Fatih Akin (Turkish: Fatih Akın, born 25 August 1973) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent. He has won numerous awards for his films, including the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

at the Berlin Film Festival for his film '' Head-On'' (2004), Best Screenplay at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

for his film ''

The Edge of Heaven "The Edge of Heaven" is a song by English pop duo Wham!, released on Epic Records in 1986. It was written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo, and was promoted in advance as Wham!'s farewell single. History With the known desire ...

'' (2007), and the Golden Globe Award for

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

for his film '' In the Fade'' (2017).

Early life

Akin was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

to Turkish parents. He has one brother, Cem Akin, who works as an actor. He attended the

University of Fine Arts of Hamburg The ''Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK Hamburg)'' is the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg. It dates to 1767, when it was called the ''Hamburger Gewerbeschule''; later it became known as ''Landeskunstschule Hamburg''. The main build ...

to study

visual communications Visual Communications (also known as VC) –– is a community-based non-profit media arts organization based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1970 by independent filmmakers Robert Nakamura, Alan Ohashi, Eddie Wong, and Duane Kubo, who were st ...

and graduated in 2000. Akin has been married to German-Mexican actress Monique Obermüller since 2004. The couple live in

Hamburg-Altona Altona (), also called Hamburg-Altona, is the westernmost Boroughs and quarters of Hamburg#Boroughs, urban borough (''Bezirk'') of the Germany, German States of Germany, city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to ...

, close to where he was raised. They have two children.

Career

Akin made his debut as director of a full-length film as early as 1998 with '' Short Sharp Shock'' ''(Kurz und schmerzlos)'', which brought him the "Bronze Leopard" award at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, ...

in Switzerland and the "Pierrot", the

Bavarian Film Award The Bavarian Film Awards (german: Bayerischer Filmpreis) have been awarded annually since 1979 by the state government of Bavaria in Germany for “exceptional achievement in German filmmaking.” Along with the German Film Awards, these are the ...

for Best New Director in Munich the same year. Since then he has directed feature films such as '' In July'' (''Im Juli'') in 2000, ''We forgot to go back'' (''Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren'') in 2001 and ''

Solino ''Solino'' is a 2002 Italian-German movie directed by Fatih Akın and starring Moritz Bleibtreu Moritz Johann Bleibtreu (; was born in Munich, Munich, Germany on August 13, 1971. He has worked over the years as a film actor, voice actor, and f ...

in 2002. His fourth film, '' Head-On'' (''Gegen die Wand''), starring

Sibel Kekilli Sibel Kekilli (born 16 June 1980) is a German actress. She gained public attention after starring in the 2004 film '' Head-On''. She won two Lolas, the most prestigious German film awards, for her performances in ''Head-On'' and ''When We Leave ...

, was a major success in 2004 and received several prizes, among them the

award at the Berlin Film Festival and the "Best Film" and the "Audience Award" at the 2004

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...

. In 2005, he directed a documentary about the

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

music scene, '' Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul'', which includes musicians such as

Ceza Bilgin Özçalkan (; born 31 December 1976), also known by his stage name Ceza (, Turkish for 'punishment'), is a Turkish rapper and songwriter. Early works In 1995, Özçalkan started a group called U.C.S and performed with this group until ...

Sezen Aksu Sezen Aksu (; born Fatma Sezen Yıldırım; 13 July 1954) is a Turkish pop music singer, songwriter and producer who has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Queen of Turkish Pop" and "''Minik Serçe''" ("Little Spa ...

Aynur Doğan Aynur Doğan (born 1 March 1975) is a contemporary Kurdish singer and musician from Turkey. Career Aynur Doğan was born in Çemişgezek, a small mountain town in Tunceli Province in Turkey and fled to İstanbul in 1992. She studied ''saz'' ...

and Brenna MacCrimmon. It is narrated by a member of a German experimental band

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh ( custom-made instruments; p ...

Alexander Hacke Alexander Hacke (also known as Alexander von Borsig, Alex Hacke, Hacke, born 11 October 1965) is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, musician, record producer, writer and filmmaker from Germany. He is primarily known as a longtime member of the ...

, who also produced music for ''Head-On''. In 2007, Akin's ''

'', a German-Turkish cross-cultural tale of loss, mourning and forgiveness, won the prize for Best Screenplay at the 60th Cannes Film Festival in 2007. On 24 October 2007 the same film was awarded the first edition of the LUX prize for European cinema by the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

About the comedy '' Soul Kitchen'' (2009) he has said he chose this more light-hearted film because he needed a break after making the "tough" films '' Head-On'' and ''

'' before making his next planned film ''The Devil''. "But", he says, "now I feel ready to finish the trilogy". In 2012, his documentary film '' Polluting Paradise'' was screened in the Special Screenings section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. His 2014 film '' The Cut'' has been selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. In 2017, Akin's film '' In the Fade'' was selected to compete for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

in the main competition section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes that year,

Diane Kruger Diane Kruger ( Heidkrüger; ; born 15 July 1976) is a German and American actress. Early in her career, Kruger gained worldwide recognition and received the Trophée Chopard from the Cannes Film Festival. Kruger became known for her roles in ...

won the Best Actress award. The film was subsequently selected as the German entry for the

at the

90th Academy Awards The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2017, and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was held on March 4, ...

, making the December shortlist. ''In the Fade'' won the Golden Globe for

Awards

* 1998

Bavarian Film Awards The Bavarian Film Awards (german: Bayerischer Filmpreis) have been awarded annually since 1979 by the state government of Bavaria in Germany for “exceptional achievement in German filmmaking.” Along with the German Film Awards, these are th ...

, Best New Director * 2004

at the Berlin Film Festival * 2004

, Best Film, Audience Award * 2007 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival Golden Orange Award, Best Director * 2007

, Best Director * 2007 LUX Prize for European Cinema awarded by

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. '' 4 ...

, Best Screenplay * 2010

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

for his contribution in depicting the problems of Turkish-Germans. * 2018 Golden Globe Award,

Filmography

Collaborations

References

Bibliography

* Barbara Kosta, "Transcultural Exchanges: Fatih Akin's ''Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul'' (2005)," in Martinson, Steven D. / Schulz, Renate A. (Eds./hg.), ''Transcultural German Studies / Deutsch als Fremdsprache: Building Bridges / Brücken bauen'' (Bern etc., Peter Lang, 2008) (Jahrbuch für Internationale Germanistik, Reihe A: Kongressberichte, 94),

External links

*
Fatih Akin Bibliography
(via UC Berkeley)

A talk with Daniel Bax on the film "Crossing the Bridge", tour guides and Vikings, music divas and the responsibilities of critical acclaim at signandsight.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Akin, Fatih 1973 births Living people Best Director German Film Award winners Best Director Golden Orange Award winners Directors of Golden Bear winners European Film Award for Best Screenwriter winners Film people from Hamburg German people of Turkish descent Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany University of Fine Arts of Hamburg alumni Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners