 Nasa Sef Said plays the lead role in the film 'Joenjoy,' which is about immigrants in Turkey. Said's wife Nur Akalın, who is the director of the film, says they are trying to break prejudices about African immigrants. |
Nasa Seif Said could not have imagined that he would one day play the principal role in a Turkish movie. But who could be better suited to the principal role in a film about immigrants in Turkey than the Zanzibar-born Said? The fact that he is married to the director of the film probably also helped him get the role.
Nur Akalın, the director of the movie “Joenjoy,” also plays in the film, though has a very small part. Her husband Said characterizes a man, Jo, from Tanzania and she plays the woman Jo falls in love with. With music from Tanzania in the backdrop of the movie, actors and actresses in the film “Joenjoy” speak both Turkish and Swahili.
Said, who has been living in Turkey for 10 years, came to study tourism at Istanbul University. “Before I started to work with Nur, I was in the textiles and food business,” said Said, who is currently working in the movie business.
Said is disturbed by being cursed at while walking in the street. “They think I don’t speak Turkish. But I do. However, I don’t say anything. It is useless to quarrel with such a mentality,” he said.
The film is dedicated to their African friends who died in unknown ways. “Abdallag Mywinyi, one of the actors, saved his children and wife from a fire at his home but died in the incident. Doctors in the hospital said he smelled like paint thinner. They tried to create an image that he was addicted to thinner. But he was not. After him, another African friend was also killed in a traffic accident. It was said in the court that he was hit by a car driven by a drunken parking lot attendant who took a Ferrari without permission from the owner. I think some of those scenarios are much more imaginative than our movie is,” said Akalın.
“Joenjoy” is a story about a DJ at a bar, Jongo Maruni, and his friends who have moved from Tanzania to Istanbul. The name of the film is the nickname of Maruni, given by his friends. Jo’s love affair with a Turkish girl is a side plot in the film. Tanzanian music and dances are included in several scenes.
Although finished in 2008, the film came to the screen in late 2010. “There are no commercial qualities in the film. For this reason, we participated in film festivals. And as I started my second full-length film, this further delayed the release of the film,” said Akalın.
“Joenjoy was screened in Istanbul in late December. It will also be shown in İzmir, Ankara, Eskişehir, Mardin, Diyarbakır, Batman and Van. We want to show it in refugee camps, too,” Akalın said.
Nur Akalın, the director of the movie “Joenjoy,” also plays in the film, though has a very small part. Her husband Said characterizes a man, Jo, from Tanzania and she plays the woman Jo falls in love with. With music from Tanzania in the backdrop of the movie, actors and actresses in the film “Joenjoy” speak both Turkish and Swahili.
Said, who has been living in Turkey for 10 years, came to study tourism at Istanbul University. “Before I started to work with Nur, I was in the textiles and food business,” said Said, who is currently working in the movie business.
Fighting prejudice
Akalın said they wanted to bring the issues of immigrants in Turkey to public attention. “How could we still, in the 21st century, ignore the death of a ship full of immigrants?” asked Akalın, adding that they intended to break the image of Africans in Turkey being either thieves or drug dealers. “Africans are viewed with prejudice in Turkey because of the image created in American films. I wanted to show the language they speak and what they do in Turkey.”Said is disturbed by being cursed at while walking in the street. “They think I don’t speak Turkish. But I do. However, I don’t say anything. It is useless to quarrel with such a mentality,” he said.
The film is dedicated to their African friends who died in unknown ways. “Abdallag Mywinyi, one of the actors, saved his children and wife from a fire at his home but died in the incident. Doctors in the hospital said he smelled like paint thinner. They tried to create an image that he was addicted to thinner. But he was not. After him, another African friend was also killed in a traffic accident. It was said in the court that he was hit by a car driven by a drunken parking lot attendant who took a Ferrari without permission from the owner. I think some of those scenarios are much more imaginative than our movie is,” said Akalın.
“Joenjoy” is a story about a DJ at a bar, Jongo Maruni, and his friends who have moved from Tanzania to Istanbul. The name of the film is the nickname of Maruni, given by his friends. Jo’s love affair with a Turkish girl is a side plot in the film. Tanzanian music and dances are included in several scenes.
Although finished in 2008, the film came to the screen in late 2010. “There are no commercial qualities in the film. For this reason, we participated in film festivals. And as I started my second full-length film, this further delayed the release of the film,” said Akalın.
“Joenjoy was screened in Istanbul in late December. It will also be shown in İzmir, Ankara, Eskişehir, Mardin, Diyarbakır, Batman and Van. We want to show it in refugee camps, too,” Akalın said.
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