Unfortunately, we will not be showing
Oray by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay in our #DeutscherFilmklub this month.
Oray is a young, married Muslim from Hagen. In a dispute, he pronounces the Islamic divorce formula "talaq". In his home community, the Imam explains to him that he must now separate from his wife Burcu for three months. He uses the forced break for a new beginning in Cologne. Here he finds a job at a market and a new Muslim community, where the Imam Bilal leads Oray and he starts to preach himself. But his quick popularity leads to envy, especially from Bilal and one day Burcu surprise visits him. Oray and Burcu realize that the break did them good and that they still love each other. Oray hopes to get some advice from Bilal. However Bilal’s interpretation of "talaq" does not mean pause but divorce. Oray finds himself in a tricky situation between his feelings for Burcu and his religion.
The director Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay was born in Bad Hersfeld, but grew up in Hagen. After graduating from high school, he studied film and literature at the Kusthochschule für Medien in Cologne with the help of the “Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes”. The feature film drama
Oray was his thesis for the graduation from the university and celebrated its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival 2019, where the film was awarded the "Best First Feature Award". Today Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay works in Cologne and has had his own film production company there since 2017.
Please note the film will be shown in German with English subtitles. Admission is free, but the number of seats is limited, so register at
bib-toronto@goethe.de
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