Exodus - brief description

a film by Can Candan (1991 - USA/TURKEY - 28 min. - color - video, in Turkish and English with English subtitles)

Exodus is an experimental documentary about the mass exodus of ethnic Bulgarian Turks from Bulgaria to Turkey during the summer of 1989 and its deep impact. It is an attempt to find ways to represent and talk about this tragedy while giving voice to a group of people who usually do not have a chance to let their voices be heard, who are considered statistical numbers that add up to make an "ethnic minority". As the interviews with the ethnic Turks give an account of the exodus as its happening, the filmmaker’s own subjective and descriptive narration illuminates the plight of these people and their desire to maintain their cultural identity in the face of oppression and a forced exodus to the "homeland", while calling attention to issues of representation.

“Official Selection” & “Outstanding Student Video Award”
New England Video and Film Festival
Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 1991

“Official Selection” The 6th Australian International Video Festival
Paddington, Australia, 1991

“Finalist” Dore Schary Awards
New York, New York, USA, 1991

selected broadcasts & screenings

broadcast: Free Speech-TV, Colorado, USA, 1992

broadcast: International Turkish Video & Film Center Cable-TV program, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 1992

broadcast: PCTV, Oakland, California, USA, 1992

broadcast: DUTV, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 1992

broadcast: Channel 5, WCVB-TV-Boston, Needham, Massachusetts, USA 1991

screening: Boston Museum of Fine Arts, New England Video and Film Festival, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 1991

screening: The 6th Australian International Video Festival, Paddington, Australia, 1991

film still