The movie "Tearing Walls Down", directed by Hebun Polat and Şerif Çiçek, and produced by Adil Demirci, Onur Güler and Yeşim Coşkun, will premiere tonight in Cologne. 

The film is about four female politicians, Figen Yüksekdağ, Gültan Kışanak, Aysel Tuğluk and Sibel Yiğitalp, and is inspired by the books "Tearing Walls Down", a collection of poems written by Yüksekdağ, and "The Purple Color of Kurdish Politics" by Gültan Kışanak.

Hebûn Polat said: “We studied the two books and had discussions with our friends. The title of Figen Yüksekdağ's book "Tearing Walls Down" not only coincided with the political process, but also had a symbolic meaning. Although Figen Yüksekdağ is of Turkish origin and comes from a conservative family, as a revolutionary socialist woman, she fought shoulder to shoulder with the Kurdish people. Gültan Kışanak was elected as the mayor of Amed, the city where she was tortured 40 years ago. These two examples in particular point to the walls we need to demolish today. In other words, we can say that the title of the book and the story found each other."

Secret shooting in Kandıra

Hebûn Polat said that doing politics on the side of the oppressed in Turkey and Kurdistan means paying a price, and added: “We wanted to contribute to this struggle from the field of art and to convey the condition of prison and exile to the audience. We wanted to add a new breath to the struggle, to reach the segments we could not reach before."

Onur Güler, one of the producers of the film, stated that the director Şerif Çiçek shot the film in Europe, while the shootings in Turkey and Kurdistan were carried out by Hebûn Polat. The shooting took place in many different places, from Germany to Amed, from Dersim to Kandıra prison. Güler said: “We encountered many problems during the shootings. We can say that we had serious difficulties, especially on our way to Kandıra prison. We had to shoot in secret there.”

The earthquake occurred while they were filming, said Güler, adding that “therefore, we had to cancel many of our shootings. Our entire team went to the earthquake zone. After the earthquake, we regrouped the crew and completed the remaining footage. Filming took place over a period of 5 months. Together with the production and post-production process, we ended our work in a period of 10 months.”

Gala tonight in Cologne

Güler said that despite the difficulties they were able to complete the film before the 14 May election in Turkey. “The first election date given was June, but after the announcement that in fact it would be held on 14 May, we accelerated our shootings to be able to finish before the elections. We will have our first screening and gala today, 4 May at 8pm at FilmHaus in Cologne.

After the gala, screenings will continue in the cities of Bochum, Frankfurt and Leverkusen in Germany. We are also arranging screenings in the UK and Austria. And, of course, we are planning to hold screenings in Turkey and Kurdistan as well.”

Referring to his expectations from his films, Güler said: "We hope this documentary will enable us to pull one more brick together from those walls to be demolished."

Source: Yeni Özgür Politika