Researches the way war trauma is remembered and institutionalized across generations through various forms of nationalism
Pagination
1-1ISSN
1443-4059Language
engNotes
Laying Bare the Anzac Legend: Interview with Köken Ergun
Dirk de Bruyn
October 2019
Interviews
Issue 92
I am talking with Turkish filmmaker and video artist Köken Ergun at the International Film Festival Rotterdam about a documentary that all Australian and New Zealand audiences should see. Şehitler (Heroes), commissioned by the Australian War Museum, is about the mythologising of trauma, of the First World War campaign on the Gallipoli Peninsula (or Çanakkale). Ergun includes interviews at the monuments with the April 25 pilgrims and tourists that reveal shared moments and differences. He follows the tour coaches where tour guides deliver their spiel. One side has John Simpson and his donkey, the other Corporal Seyit that turned back the British Fleet. A spectrum of emotions are played out here, from Nationalism to familial loss. The ANZAC fallen are respected as brothers, while other locals ruminate on why these tourist intruders are here; let them go back to where they came from. These opinions have an uncannily familiar ring to those that follow contemporary immigration debates in Australia.Research statement
This output researches the impact of war trauma on national identity. How is war trauma manifest in succeeding generations? This out put is significant because it addresses events at the core of Australian national Identity from a different perspective. This research is also part of a portfolio: The Performance of Traumatic Experience (2017-19)Publication classification
JO3 Original Creative Works – Textual WorkScale
NTRO MinorIssue
92Publisher
Senses of CinemaPlace of publication
Melbourne, Vic.Source
Senses of Cinema
