Fatih Akın

Infobox actor
name = Fatih Akın


imagesize= 200px
caption = Akin with the Golden Bear
birthplace = Hamburg, Germany
birthdate = August 25, 1973
deathdate =
deathplace =
othername =
occupation = Film director
yearsactive = 1995 - present
imdb_id = 0015359

Fatih Akın (August 25, 1973 in Hamburg, Germany) is a German film director.

Education

In 1994 he attended Hamburg's College of Fine Arts to study visual communications and graduated in 2000.

Work

Akın made his debut as director of a full length film already in 1998 with "Kurz und schmerzlos" ("Short Sharp Shock"), which brought him the award "Bronze Leopard" at Locarno, Switzerland and the "Pierrot", the Bavarian Film Award for the best young director in Munich the same year. Since then he has directed features like "Im Juli" ("In July") in 2000, "Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren" ("We forgot to go back") in 2001 and "Solino" in 2002. His fourth work, "Gegen die Wand" ("Head-On") with Sibel Kekilli as main actress was a great 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 Istanbul music scene, named "", which includes musicians from Ceza to Sezen Aksu to Aynur 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 2006, he was investigated by German police after wearing a T-Shirt with a Nazi swastika, intending to equate the George W. Bush administration with the Third Reich.

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 Annual 2007 Cannes Film Festival. [Doland, Angela. " [http://film.guardian.co.uk/apnews/story/0,,-6664469,00.html Film About Abortion Takes Cannes' Prize] ". "Guardian Unlimited", May 27, 2007.] On October 24, 2007, the same film was awarded the first edition of the LUX prize for European cinema by the European Parliament.

Themes

In Fatih Akın's cinema, the lives of German Turks are a recurring theme. Their struggles and their confusion about two different cultures. In "Head-On", two different cultures are presented, the conservative Muslim and Turkish view of Sibel's family, and Sibel's open ideas about sex. Cahit is presented to be somewhat a mixture of these two ideas and cultures, representing a struggling Turk. Akin, on the other hand, has never denied his Turkish roots and even accepted the Cannes award in the name of Turkish cinema. [ [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/037-12155-295-10-43-906-20071023IPR12109-22-10-2007-2007-false/default_en.htm European Parliament News October 24, 2007] ]

Political controversy

Akin has been criticized for actions that have been interpreted by some [Foxman, Abraham. (National director of the Anti-Defamation League) " [http://abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=2312439&page=2 Critics Use Nazi Symbolism to Attack Bush Administration] ". "ABC News", Aug 14, 2006.] as trivializing the holocaust and was investigated by German police for wearing a T-Shirt with a Nazi swastika in place of the letter "S" in the word "BUSH". [DW Staff (tt). " [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2124496,00.html German Movie Director Investigated for Wearing a Swastika] ". "Deutsche Welle (DW) World", Aug 07, 2006.] Akin defended the T-Shirt as being "more than mere provocation" and emphasized: "Bush's policy is comparable with that of the Third Reich. I think that under Bush, Hollywood has been making certain films at the request of The Pentagon to normalise things like torture and Guantanamo. I'm convinced the Bush administration wants a third world war. I think they're fascists." [cro/spiegel/dpa. " [http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,430542,00.html Film Director in Trouble Over Swastika T-Shirt] ". "Der Spiegel", Aug 07, 2006.]

Awards

*1998 Bavarian Film Awards, Best New Director [http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf]

*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 [http://www.max.de/pop-kultur/film/bayerischer-filmpreis/201081,1,article,Promis+und+Porzellan.html]

*2007 LUX Prize for European Cinema awarded by European Parliament

*2007 Cannes Film Festival, Best Screenplay

Filmography

References

External links

*
* [http://www.signandsight.com/features/206.html "Rocking Istanbul"] 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

Persondata
NAME= Akın, Fatih
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Film director
DATE OF BIRTH= August 25, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH= Hamburg GER
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=