SOMMER IN VINGST

Kerim, Sascha, Mustafa and their friends live in Vingst, a small town in the suburbs of Cologne, where Turkish is the second language and even the Germans who grew up there speak fluent Turkish.

It is summer in Vingst. Kerim and the others are about to become adults and have to start taking responsibility for their lives.

But in a place with more than 20 percent unemployed, their dreams seem harder to fulfil than they had expected. They are all looking for a job or a training vacancy. But because there seems to be no room for them elsewhere, they spend their energy on the basketball court, organising parties, or just hanging around on the street, watching what goes on in this very close community where everyone knows each other.

They make the best out of this summer – a time that should have been a decisive and exciting, full of perspectives. They never give up: somehow, life goes on. And when everyone from the neighbourhood gathers for an improvised outside screening of the World Cup game between Turkey and Senegal, and the Turkish flag is hoisted, the sun seems to shine on Vingst.