Film Image
Hiphopistan: Representing Locality in a Global City
2007
Color
25 minutes
Turkey

Hiphopistan: Representing Locality in a Global City

HIPHOPISTAN is a documentary film that examines the impact of Hip-Hop culture on Istanbul youth and reveals how young Turkish rappers, DJs, break-dancers, and graffiti artists creatively blend popular influences with their local cultural values and traditions. In a world that is becoming increasingly exposed to global media, much has been debated as to whether or not societies and individuals can adopt influences from music, television, cinema, internet and fashion in a positive and constructive way without losing their own cultural identities and heritage. The dichotomy terms of “East” and “West” have unfortunately regularly coincided with “tradition” and “modernity” and “local” and “global” making it seem as though they are polarized opposites.

While providing a glimpse into the lives of innovative youth in a predominantly Muslim and rapidly globalizing city, HIPHOPISTAN presents examples of how globalization can provide opportunities for creative changes rather than simply erasing local culture. Creative artists provide solutions that allow tradition and change to peacefully co-exist. By displaying how communities are created through the use of lyrics, beats, rhymes, dance, and graffiti art, HIPHOPISTAN emphasizes how the universality of music and expression blurs all cultural, ethnic, religious, and linguistic boundaries and barriers and thus raises awareness of the many similarities of youth culture worldwide.
Pricing & Ordering
Buyer Type Format Sale Type Price
Higher Education Institutions DVD Sale $150.00
K-12, Public Libraries & Select Groups DVD Sale $79.95
Click a 'Price' to add an item to your Cart. If DSL or LDF rates are not listed, or if you are interested in a public screening, please fill out this form and we will get back to you with availability information.
Reviews
"The short film features interviews with several Istanbul hip hop artists, all of whom assert the individual importance of hip hop and its significance for the society as a whole. Recommended." - Linda Frederiksen, Educational Media Reviews Online
"Illustrates how hip hop and rap have entered Turkish culture and become distinctly Turkish - and spawned the same cultural debates in that country as in the United States. HIPHOPISTAN is a valuable short film that could be used profitably in introductory classes to illustrate modern global cultural processes, as well as in advanced courses in globalization and ethnomusicology. Students will appreciate the focus on a contemporary musical style that most enjoy and all recognize. Suitable for high school and college courses in cultural anthropology, anthropology of music/ethnomusicology, anthropology of globalization, and Turkish studies, as well as general audiences." - Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database
Awards

• Best Short Documentary, Atlanta Hip-Hop Film Festival
• Top Ten Hip-Hop Films, Hip-Hop Odyssey International Film Festival
• Distinguished Contributions to Turkish Documentary Filmmaking, DocuTurk New York Documentary Showcase
Screenings
• IF Festival- Istanbul & Ankara, Turkey
• Globians Film Festival, Potsdam, Germany
• Society for Visual Anthropology/American Anthropological Association Film, Video and Interactive Media Festival, Washington D.C.
• Blacksoil Hip Hop Film Festival, Rotterdam & Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Boston Turkish Film Festival
• CINEFEST, University of Madison in Winsconsin
• Just Shoot Me Festival, The Hague, The Netherlands
• Plato Film Short Film Festival, Istanbul
• Rhythm of the Line Hip-Hop Film Festival, Berlin
• Istanbul Street Style Summer Cinema Series
• Turkish Festival, Washington D.C.
• Southeast European Film Festival, Los Angeles
• Assembly of Turkish-American Association Convention, Washington D.C.
• Beeld voor Beeld Film Festival, Amsterdam, The Netherlands & Antwerp, Belgium

Call Us 1 (212) 947-9277
  • Third World Newsreel
  • • 545 Eighth Avenue, Suite 550, New York, NY 10018
  • • Telephone 212-947-9277

TWN acknowledges that in New York we are on the unceded territory of the Lenni Lenape, Canarsie, Shinecock, and Munsee peoples and challenges the harm that continues to be inflicted upon Indigenous and People of Color communities here and abroad, which is why we all need to be part of the struggle for rights, equality and justice.

TWN is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Color Congress, MOSAIC, New York Community Trust, Peace Development Fund, Ford Foundation, Golden Globe Foundation, Kolibri Foundation and individual donors.