‘SÖZ BİZDE’ ( 2010) is a documentary which focuses on how young Turkish people are invisible to the policy and decision makers across Britain. This is a timely documentary highlighting the key issues that are exercising the minds of many in the country. The invisibility of this particular group in official statistics mean that their needs and aspirations are being ignored and not represented in many facets of life. The documentary is about how young people feel about their parent’s country of origin, about their own belonging, identity, religion, heritage, culture and above all what it means to be British.
In the documentary, young people are interviewed on their attitude towards citizenship, nationality, exclusion, cultural values, faith, relationships, social cohesion about their Turkish-British identity, about their European identity, what they think about role models and their experience when faced with prejudice, the challenges and opportunities within and outside the British Education system. The bilingual documentary has been filmed on location in Istanbul, Turkey and in London and Oxford, Britain.
Biography:
Semra Eren-Nijhar was educated in Istanbul, Berlin and after her post-graduation she went on to continue her education in London and in Oxford. In Berlin she obtained an MSc at the University of Applied Studies. Following her post-graduate degree she studied at Brunel University as an MSc visiting student in Public Administration & Public Policy and subsequently studied for her MPhil in Public Administration. Eren-Nijhar’s research took her to Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford to further her interest in EU social policies research which culminated into a major report on migration.
She is an experienced academic researcher and management consultant with extensive in-depth knowledge gathered in leading institutions. She is an expert professional in the areas of diversity, strategic advice which focuses on social policy formulation and social research encompassing EU states in particular Germany, UK and Turkey. Eren-Nijhar has been researching the area of social policy across Europe and Turkey for the last 26 years. She has presented a number of papers at international conferences over the last two decades, mostly focused on issues of migration, women, EU policies and Turkish people living across Europe.
From a young age she focused on a number of political and community struggles locally, nationally and internationally. Throughout these formative years she has been active in German, British, Turkish and EU politics. Eren-Nijhar addressed a number of different areas including Equality, Women’s rights, anti-racist movements and Black and Minority Ethnic politics across Europe, through setting up and supporting front-line organisations.
Semra Eren-Nijhar has researched and created several photographic exhibitions in Britain, Belgium and Turkey and her work mainly focuses on portraits of people and individuals. As a documentary maker she has also made several documentary films ‘Turks in London’, ‘Turkish Youth in London’, ‘Millennium Poet Osman Türkay’ and produced and presented on a Turkish TV channel weekly discussion programmes called ‘Avrupa’da Söz Bizde – Our Voice in Europe’.
In 2004 Eren-Nijhar was granted lifetime membership of the Millennium Awards Fellowship which marks the personal commitment and achievement of a select group of talented individuals throughout the United Kingdom in strengthening and enriching their communities.
Semra is currently the Managing Director of Suncut Consulting/Research & Productions.
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