Osman Kavala is a Turkish philanthropist, a socially responsible businessperson, a peace and human rights defender and, above all, an activist and advocate for civil society. Since November 1st 2017, he has been unjustly detained in the high security prison in Silivri, despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demanding his immediate release.
One may wonder: What did Kavala do? This question is raised by “Artists United for Osman Kavala”, an initiative of filmmaker Fatih Akın and theatre-maker Shermin Langhoff and many other friends who in short video messages tell the story of how Osman Kavala has engaged. The result is a mosaic of initiatives that Kavala has supported and a polyphony of confessions of friendship and missing.
In a second series of videos, more and more people from all over the world are contributing videos as they have learned about Kavala’s engagement. The creative videos of artists, intellectuals and other members of civil society are a sign of international solidarity and a demand for action to release Osman Kavala immediately.
The diversity of the contributions also reveals Osman Kavala as an individual who tirelessly worked to bring people with different perspectives together in dialogue, through initiatives in arts and culture and cultural collaborations in Turkey and internationally.
In his spirit, we invite everyone to contribute with their own video message (max. 45 sec.) and send it to us via berlinforkavala@theater-findet-stadt.de. Each day we will share another clip and we will not stop until our dearest friend Osman is free. You do not have to know him personally or have done a project with him. If you want to show your solidarity with Osman Kavala, send us a video!
To facilitate the post-production process, we kindly ask you to send us your text (including an English translation) and your name with your video.
For detailed information about Osman Kavala and his civil society activities see www.osmankavala.org.
Social-Links (Icons)