We Have Forgotten to Return Home(2001)

We Have Forgotten to Return Home is a documentary that traces filmmaker Fatih Akin's family history across two continents. In 1965, Akin's father left Turkey for Germany as a guest worker, intending to stay just two years. Instead, he settled in Hamburg, brought his wife over, and spent decades working in a chemical cleaning factory. The film explores how a temporary move became a permanent life, examining the gap between intention and reality for Turkish immigrants in postwar Germany. Through intimate family portraiture, Akin investigates what it means to belong when home becomes a place you've left behind.