Melek Leaves (1985)

In 1970, Melek Tez came to Berlin as a young worker from Turkey. A confident woman, she first countered racist resentments and remarks with irony and wit. Jokingly, she even referred to herself as a "Kümmeltürkin", a derogatory German term for Turkish migrants. Yet after fourteen humiliating years, her fighting spirit has given way to resignation: Melek Tez is returning to Turkey. Blending documentary, interviews and re-enacted scenes, director Jeanine Meerapfel chronicles Melek Tez' life experience.

Released Feb. 1, 1985 88 min None+

Genres: Documentary

Keywords: tmdb.woman-director, imdb.f-rated, imdb.unemployment, imdb.turkey-the-country, imdb.thirty-something, imdb.survival, imdb.male-female-relationship + 13 more, imdb.mother-daughter-relationship, imdb.immigration, imdb.immigrant, imdb.germany, imdb.foreigner, imdb.foreign-worker, imdb.deportation, imdb.bureaucracy, imdb.berlin-germany, imdb.absent-mother, imdb.turk, mdblist.three-actors, aspectratio.1-33-1