Fatih Akin
German-Turkish filmmaker (born 1973)
title: "Fatih Akin" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1973-births", "living-people", "best-director-german-film-award-winners", "best-director-golden-orange-award-winners", "directors-of-golden-bear-winners", "best-screenwriter-european-film-award-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", "directors-of-best-film-european-film-award-winners"] description: "German-Turkish filmmaker (born 1973)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatih_Akin" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary German-Turkish filmmaker (born 1973) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Fatih Akin |
| image | Fatih Akin-68626.jpg |
| caption | Akin in 2024 |
| birth_place | Hamburg, West Germany |
| birth_date | |
| occupation | Film director, screenwriter, producer |
| yearsactive | 1995–present |
| spouse | |
| children | 2 |
| :: |
| name = Fatih Akin | image = Fatih Akin-68626.jpg | caption = Akin in 2024 | birth_place = Hamburg, West Germany | birth_date = | occupation = Film director, screenwriter, producer | yearsactive = 1995–present | spouse = | children = 2
Fatih Akin (; born 25 August 1973) is a German and Turkish film director, screenwriter and producer. His films have won numerous awards and accolades, including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his film Head-On (2004), Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival for his film The Edge of Heaven (2007), and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film for his film In the Fade (2017).
Early life
Akin was born in Hamburg to Turkish parents. He has one brother, Cem Akin, who works as an actor. He attended the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg to study visual communications and graduated in 2000.
Akin has been married to German-Mexican actress Monique Obermüller since 2004. The couple live in Hamburg-Altona, 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 in Switzerland and the "Pierrot", the Bavarian Film Award 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''' in 2002.
His fourth film, Head-On (Gegen die Wand), starring Sibel Kekilli, was a major success in 2004 and received several prizes, among them the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival and the "Best Film" and the "Audience Award" at the 2004 European Film Awards.
In 2005, he directed a documentary about the Istanbul music scene, Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul, which includes musicians such as Ceza, Sezen Aksu, Aynur Doğan and Brenna MacCrimmon. It is narrated by a member of a German experimental band Einstürzende Neubauten, Alexander Hacke, who also produced music for Head-On.
In 2007, Akin's The Edge of Heaven, 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. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Fatih_Akin_cropped_2009.jpg" caption="Akin in 2009"] ::
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 The Edge of Heaven 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 was 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 in the main competition section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes that year, Diane Kruger won the Best Actress award. The film was subsequently selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist. In the Fade won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.
Works
Feature films
::data[format=table]
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2007 | 2009 | 2014 | 2016 | 2017 | 2019 | 2022 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short Sharp Shock | Kurz und schmerzlos | Bronze Leopard at Locarno Film Festival | |||||||||||||
| In July | Im Juli. | ||||||||||||||
| Solino | |||||||||||||||
| Head-On | Gegen die Wand | Golden Bear winner | |||||||||||||
| The Edge of Heaven | Auf der anderen Seite | Best Screenplay at 2007 Cannes Film Festival | |||||||||||||
| Soul Kitchen | Special Jury Prize at 66th Venice International Film Festival | ||||||||||||||
| The Cut | |||||||||||||||
| Goodbye Berlin | Tschick | ||||||||||||||
| In the Fade | Aus dem Nichts | Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film | |||||||||||||
| The Golden Glove | Der goldene Handschuh | ||||||||||||||
| Rhinegold | Rheingold | ||||||||||||||
| Amrum | |||||||||||||||
| :: |
Documentaries
::data[format=table]
| Year | English title | Original title | Notes | 2005 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul | |||||
| Polluting Paradise | Der Müll im Garten Eden | ||||
| :: |
Other credits
::data[format=table]
| 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 | |
| 2001 | * – Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren* | TV documentary series episode | |
| 2004 | Visions of Europe | (segment Die 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 | |
| 2008 | New York, I Love You | A segment | |
| :: |
Video games
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Death Stranding 2: On the Beach | Dollman | Likeness |
| :: |
Awards
- 1998 Bavarian Film Awards, Best New Director
- 2004 Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival
- 2004 European Film Awards, Best Film, Audience Award
- 2007 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival Golden Orange Award, Best Director
- 2007 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Director
- 2007 LUX Prize for European Cinema awarded by European Parliament
- 2007 Cannes Film Festival, Best Screenplay
- 2010 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution in depicting the problems of Turkish-Germans.
- 2018 Golden Globe Award, Best Foreign Language Film
Collaborations
::data[format=table]
| Actors | Short Sharp Shock | In July | Solino | Head-On | The Edge of Heaven | Soul Kitchen | The Cut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cem Akin | |||||||
| Moritz Bleibtreu | |||||||
| Adam Bousdoukos | |||||||
| Stefan Gebelhoff | |||||||
| Demir Gökgöl | |||||||
| Marc Hosemann | |||||||
| Mehmet Kurtuluş | |||||||
| Hermann Lause | |||||||
| Catrin Striebeck | |||||||
| Birol Ünel | |||||||
| İdil Üner | |||||||
| Patrycia Ziółkowska | |||||||
| :: |
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),
References
- Çağla Karabağ, "Intercultural Encounters in Fatih Akın's Films" in Klaus Roth, Robert Hayden (ed.), ''Migration In, From, and to Southeastern Europe: Part 1: Historical and Cultural Aspects'', Ethnologia Balcanica 13, LIT Verlag Münster, 2011, {{ISBN
- Kulish, Nicholas. (6 January 2008). "A hand that links Germans and Turks". [[The New York Times]].
- "Head-On".
- "Director's Portrait: Fatih Akın – The sun is as much mine as the night". www.german-films.de.
- "Fatih Akin: Der Regisseur des Rauen".
- "Festival de Cannes: The Edge of Heaven". www.festival-cannes.com.
- (27 May 2007). "Film about abortion takes Cannes' prize". [[guardian.co.uk.
- (24 October 2007). "And the LUX Prize for European cinema goes to… "Auf der anderen Seite" ("On the Edge of Heaven")". [[European Parliament]].
- "At the Movies: Soul Kitchen Interview". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
- "2012 Official Selection". Cannes.
- (19 May 2012). "Polluting Paradise: Cannes Review". Hollywood Reporter.
- "International competition of feature films". Venice.
- (24 July 2014). "Venice Film Festival Lineup Announced". Deadline.
- (13 April 2017). "The 2017 Official Selection". Cannes.
- (13 April 2017). "2017 Cannes Film Festival Announces Lineup: Todd Haynes, Sofia Coppola, 'Twin Peaks' and More". IndieWire.
- Debruge, Peter. (28 May 2017). "2017 Cannes Film Festival Award Winners Announced". Variety.
- Mitchell, Robert. (24 August 2017). "Fatih Akin's 'In the Fade' Selected as German Oscar Entry". Variety.
- Pond, Steve. (14 December 2017). "Oscars Foreign Language Shortlist Includes 'The Square,' 'A Fantastic Woman'". [[The Wrap]].
- "''In the Fade'' (Aus Dem Nichts) (2017)". [[Golden Globes]].
- Goodfellow, Melanie. (April 22, 2024). "Fatih Akin's 1945 Drama 'Amrum' Kicks Off Principal Photography With Jasper Billerbeck, Laura Tonke & Diane Kruger".
- "Bayerischer Filmpreis: Promis und Porzellan". [[Max (German magazine)]].
- (4 October 2010). "Orden für Riemann und Akin". BZ Berlin.
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