Istanbul Express

Photos by Maartje Alders

We arrived in Vienna just before 9 this morning.

We lasted about 7 minutes on the 23.21 from Frankfurt Gbh (carriage 253) before being told to keep quiet or we’d be chucked off. This is a record for me, and I have taken A LOT of couchettes and snow trains etc. I tried to propose a silent game such as Chinese Whispers/Broken Telephone/Arab Phone (choose your translation of choice) as a compromise between having fun and shutting up…but was so tired I couldn’t think of a decent thing to whisper.

We’ve been struck down by diarrhoea (sorry for those of you eating lunch) too so San Sebastian train was an odd mix of late night raucousness, Spanish conversations at 3am about boys, and silent sleeping invalids…we blame the daily dose of Turkish food and general poor diet of station coffee and street sausages.

But the last couple of days have been a really pleasant surprise…Essen was the most ‘unknown’ destination for most of us. In fact, I don’t think anyone on the train had been before.

We stayed in Marxloh (www.madeinmarxloh.com) in Duisburg, a 15 minute train ride from Essen. It is a predominantly Turkish neighbourhood with the most extravagant bridal dress displays in the most wedding shops I have ever seen. The Made in Marxloh guys are truly inspiring, check out their website. They work on the 5th floor of an old bunker with views of the Ruhr factories (and IKEA).

On Thursday night, they threw a party and Paulo Martinho found a soul mate, someone he could really talk to…

Paulo and his Captain

Yesterday, we worked from the Unperfekt Haus in central Essen, following a recommendation from the lovely Mira from Ecce. Ironically, it was perfect. Fast Wifi, all you can eat buffet of delicious homemade food, cheerful staff including a friendly transvestite and an assortment of miniature dogs….

By Elisabeth Mitchell

Another great evening for us people on the San Sebastian Train. The place we’re staying at in Brussels is a kind of warehouse used for theatre- and filmmakers. Its two spaces feel like a big toy store with loads of light and sound equipment laying around and props everywhere - there’s a huge electronic car racetrack. The one you always dreamed of as a little boy but never got to have. We were treated to a private jazz concert after dinner followed by the screening of Little Baby Jesus of Flanders. It was beamed on a huge screen, with a great soundsystem (this place is just awesome). The D.O.P. of the film, Hans Bruch, was here too, for a discussion afterwards. The evening was concluded with some dancing. Until the neighbours complained.

Then we slept very cosily indeed…

Things change very quick on this journey. We expected to be editing all day, but just before going to bed, we got a phone call to come and film today. So in a few minutes, when I finish writing this, we’ll be off for another hectic day of shooting.

By Sander Lopes.Cardoso

Young filmmaker Severine Beaudot prepared for her Istanbul Express experience by taking the Paris - Munich train. Here's some musings on the different people and languages she encountered along the way...

Last night, I took the night train from Paris to Munich in order to get my camera for Istanbul Express. I wanted to save money, so I slept in a “Sitzabteilung”, where you can only sit. I am pretty used to it, I have been doing that for 5 years, but the journey is always different. One time, a few days after Christmas, the train was full of people, ski material, luggage… I forgot my reservation, so I had to sit all the night on my bag in the bicycle area. I met there 2 Belgian guys going to Vienna, and one German going to Augsburg. We talked about love, revolution, politics, dreams… We bought all the biers that the barkeeper had in his trolley. In the middle of the night, I felt asleep.

A little bit later, I was woken up by a strong white light… The frontier police. “Mademoiselle, vos papiers s il vous plait”, “Ausweis, bitte”, „ID, please“. I was in front of four big policemen, trying to explain what I was doing here, alone in this empty area, sleeping between a snowboard and ski shoes, and surrounded by twelve empty beers… In the train today it was different. 2 old people came into my “Sitzabteilung” and woke me up in Metz. They tried to make not so much noise, but I was tired and angry. I didnt understand a word of their langage. But I could not believe that they would stay until Munich, because they were really old, and nobody can really sleep on these seats.. At 6.30, I woke up, they were still there. I tried to explain that our train was delayed. The old woman gave me a cup of coffee, with a bit of brandy. I asked them where they were going. They spoke a language that I could not understand. After many attempts, I understood that they had visited their daughter in Saarbrücken, and that they wanted to go back to Romania. They will have minimum one more day of travel, because of the delay of our train. But they could not explain it in any language. In Munich, I decided to go with them to the ticket office and find a solution. They couldn't speak a word of French, German or English. But I had an encounter with them. And in those trains, it happens often…

Originally published on the Istanbul Express official blog

NISI MASA is seeking talented applicants for Istanbul Express, an itinerant filmmaking workshop exploring the linguistic landscapes of our fast-changing and multicultural Europe. The event will take place from 20th September – 16th October 2010.

++__Deadline for applications 16th July!__++

45 young directors, cinematographers and sound designers will be divided into 15 crews, travelling by train along 3 different routes and arriving together in Istanbul:

• Tallinn / Helsinki / Turku / Stockholm / Berlin / Prague / Bratislava / Bucharest / Istanbul
• San Sebastián / Paris / Brussels / Amsterdam / Essen / Vienna / Budapest / Sofia / Istanbul
• Turin / Ljubljana / Zagreb / Pécs / Belgrade / Skopje / Thessaloniki / Istanbul

Tutored by professionals, along the way they will shoot short films on the topic of multilingualism, investigating its ties with cultural identity, minorities, mobility, urban environments, and even love relationships.

Slow travel towards the edges of Europe

Over the last decades the eradication of borders for EU citizens and the rise of low-cost air travel have allowed many to live and work where they please. Yet we don’t take so much time anymore to experience travelling from one place to another. Crossing multiple borders and stopping to experience different linguistic situations first-hand is surely the best way to understand them. And cinema is the ultimate tool to pass on the voices of the New Europe to a larger audience.

In 2008 our successful “Cine-Train” project brought young filmmakers from Moscow to Vladivostok along the Trans-Siberian railroad track. NISI MASA is now turning its gaze towards another country on the edge of Europe and Asia - Turkey. Of the countries on the waiting list for EU membership, none is more hotly debated. Many believe that it needs large political and economic restructuring, but moreover it seems to be a question of culture: some argue that Turkey is more Asian than European, and a union involving a country with such a large Muslim population is often feared.

Istanbul, European Capital of Culture 2010

With Istanbul’s celebrations as European Cultural Capital in 2010, there’s no better time to re-examine this situation. Istanbul is geographically the closest Turkish city to the EU, and (as all those having any basic familiarity with our continent’s history should know) has had strong connections to Europe for centuries. In the most literal sense though, as of 1883 the famous “Orient Express” train connected Istanbul to cities such as Paris, Vienna, Budapest and Sofia. The mythic journeys on the Orient Express have captured the imaginations of authors such as Graham Greene, Agatha Christie and Bram Stoker. Some well-known film narratives have of course taken place in the train. And now we intend to create our very own…

See our website www.nisimasa.com for more information!