Movies

To understand a peoples culture, you have to understand its music.
Confucius, as quoted in the opening scene.

The Film
Director Fatih Akins documentary film Crossing the Bridge The Sound of Istanbul released in 2005 captures the vibrancy of Turkish music and culture and its contemporary influences such as rock, rap and indie alternatives. It explores the various popular musical genres in Istanbul, Turkey in following German avant-garde musician Alexander Hacke from the band Einstrzende Neubauten while he wanders around the streets of Istanbul.

Istanbul is depicted as an innovative center for rock and hip-hop genres. Akin, a German with a Turkish descent, intended the documentary film to be about the urban music scene (Bock, 2009) that looks at cultural influences, heritage and European identity, meant to address issues faced by young people with mixed ethnic and migration backgrounds. Identity is perhaps the strongest framework on which the film operates on, advocating a global or European identity rather than a fixed national identity.

Music, in the film, represents that transnational identity, much like how hip-hop has evolved from an exclusively African American expression piece to a multiracial crew genre. As Clausen, et.al (2009) describes how music is used as a tool an d unifying subject in Crossing the Bridge, Music symbolized the articulation of the discriminated voice of migrants (p. 128), and thus the title crossing the bridge. But in the film, the music does not only cross the bridge of two different territories or national identities, but also of the past and the present. Akin brings together a wide range of tunes, from Romany and Arabesque roots to todays Kurdish dirges and Turkish rap and hip-hop.

Aside from being a metaphor for the Asian-European open identity of Turkish music and culture, the title of the film is also a literal plot device. Akin discovers influences from the western and eastern cultures just by crossing the bridge (Schwarz, 2009, p. 2). The bridge being referred to is the Bosporus that spans a strait that connects Europe and Asia, making Istanbul in itself West and East, Asian and European, open-minded and strictly religious (ibid).

Akins film is also said to be celebrating diversity while tackling the possibility of coexistence of contradictory characteristics (Schwarz, 2009) by way of music, and by cross cutting editing technique to represent the clash between two featured countries, Germany and Turkey. The multi-ethnic director also involves more than 10 musicians and musical groups of different genres and backgrounds in this 90-minute film.

Baba Zula, a psychedelic rock band playing jazzy, oriental and 70s improvisational tunes described as an ironic whiff of flower power mixed with a sample of Arabian Nights (CrossingtheBridge.de). Orient Expressions, composed of two talented DJs, an American saxophone player and a saz virtuoso, create layers of traditional eastern music, Anatolian tunes and Western beats. Duman is a punk group playing traditional Turkish rock originating in Seattle but inspired by Turkey and Istanbuls dark corners. Replikas, when it comes to musical influences, is a band with a predominantly Western style, while having cerebral lyrics and subtle Turkish identity. These and many other artists say their piece and perform their hearts for Fatih Akins documentary of in-betweenness and musical fusion.

Distribution and Funding
One hundred and 50 hours of material had to be edited for seven months  this is more or less the amount of work involved in an independently produced outside the United States. Since the film is led by Turkish-German director Akin and German artist Hacke -- main figures who are already of an unfixed ethnic grounding  the production crew had to settle for compromise in multiple areas of production and distribution.
The original version itself is spoken in three languages  English, German and Turkish. Subtitles had to be placed to provide linguistic continuity for monolingual viewers  if and in case they are reached.

There are also a number of production companies involved, namely InterVista Digital Media and Corazon International in Hamburg, and co-produced by NDR. Bavaria Film International handled worldwide sales in cooperation with the Department of Bavaria Media. Limited distribution was by MK2 Distribution, Pictorion Pictures, R-Film and Rosebud.

The European Union provided the grant for the production of Crossing the Bridge The Sound of Istanbul under the program Getting to Know Europe in celebration of EUs 50th anniversary. Akins project was first considered as an individual program proposal that promotes greater knowledge, within local and regional communities in the United States, of the European Union (EU) and its international role (European Union, 2008). Being a direct commentary of the ties between two EU countries, Akin won the grant that would market the European Union through film distribution channels in America.

The film was also awarded with the National Lottery Award worth 11,340 by the UK Film Council for distribution and exhibition (UK Film Council, 2006). Distribution of the film is also backed by Film Frderung Hamburg and NordMEDIA Fonds.

Crossing the Bridge premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005 and achieved distribution in Canada and the United Kingdom. The reasons for these accomplishments were criticized to be due to Akins influence (Seah, 2006). He is, after all, already an established director acclaimed for his strong dramas, while the documentary film itself is of mediocre quality and storytelling.

Strand Releasing sponsored its domestic video and theatrical distribution, while Alcine Terran handled that of Japan. The film was also screen in Brazil through Imovision, and in Bulgaria through Art Fest Limited.
Crossing the Bridge The Sound of Istanbul grossed for a total of 70,685 domestically  clearly considered a flop. Thanks to its worldwide release, however, it grossed up to 555,754 by its closing date on December 14, 2006. Its release spanned 140 days or 20 weeks starting its opening release on June of the same year (Box Office Mojo).

The film can also be viewed fully online via Google Videos.