You guys have so much biases against eastern cultures.

Even Turks conveyed Chinese culture to Eorope and beyond.

Before America was even discovered Turkish people were in contact wiht Chinese culture. I don't simply understand why one doesn't expect a Turkish documentary to open with a quote from Confucius.Ĭonfucius is well know throughout whole world. Based on the sounds the film exposes us to, the city's musicians have achieved a remarkable synthesis, creating music that has both kept it Turkish and kept it real. 'Your ears are open to everything, even when you don't want them to be,' is how one local DJ puts it in the film. It is that inevitable cross-pollination that characterizes the music that Crossing the Bridge presents. The title of his film refers to the fact that the city, placed at the point where Asia and Europe meet, has always been as open to the East as it is to the West. Born in Hamburg to Turkish parents, Akin has taken Istanbul to his heart like a native. It also uses music to paint a portrait of a vibrant, cosmopolitan city and provide a window into a rich and varied national culture. When Confucius said that to understand a people's culture you have to understand its music, he might have had a film like this in mind.Ĭrossing the Bridge does more than offer a wide variety of entertaining and intoxicating Turkish music. The latest film by Fatih Akin, who directed the exceptional Head-On, turns out to be a Bosporus-based Buena Vista Social Club with cultural commentary thrown into the mix. It's not the expected thing for a documentary on Turkish music to open with a quote from Confucius, but that is not the only fascinating surprise that Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul has to offer.

The bridge documentary