Film screening explores 'identity issues faced by immigrants'.

Byline: Syeda Shehrbano Kazim

ISLAMABAD -- The award-winning film Almanya Willkommen (Almanya Welcome to Germany) was screened at the Embassy of Germany.

Christine Rosenberger, head of the embassy's press and culture welcomed guests to the screening, saying: 'This film is about the immigrant society of Germany and depicts the first generation problems and the identity questions of the second and third generations.

'I enjoyed this film when I saw it. It is a light comedy even though it alludes to many of the identity issues faced by immigrants.'

The film premiered at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and won the Deutscher Filmpreis 2011 in the categories Best Script and Best Film.

Set in both the past and present, it describes the experiences of the grandparents who moved to Germany, the children who were born in Turkey but raised in Germany and the grandchildren who are born German. The story begins in the 1960s, when Germany was in the midst of 'Wirtschaftswunder', the economic miracle, and invited immigrants from the world over to come to Germany for job opportunities. Hseyin, unable to provide for his family of four in Turkey, answers that call and moves to Germany to become the million and first immigrant.

Cut to the modern day, Hseyin, now an old man, and his wife receive their German passports, something that delights his wife, Fatma far more than it pleases him. He has also unbeknownst to his family bought a house in the homeland, Turkey, and announces that all of them must take a holiday there to fix it up.

Six year-old Cenk Ylmaz, the youngest son's son, is experiencing problems at school as he is too German for the Turkish diaspora and too Turkish for the Germans. His mother is German and he is convinced that he cannot understand nor speak Turkish. In an attempt to help her cousin, Canan starts to tell Cenk the story of how the family ended up in Germany and their early experiences.

What follows are short defining vignettes that explain who and what these people are. Hseyin had had no intention of moving his family but on a visit home he found that...