In his next film the German director of Turkish descent tells an engaging and complex story of the conflicts between the first and second generations of Turkish immigrants into Germany and the enduring prejudices against them. Although the character played by Fassbinder’s muse Hanna Schygulla used to speak up against middle-class narrow-mindedness, it’s not easy for her now to understand her daughter’s captivation with a Turkish girl and her determination to be with her, even at the cost of her own life.
Nejat is a second-generation Turkish immigrant living in Germany who values the status he has acquired through his education. He is dead against his father’s relationship with the prostitute Yeter but he changes his mind when he discovers that his father’s girlfriend is sending money back to Turkey to pay for her daughter’s studies. The death of Yeter, the result of his father’s violent temper, places a wall between him and his son. The man is convicted and Nejat leaves for Istanbul to try and find Yeter’s daughter. He is unaware that, as a political activist, Ayten fled the Turkish police some time before and made her way to Germany where she befriended the German student Lotte. When Ayten is arrested by the German police, deported back to Turkey and imprisoned there, Lotte goes after her, against her mother’s wishes. Destiny brings Lotte and Nejat together, the latter having remained in Istanbul, and both their lives are affected by events that Lotte triggers in her determination to meet up with her imprisoned friend. Eventually Lotte’s mother also decides to make her way to Istanbul where she rethinks her attitude when faced with life “on the other side”. The film won the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Cannes festival.
122 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Fatih Akin
/ Screenplay Fatih Akin
/ Dir. of Photography Rainer Klausmann
/ Music Shantel
/ Editor Andrew Bird
/ Producer Klaus Maeck, Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel
/ Production Corazón International
/ Cast Nurgül Yeşilçay, Baki Davrak, Patrycia Ziolkowska, Nursel Köse, Hanna Schygulla
/ Contact The Match Factory
www: www.the-edge-of-heaven.com
Fatih Akin (b. 1973, Hamburg) comes from a family of Turkish guest workers. He studied film at Hamburg’s Hochschule für Bildende Künste and began working for Wüste Filmproduction in 1993. In addition to his acting roles (apart from appearing in his own films, he also had parts in e.g. Back in Trouble, Black Souls, Planet of the Cannibals, A Goddamn Job), he made a number of video films and, after several short features (Sensin… You’re the One!, 1995; Weed, 1996), he debuted in 1998 with the feature film Short Sharp Shock. This was followed by the documentary We Forgot to Go Back (2000) and the feature films Kebab Connection (Keb It Up, 1999), In July (2002), Solino (2002), Head-On (2003 – Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2004, European Film of the Year and numerous other awards) and The Edge of Heaven. In the meantime he filmed the documentary Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul (2005).
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