Emel Celebi: Ain’t No Cinderellas

It’s on the political agenda in most countries, it is being discussed in the EU – undeclared work – and of course it is also the case in Turkey. When it comes to the profession of domestic workers, which does not count for anything, the situation is even worse.

Some brave women do something to change the working conditions for this profession in Turkey. They are launching a campaign demanding human working conditions for domestic workers. The whole process, the solidarity between the women in action, and what comes out of it, has been followed closely by Emel Celebi, an engaged female director, who also stands behind the documentary festival Documentarist.

She is with them in their homes, in one case also at the home of one of the customers, when they talk about compensation for injuries that come from the work, when they set up the ”Broom Academy” to educate colleagues and when they go to lobby the politicians or when they are in the streets to recruit members (photo) and get people to sign petitions for a better, safe and decently paid work. One of the strongest moments, however, is when one of them reads the note from the client of what is expected of her job on that specific day – there is enough for a whole week, as a colleague states.

Strong women characters in a well-made film that you can only give your full sympathy.

The film had its premiere at Istanbul Film Festival. For festival people who are a member of the festival scope, the film is available on this vod. It deserves to travel.

Turkey, 2014, 55 mins.

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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