GFF26: Spotlight on Fatih Akin

FATIH AKIN

Born in 1973 in Hamburg, Fatih Akin is a German-Turkish film director, screenwriter and producer. A graduate of the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, he became known as a filmmaker in 1998 with his first feature, Short Sharp Shock (Kurz und schmerzlos).

His fourth film, Head-On (Gegen die Wand), was a major success in 2004 and was awarded the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. His other films have also received many accolades, including Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival for The Edge of Heaven (2007), and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film for In the Fade (2017).

Akin’s latest film, Amrum, had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

AMRUM

May 10 - May 26
Luna Leederville & Luna on SX
BUY TICKETS HERE

The celebrated new film from multi award-winning director Fatih Akin (In the Fade), Amrum is a deeply moving and poignant historical drama about a 12-year-old boy who, in the shadow of the fading German regime, discovers the true enemy is far closer than he imagined.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Cannes International Film Festival 2025
Palm Springs International Film Festival 2026
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2026

GOODBYE BERLIN 
(Tschick)

Monday, May 18th
Luna Leederville
8:30pm
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 A warm, offbeat road film about two teenage outsiders whose impulsive summer journey becomes a funny, tender portrait of friendship, freedom, loneliness, and youthful self-discovery across a landscape of comic detours, fleeting encounters, and possibility.

WINNER
Best Youth Film, Bavarian Film Awards 2027
Young Audience Award, European Film Awards 2017

HEAD-ON (Gegen die Wand)

Tuesday, May 19th
Luna Leederville
6:20pm
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A formative drama by Fatih Akin following Cahit and Sibel, two troubled strangers drawn together through a marriage of convenience. Their arrangement gradually becomes a volatile relationship, as the film explores love, identity, freedom, and the emotional strain of living between cultures.

WINNER
Golden Bear: Best Film, FIPRESCI Prize, Berlin International Film Festival 2004
Best European Film, Audience Award, European Film Awards 2004

THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (Auf der anderen Seite)

Wednesday, May 20th
Luna Leederville
6:20pm
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Winner of the Best Screenplay prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, this is a quietly powerful drama in which intersecting lives are reshaped by loss, migration, and chance encounters, unfolding into a moving story of grief, guilt, responsibility, and reconciliation.

WINNER
Best Screenplay, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Cannes Film Festival 2007
European Screenwriter, European Film Awards 2007