# Fatih Akin

Fatih Akin (Turkish: Fatih Akın, born 25 August 1973) is a Turkish-German 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.
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.

## 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

## Works
### Films

| 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 at Locarno, 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 at Berlin Film Festival "Best Film" and "Audience Award" at European Film Awards |
| 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 | |
| 2007 | The Edge of Heaven | (German title: Auf der anderen Seite, Turkish title: Yaşamın Kıyısında) | Best Director at Golden Orange Film Festival Best Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival LUX prize for European cinema by European 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 by Wolfgang Herrndorf (German title: Tschick) | |
| 2017 | In the Fade | (German title: Aus dem Nichts) | Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Golden Globe Awards |
| 2019 | The Golden Glove | (German title: Der goldene Handschuh) based on the novel by Heinz Strunk | |
| 2022 | Rhinegold | (German title: Rheingold) based on the autobiography by Xatar | |
| 2025 | Amrum | Post-production | |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2025 | Death Stranding 2: On the Beach | Dollman | Likeness only |

## Collaborations

| 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 |