GERMAN DOX
Tuesday 1 December 15:15
Hochburg der Suenden
 BASTION OF SIN 

Winner of a Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig, Bastion of Sin presents one of the year’s most thoughtful and entertaining discussions on identity and tolerance.

Aysel is a devout Muslim who for many years has led a sheltered life as a housewife and mother in the provincial south of Germany. When she learns that the State Theatre in Stuttgart is looking for non-professional actresses for the tragedy “Medea”, she sees an opportunity to escape from her tedious everyday existence – and so she auditions for a part. What initially sounds like a little bit of change in Aysel’s life soon proves to be a hard challenge to her view of the world. Theatre director Volker Loesch wants to use the boundless freedom offered by theatre to penetrate the often highly secretive world of Muslim women. As the stage adaptation develops, Aysel finds herself confronted by the tragic stories of life endured by other Muslim women, existences that up to now she only knows through hearsay. And as the only woman in the production wearing a headscarf, she is obliged to defend her values and lifestyle to other more modern Turkish women involved. Torn between her desire for freedom and her own traditions, Aysel gets entangled in a conflict with her beliefs and is forced to question her life to date.