Fatih Akin
A serial killer strikes fear in the hearts of residents of Hamburg during the early 1970s.
Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones. Produced by Strand Releasing and Connor Jessup.
Katja's life collapses after a senseless act impacts her. After a time of mourning and injustice, she seeks revenge.
While his mother is in rehab and his father is on a 'business trip' with his assistant, 14-year-old outsider Maik is spending the summer holidays bored and alone at his parents' villa, when rebellious teenager Tschick appears. Tschick, a Russian immigrant and an outcast, steals a car and decides to set off on a journey away from Berlin with Maik tagging along for the ride. So begins a wild adventure where the two experience the trip of a lifetime and share a summer that they will never forget.
Focuses on the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) and its 'collective spirit' in cinema. The purpose of film as a cultural tool is examined. Based on celebrated sociologist Siegfried Kracauer's seminal book 'From Caligari to Hitler' (1947).
Villagers in Turkey's Black Sea village of Camburnu struggle with the government's decision to turn their community into a garbage dump.
SOUL KITCHEN centers on a likable but hopelessly disorganized restauranteur, Zinos, whose cafe is second home to a motley crew of lovable eccentrics. When his girlfriend Nadine up and moves to Shanghai, a love-sick Zinos decides to fly after her, leaving his restaurant in the hands of his unreliable ex-con brother Illias. Both decisions turn out disastrous: Illias gambles away the restaurant to a shady real estate agent, and Zinos finds Nadine with a new lover. If the brothers can stop arguing and get it together, the Soul Kitchen might still have one last chance at staying in business. The mayhem that follows is a hilariously entertaining story of self-realization, set to an irresistibly soulful soundtrack.
Thirteen German directors present short films exploring the state of their country.
This is the story of Isa, who grows up in a Hamburg suburb. It might be one of the world's richest cities but every beast has its belly and here, in the very underbelly, Chiko lives in a world where violence, staking and keeping a claim, and drug taking are the norm. Where down is not an option, Chiko is determined to rise to the top, whatever and whomever it costs.
New York, I Love You delves into the intimate lives of New Yorkers as they grapple with, delight in and search for love. Journey from the Diamond District in the heart of Manhattan, through Chinatown and the Upper East Side, towards the Village, into Tribeca, and Brooklyn as lovers of all ages try to find romance in the Big Apple.
Nejat seems disapproving about his widower father Ali's choice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in girlfriend. But he grows fond of her when he discovers she sends money home to Turkey for her daughter's university studies. Yeter's sudden death distances father and son. Nejat travels to Istanbul to search for Yeter's daughter Ayten. Political activist Ayten has fled the Turkish police and is already in Germany. She is befriended by a young woman, Lotte, who invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, a gesture not particularly pleasing to her conservative mother Susanne. When Ayten is arrested and her asylum plea is denied, she is deported and imprisoned in Turkey. Lotte travels to Turkey,where she gets caught up in the seemingly hopeless situation of freeing Ayten.
Humble and introvert Muharrem lives in a solitary and meager existence of a prayer and sexual abstinence adhering strictly to the most severe Islamic doctrines.His extraordinary devotion attracts the attention of the leader of a rich and powerful Istanbul religious group and he offers him an administrative post as a rent collector for their numerous properties. Muharrem's new job throws him into the modern outside world he has successfully avoided for so long. He soon witnesses conflict attitude toward alcohol consumption and goodwill.He notices that he himself has become proud, domineering and even dishonest.To make matters worse, Muharrem's inner peace is unnerved by the tormenting image of seductive woman who tempts him in his dreams,both night and day.With the balance of his devotion now upset,his fear of God begins to eat away at his senses.
With the death of a billionaire engaged in illegal practices, his billion-dollar fortune is up for the grabs. As his art collection is being prepared to be sold at an auction, two Turkish thieves from Germany are hired to steal valuable paintings from the art collection. Meanwhile, Seckin the fashioner designer - also the brother of Binnur, wife of the late billionaire - prepares for a fashion show in the same hotel that the robbery is going to take place. With the intervention of police, the beautiful model and her ex-lover, a hip papparazi, the two "Laz" mafia bosses seeking revenge, and the getaway driver straight out of Selcuk Erdem caricatures, the robbery is bound to go wrong. Prepare for a twist at the end as the plot unfolds towards a climactic ending...
Award-winning director Fatih Akin takes us on a journey through Istanbul, the city that bridges Europe and Asia, and challenges familiar notions of east and west. He looks at the vibrant musical scene which includes traditional Turkish music plus rock and hip-hop.
Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.
The chapter analyzes how the film interweaves Heinrich Heine’s poem The Evil Old Songs with an eclectic musical repertoire—ranging from German military songs, avant-garde industrial music, and popular Turkish and German film scores—to expand what initially may appear to be a specifically German memoryscape to a transnational, European level. While the film evokes collective memories of war and totalitarianism, Akin’s vision is not limited to this past-oriented perspective: it ultimately makes a plea for overcoming the nationalist, racist, and xenophobic attitudes that led to the catastrophes of the twentieth century in order to foster a transnational, peaceful European community.
In Hamburg, Ibrahim "Ibo" Secmez, of Turkish descent, wants to direct the first German kung-fu movie. For now, he makes commercials for his uncle's kebab restaurant. Titzie, an aspiring actress and Ibo's German girlfriend, finds she's pregnant. Ibo is uncertain about fatherhood - compounded by his father's disowning him for getting a German girl pregnant - so Titzie sends him packing. He makes attempts at getting it right, but as the birth approaches, he's still not ready. In the background are three thugs in search of good tripe soup and a Capulet-Montegue feud between the kebab joint and a Greek taverna across the street. Can Ibo be the glove upon that hand?
The movie portrays the story of an Italian family emigrated in Germany in the 1970s. Romano (Gigi Savoia), the father, decides to open a pizzeria which, by mutual decision with the wife Rosa (Antonella Attili), will call Solino, leaving his sons Gigi and Giancarlo to work there. A hostile relationship comes to life between the father and his sons, which will end up in the escape of the boys from family.
Das Experiment is a shocking psycho thriller about the potential for brutality that humans hide. Even more shocking is the fact that it’s based on an actual occurrence — a 1971 psychological experiment at Stanford University that was aborted prematurely when the experimenters lost control.
A television reporter searches for alien life forms and gets entangeled in a web of intrigue.
A documentary by Fatih Akin about turkish immigrants in Germany.
In an apartment building in Nuremberg, Germany, a night amongst four young adults has just begun. Talk, laughter, and a few intravenous shots to escape and fly towards another place. But one amongst them seems to have not returned from his trip. The jury speaks: His heart is no longer beating, the dose seems to have been fatal. What are they to do now? How should they get rid of the body? A solution is found, make him fly, but the landing turns out to be not so soft for those left behind.
Unsuccessful Luxembourg bank robber Johnny Chicago is released from prison and immediately and incompetently attempts to resume his life of crime. In a few days he manages to get his old partner fired and thrown out of the house, his girlfriend arrested and jailed, all the while scheming to rob a bunch of German pensioners, stop a train and make some quick money to make a name for himself.
