for the video lecture Pop, Pein, Paragraphen, will discuss their work with archival documentation—exploring the challenges of unearthing forgotten histories and the motivation to transform them into a vibrant collective memory.
Cem Kaya was born in 1976 in Schweinfurt, Germany. He studied communication design at the Merz Academy in Stuttgart. After graduating, he worked as a producer, editor, and director on commercials and music videos. In 2010 and 2014, he directed his first feature-length documentaries on Turkish pop culture: Arabesk (2010) and Remake, Remix, Rip-Off (2014). In 2017, he served as the visual designer for the documentary film 77sqm_9:26min by the London-based research group Forensic Architecture. The premiere of the documentary Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm, which explores the music culture of Turkish immigrants living in Germany, took place at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival. The film, which won the Panorama Audience Award there, also received awards from numerous other festivals.
Ekim Zafer Acun (Tunceli, 1988) studied Cinema and Television at Roma Tre University and UAL: London College of Communication. He took part in various exhibitions in London and Istanbul as a visual artist. In 2018, he founded ŞOKOPOP, which looks at the issues of memory, gender and identity through Turkey’s popular culture history. With his documentaries, performances, collages and video works, which come out of intense research processes, he continues to investigate sexuality and censorship through a queer lens.
Registration is not required. The talk will be held in Turkish.
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LOVE, D-MARK AND DEATH
