Films by Barbara Trottnow

Germany 2024, 55 min
by Barbara Trottnow

Purple is probably the most precious colour and was long reserved for the rich and powerful. It is extracted from sea snails. In Mexico, a small number of Mixtec people still know how to dye purple right onsite at the Pacific coast. In the south of France, German artist Inge Boesken Kanold has discovered how to extract a purple pigment and paint with it. These two films continue our series 'Colours as bright as nature'. We introduce people who are ensuring the knowledge of ancient natural dyeing techniques is not lost. It is nice to watch the films in a row, but they also work on their own.

Germany 2022, 29 min
by Barbara Trottnow

A woman dresses in men's clothes to find work. This happened in the years 1919 to 1931. For twelve years, no one noticed that the caring family father Joseph Einsmann was actually a woman called Maria.After First World War, Maria was fired from her job. Together with her friend Helene, she went to Mainz for a new start. In her luggage was her husband's suit, she had taken with her after separating. When the two women found his papers in the jacket, they came up with the idea of Maria taking Joseph's identity. This made it easier for them to find a well-paid job and a place to live. They presented themselves as a married couple, and when Helene then had two children, Maria took on the role as a father.

Germany 2022, 49 min
by Barbara Trottnow

Natural dyeing with plants or sometimes with lice, being thousands of years old, is a very sustainable form of making our world a little more beautiful and colourful. A desire that has always existed!In two short films, we introduce people who successfully strive to apply and develop the old techniques, so they do not get forgotten. We present the DOBAG project in Turkey, where carpet wool is dyed with plants, and we follow Dieter Kaiser in Germany, experimenting with natural dyes for 40 years and now producing a colour palette that is unmatched.It is recommended to watch the films one after the other, as they complement each other well. But each film also works independently.

Germany 2019, 55 min
by Barbara Trottnow

The film accompanies Joan Salomon from New York on a visit to Essenheim. Her Jewish family had to leave the German village in 1934, after the hostilities had become too strong when the Nazis came to power. Only her mother managed to emigrate to America, her grandmother and her aunt were killed in a concentration camp. On the traces of the past she meets old Essenheim women who knew her family.She was born in New York in 1945, but the past also determined her life. Her mother never forgave herself failing to bring her family to America. So she hardly told her daughter anything about her life in Germany.The film describes the desire for home, the search for origin, but also the way those who never been away, deal with the past.

Germany 2015, 87 min
by Barbara Trottnow

Eduard Zuckmayer migrated to Turkey in 1936. At that time he was a quite famous pianist, but the Nazis banned him from his profession. Atatürk asked him to establish the education of music teachers and bring Western music culture to the country. Eduard Zuckmayer headed the music department at Gazi University in Ankara for 32 years. The film is searching for the tracks he left in Turkey. We met former students being very proud on their professor und trying to work in his tradition. We look back on a quite unknown part of Turkish-German history and also give insights into today’s Turkey. The elder brother of the famous author Carl Zuckmayer is quite unknown in Germany, but in Turkey he is still famous and highly respected.It is not long ago, Germans had to refuge and start a new live in foreign countries.Original German version with Turkish or English subtitles available 

Germany 2013, 40 min
by Barbara Trottnow

June Haimoff lives since the mid-eighties in Dalyan (Turkey) and is involved there in the protection of endangered sea turtles. When on their nesting beach a hotel should be built, she launched a global campaign, successfully, the hotel was not built and the Iztuzu beach is now part of a Special Protected Area.On site they all call her Kaptan June. Before the Englishwoman stayed in Dalyan, she sailed with her boat through the Mediterranean. In December 2012, she celebrated her 90th birthday, but full of energy she continues to fight for the protection of the environment. Three years ago she set up a foundation, which is committed to preserve the natural habitat of sea turtles and to protect them from the effects of tourism. Since every year more and more tourists come to the beach. Most of them are day-trippers, intent on seeing some supposedly untouched piece of nature. The number of boats that offer trips to the Turtle Beach has grown constantly. Kaptan June's Foundation now offers all captains to provide the propellers of their boats with a kind of protective cage so the turtles are not injured.

Germany 2010, 87 min
by Barbara Trottnow

A long-term observation on Turkish women migrating to Germany because they marry a Turkish man living there. Once the men’s families have gone to Germany as foreign workers. A language school in Balıkesir (Turkey) is the starting point for the film. There the women learn German, because only with the proof of German knowledge they get a visa for Germany. The film accompanies three women of a German course on their way in a new life. It shows how they have lived in Turkey and how difficult their life is in Germany. Not only the language problems stop them from getting to know their new environment. Happy, in love and looking forward to the future we have got to know the women in Turkey. Later, in Germany they notice, that e.g. her wish to find a job is hardly realizable. When the men’s families came to Germany, there was work for unqualified people, and also the language problems didn’t play an important role. Today this is completely different.

Germany 2006, 60 min
by Barbara Trottnow

In 1966 Emine was only 18 when she left her Turkish village Incesu alone to work in Germany. She could hardly read, write or calculate, as she had only two years of school. Her family hoped she would help them all out of poverty.It is the story of a migration, one example standing for many.The films interest lies in Emine's remarkable frankness in sharing her life and thoughts. At the age of 56, she is looking back.An important part of the film takes place at Incesu, a remote village in Anatolia. Everyday scenes show the contrast between life there and here. This also illustrates how large the leap was Emine dared to make. Used to say YES, Emine learnt to say NO, one year ago she left her husband, a Turk from her village who followed her to Germany. She has three children and four grandchildren.