German Movie Nights: Elbow

The German Film Office is pleased to host a special screening of the award-winning film Elbow (2024), followed by a conversation between director Aslı Özarslan and author Fatma Aydemir, moderated by Ela Genzen, Associate Professor of German at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Presented as part of the Goethe-Institut’s “Longing/Belonging” festival in North America.

Please note that the film will be screened in German and Turkish with English subtitles and the conversation will be held in English.

17-year-old Hazal is a Turkish-German teen living in Berlin and dreaming of a future outside of her parents’ bakery. Despite her best efforts to find an apprenticeship, her mediocre grades and numerous rejected applications leave her with few options. For her 18th birthday she wants to escape the everyday grind and hit the clubs with her friends. But the night’s celebration is cut short after the girls are turned away by a bouncer. When the teens are harassed in the subway on their way home, the situation escalates, and Hazal’s frustration erupts into a fatal incident. Forced to flee to Turkey, a country she hardly knows, Hazal must survive at all costs. Based on the award-winning novel Ellbogen by Fatma Aydemir, Aslı Özarslan’s debut feature is a skillfully crafted and intense portrait of a young woman struggling to hold her ground in a society that seems to cast her aside.

“Melia Kara lends a multi-layered authenticity to this character, who is often still childlike and then again so determined. We follow her through dark alleyways and into dimly lit rooms, driven by an impulsiveness that doesn’t know where to go. It is a harrowing film for which one wishes a happy ending—for the sake of Hazal and German society.” (epd Film)

Elbow premiered in the “Generations” section of 74th Berlinale and has won multiple awards since then, including the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Visit www.germanfilmoffice.us for more information.

Host or Publisher German Film Office