- Occupation
Director - Country
Austria
Heubrandtner Astrid
In May 2003 Astrid visited her cousin Claudia who lives in Damascus with her husband and children. Claudia has become a practicing muslim. Islam determines her thinking and maintains order in her everyday life. The documentary compares the completely different lives of two women. It is a journey into their common childhood as well as a very personal but critical confrontation with the subject of women in Islam and women`s roles in general.
My House Stood in Sulukule
Land acquisition for luxury apartment development forces a 600 year old Roma quarter in Istanbul to face the eviction. Sulukule, a run-down district in Istanbul, is the oldest Roma settlement in the world. Until the 1990ies the Roma made a living through music and dance. Sulukule was the home of nearly 40 entertainment houses which were popular with Turks and tourists until the clubs were closed down in the 1990ies and 2005 an urban renewal project started. The municipality wanted to buy all the buildings and replace them with luxury villas, transforming the neighbourhood. The film depicts Sulukule as an example for the numerous urban renewal and gentrification projects world-wide and their social consequences.