Fatih Akin | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Akin in 2023 | |
| Born | (1973-08-25)25 August 1973 (age 51) |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, producer |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Fatih Akin (Turkish:Fatih Akın, born 25 August 1973) is a Turkish-German film director, screenwriter and producer.[1] His films have won numerous awards and accolades, including theGolden Bear at theBerlin Film Festival for his filmHead-On (2004),Best Screenplay at theCannes Film Festival for his filmThe Edge of Heaven (2007), and theGolden Globe Award forBest Foreign Language Film for his filmIn the Fade (2017).
Akin was born inHamburg to Turkish parents.[2] He has one brother, Cem Akin, who works as an actor. He attended theUniversity of Fine Arts of Hamburg to studyvisual communications and graduated in 2000.[3]
Akin has been married to German-Mexican actress Monique Obermüller since 2004. The couple live inHamburg-Altona, close to where he was raised.[4] They have two children.[5]
Akin made his debut as director of a full-length film as early as 1998 withShort Sharp Shock(Kurz und schmerzlos), which brought him the "Bronze Leopard" award at theLocarno International Film Festival in Switzerland and the "Pierrot", theBavarian Film Award forBest New Director in Munich the same year. Since then he has directed feature films such asIn July (Im Juli) in 2000,We forgot to go back (Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren) in 2001 andSolino' in 2002.
His fourth film,Head-On (Gegen die Wand), starringSibel Kekilli, was a major success in 2004 and received several prizes, among them theGolden Bear award at theBerlin Film Festival and the "Best Film" and the "Audience Award" at the 2004European Film Awards.
In 2005, he directed a documentary about theIstanbul music scene,Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul, which includes musicians such asCeza,Sezen Aksu,Aynur Doğan and Brenna MacCrimmon. It is narrated by a member of a German experimental bandEinstürzende Neubauten,Alexander Hacke, who also produced music forHead-On.
In 2007, Akin'sThe Edge of Heaven, a German-Turkish cross-cultural tale of loss, mourning and forgiveness, won the prize forBest Screenplay at the60th Cannes Film Festival in 2007.[6][7] On 24 October 2007 the same film was awarded the first edition of theLUX prize for European cinema by theEuropean Parliament.[8]
About the comedySoul Kitchen (2009) he has said he chose this more light-hearted film because he needed a break after making the "tough" filmsHead-On andThe Edge of Heaven before making his next planned filmThe Devil. "But", he says, "now I feel ready to finish the trilogy".[9]
In 2012, his documentary filmPolluting Paradise was screened in the Special Screenings section at the2012 Cannes Film Festival.[10][11]
His 2014 filmThe Cut was selected to compete for theGolden Lion at the71st Venice International Film Festival.[12][13]
In 2017, Akin's filmIn the Fade was selected to compete for thePalme d'Or in the main competition section at the2017 Cannes Film Festival.[14][15] At Cannes that year,Diane Kruger won theBest Actress award.[16] The film was subsequently selected as the German entry for theBest Foreign Language Film at the90th Academy Awards,[17] making the December shortlist.[18]In the Fade won theGolden Globe forBest Foreign Language Film.[19]
| Year | Title | Notes | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Sensin... You're the One! | Short film (German title:Sensin – Du bist es!) | |
| 1996 | Weed | Short film (German title:Getürkt) | |
| 1997 | Back in Trouble | Actor | |
| 1998 | Short Sharp Shock | (German title:Kurz und schmerzlos) | Bronze Leopard atLocarno,Switzerland Pierrot at Bavarian Film Award for the best young director |
| 2000 | In July | Original script | |
| 2001 | Denk ich an Deutschland … [de] – Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren | TV documentary series episode | |
| 2002 | Solino | ||
| 2004 | Head-On | (German title:Gegen die Wand, Turkish title:Duvara karşı) | Golden Bear atBerlin Film Festival "Best Film" and "Audience Award" atEuropean Film Awards |
| 2004 | Visions of Europe | (segmentDie bösen alten Lieder, German title:Europäische Visionen) | |
| 2004 | Kebab Connection | Co-writer | |
| 2004 | Hırsız Var | Actor (Lokman) | |
| 2005 | Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul | Documentary | |
| 2007 | The Edge of Heaven | (German title:Auf der anderen Seite, Turkish title:Yaşamın Kıyısında) | Best Director atGolden Orange Film Festival Best Screenplay atCannes Film Festival LUX prize for European cinema byEuropean Parliament |
| 2008 | New York, I Love You | A segment | |
| 2009 | Soul Kitchen | Original script | Special Award of the Jury at Venice International Film Festival |
| 2012 | Polluting Paradise | Documentary (German title:Der Müll im Garten Eden) | |
| 2014 | The Cut | ||
| 2016 | Goodbye Berlin | based on the novel byWolfgang Herrndorf (German title:Tschick) | |
| 2017 | In the Fade | (German title:Aus dem Nichts) | Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the75th Golden Globe Awards |
| 2019 | The Golden Glove | (German title:Der goldene Handschuh) based on the novel byHeinz Strunk | |
| 2022 | Rhinegold | (German title:Rheingold) based on the autobiography byXatar | |
| 2025 | Amrum | Post-production[22] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Death Stranding 2: On the Beach | Dollman | Likeness only |
| Actors | Short Sharp Shock | In July | Solino | Head-On | The Edge of Heaven | Soul Kitchen | The Cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cem Akin |  Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Moritz Bleibtreu | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Adam Bousdoukos | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Stefan Gebelhoff | Y | Y | |||||
| Demir Gökgöl | Y | Y | |||||
| Marc Hosemann | Y | Y | |||||
| Mehmet Kurtuluş | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| Hermann Lause | Y | Y | |||||
| Catrin Striebeck | Y | Y | |||||
| Birol Ünel | Y | Y | Y | ||||
| İdil Üner | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
| Patrycia Ziółkowska | Y | Y | Y | Y |
