Rotkohl und Blaukraut

ROTKOHL UND BLAUKRAUT is a documentary portrait of two families with German and Turkish backgrounds living in Germany’s Ruhr district. The film examines the social network of the protagonists and portrays them as people who build a bridge between two cultures, religions and traditions. These protagonists were accompanied by the camera crew for one month. The film tries to show how the protagonists’ background, cultural and religious upbringing can either enrich or hinder them in their everyday lives.
The Simsir-Sengelhoff family live in a terraced house in the small town of Marl near Recklinghausen in Germany’s Ruhr district. They are a family of four: husband and father Hakan Serdar Simsir, a 33-year-old business administration graduate of Turkish descent born in Germany; his 35-year-old wife Tanja Sengelhoff, who is a qualified bank business administration assistant, an only child and a Catholic. They have two children.
The Simsir-Möller family live with Jens’ parents in Dortmund. Jens Ulrich Möller is a German architect in Duisburg; he is 39 years old, and an only child, he was baptised a Lutheran and is the husband of a Turkish woman, Özen Simsir, Hakan Simsir’s older sister. They also have two children and, like the first family, they also live with two different cultures and religions. Their children often have an outspoken, down-to-earth way of getting to the heart of some of the knotty problems that arise – like little Emma who in one interview emphasises that she never wears a headscarf, because she doesn’t want to hide her lovely long hair.