Fatih Akin
Fatih Akin (Fatih Akın; born 25 August 1973) is a German and Turkish 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).
Also recorded as Fatih Akın
Fatih Akin

Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Fatih Akin
- Birthplace
- Hamburg, West Germany
- Born
- 25 August 1973
- Occupation
- Film director, screenwriter, producer
- Nationality
- Germany
- Known for
- Head-On · Goodbye Berlin · The Edge of Heaven
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Documentary summary
Fatih Akin (Fatih Akın; born 25 August 1973) is a German and Turkish 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).
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Authority files
bnf · getty · gnd · loc · wikidata · Q77061 · wikipedia · Fatih Akin
In this article
Biography
Biography
Akin worked across film director, actor, screenwriter, film producer and film actor and 2 further recorded occupations. This article rests on 7 published texts and 25 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

66ème Festival de Venise (Ma66ème Festival du Cinéma de Venise (Mostra), 11ème jour (12/09/2009) Tapis rouge pour la soirée de cloture du Festival de Venise 2009ostra)
nicolas genin from Paris, France · Cropped version from a photo posted on Flickr as 66ème Festival de Venise (Mostra)
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Fatih Akin • Birthplace — Hamburg, West Germany • Born — 25 August 1973 • Occupation — Film director, screenwriter, producer • Years Active — 1995–present • Children — 2
Early life
Early life
Akin was born to Turkish parents in Hamburg in West Germany. He has one brother, actor Cem Akin. He attended the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg to study visual communications, graduating 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
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. • Illustration — Akin in 2009 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.
Controversy and death threats
Controversy and death threats
For his shooting of The Cut, a movie on the Armenian genocide, Akin received thousands of death threats by Turkish nationalists. The Turkish nationalist organization Ötüken Neşriyat threatened Akin for shooting the movie. They wrote a statement in which called Akin a "Kurdish director" and accused him of having a "close relationship with [the] PKK", openly threatening the newspaper Agos, Armenians and Akin himself, writing that "we are not going to let this movie to get screened in Turkey". They threatened that Akın and those associated with the film would suffer the "same fate as Hrant Dink", an Armenian-Turkish journalist who was assassinated in 2007 by a Turkish nationalist. The group explicitly noted they were monitoring the situation with their "white berets", the symbolic headwear worn by Dink's assassin. Akin was reportedly not surprised by the threats, stating that "I spent 7 or 8 years working on this movie, I had time to anticipate what the reaction would be".
Documentaries
Documentaries
• Year — English title — Original title • 2005 — Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul • 2012 — Polluting Paradise — Der Müll im Garten Eden
Other credits
Other credits
• Year — English title — Original title — Notes • 1995 — Sensin... You're the One! — Sensin – Du bist es! — Short film • 1996 — Weed — Getürkt • 1997 — Back in Trouble — Actor • 2001 — Denk ich an Deutschland … – Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren — TV documentary series episode • 2004 — Visions of Europe — Europäische Visionen — segment Die bösen alten Lieder • 2004 — Kebab Connection — Co-writer • 2004 — Robbery Alla Turca — Hırsız Var! — Actor (Lokman) • 2008 — New York, I Love You — A segment • 2019 — 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing — anthology film segment
Video games
Video games
• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 2025 — Death Stranding 2: On the Beach — Dollman — Likeness
Collaborations
Collaborations
• Actors — Short Sharp Shock — In July — Solino — Head-On — The Edge of Heaven — Soul Kitchen — The Cut • Cem Akin • Moritz Bleibtreu • Adam Bousdoukos • Stefan Gebelhoff • Demir Gökgöl • Marc Hosemann • Mehmet Kurtuluş • Hermann Lause • Catrin Striebeck • Birol Ünel • İdil Üner • Patrycia Ziółkowska
Life and work
Life and work
Fatih Akin was born on 25 August 1973 in Hamburg. Akin held the nationality of Germany. Akin was educated at Gymnasium Allee and Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. Recorded sibling: Cem Akın. Akin worked as film director, actor, screenwriter and film producer, and the authority record catalogues a further 3 occupations under the same name, among them film actor, director and children's writer. Akin was active from 1995. Akin worked in German and Turkish.
Work for the screen
Work for the screen
Akin worked for the screen, as film director, screenwriter and film producer. 22 films survive in the institutional catalogues, spanning 1995 to 2026. Among them are Sensin.. You're the One! (1995), Getürkt (1996), Short Sharp Shock (1998), In July (2000), Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren (2001) and Solino (2002). The whole run is set out in the catalogue below.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1973–2017
The full dated record · 9 entries
1973
Fatih Akin was born in 1973.
2001
Receives Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
2004
Receives European Film Award for Best Film.
2004
Receives European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director.
2007
Receives European Film Award for Best Screenwriter.
2007
Receives Best Screenplay Award.
2008
Receives Charlemagne Medal for European Media.
2012
Receives Peter-Weiss Prize.
2017
Receives European Film Academy Young Audience Award.
Catalogued output
Films and moving-image works, 1995–2026
These entries are catalogued as moving-image works. The 2000s are the densest part of the run, with 10 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself. They belong to a run of 22 titles in all, from 1995 to 2026.
21 films carry dates between 1995 and 2026
The run opens with Sensin
You're the One! And closes with Ghost Song
You're the One!
1995
Getürkt
1996
Short Sharp Shock
1998
In July
2000
Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren
2001
Solino
2002
Head-On
2004
Visions of Europe
2004
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
2005
The complete catalogue · 24
21 films carry dates between 1995 and 2026
The run opens with Sensin
You're the One! And closes with Ghost Song
You're the One!
1995
Getürkt
1996
Short Sharp Shock
1998
In July
2000
Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren
2001
Solino
2002
Head-On
2004
Visions of Europe
2004
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
2005
The Edge of Heaven
2007
New York, I Love You
2008
Soul Kitchen
2009
Germany 09
2009
Polluting Paradise
2012
The Cut
2014
Goodbye Berlin
2016
In the Fade
2017
The Golden Glove
2019
Rheingold
2022
Amrum
2025
Ghost Song
2026
Catalogued output
Books and published writings
These are catalogued publications carrying the name — editions and printings, distinct from the works they contain and from writing about the subject. The 2010s are the densest part of the run, with 4 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself.
7 editions carry dates between 2000 and 2018
The run opens with Im Juli and closes with Müll im Garten Eden
The entries follow Open Library
Im Juli
2000
Gegen die Wand
2004
Auf der anderen Seite
2008
Aus dem Nichts
2018
Müll im Garten Eden
2018
Feature films
Feature films
• Year — English title — Original title — Notes • 1998 — Short Sharp Shock — Kurz und schmerzlos — Bronze Leopard at Locarno Film Festival • 2000 — In July — Im Juli. • 2002 — Solino • 2004 — Head-On — Gegen die Wand — Golden Bear winner • 2007 — The Edge of Heaven — Auf der anderen Seite — Best Screenplay at 2007 Cannes Film Festival • 2009 — Soul Kitchen — Special Jury Prize at 66th Venice International Film Festival • 2014 — The Cut • 2016 — Goodbye Berlin — Tschick • 2017 — In the Fade — Aus dem Nichts — Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film • 2019 — The Golden Glove — Der goldene Handschuh • 2022 — Rhinegold — Rheingold • 2025 — Amrum • 2026 — Ghost Song — Geister — Post-production
Films and moving-image works without a settled date
Catalogued output
Films and moving-image works without a settled date
1 further film are catalogued under Akin's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it.
Love, Death and Evil trilogy
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 150187049
Unverified · Bibliothèque nationale de France
- Discogs authority file 540583
Unverified · Discogs
- FAST authority file 1575479
Unverified · FAST
- GND (German National Library) authority file 130055808
Unverified · GND (German National Library)
- IdRef (French universities) authority file 081581254
Unverified · IdRef (French universities)
- ISNI authority file 0000000114736367
Unverified · ISNI
reference work
- “Fatih Akin”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Awards
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 • 2026 [BCN Film Festival], Best Film
Honours and awards
Where the work is held
Honours and awards
They run from 2001 to 2017.
8 honours stand against the name
Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
2001
European Film Award for Best Film
2004
European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director
2004
European Film Award for Best Screenwriter
2007
Best Screenplay Award
2007
Charlemagne Medal for European Media
2008
Peter-Weiss Prize
2012
European Film Academy Young Audience Award
2017
Authority records
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 150187049Bibliothèque nationale de France
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
GND (German National Library) authority file 130055808GND (German National Library)
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
IdRef (French universities) authority file 081581254IdRef (French universities)
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Library of Congress authority file no2002088351Library of Congress
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
RKDartists authority file 297038RKDartists
Partially resolved
Every cited source · 12
- 01
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 150187049
institutional register · Unverified · Bibliothèque nationale de France
Consult the source - 02
- 03
- 04
GND (German National Library) authority file 130055808
institutional register · Unverified · GND (German National Library)
Consult the source - 05
IdRef (French universities) authority file 081581254
institutional register · Unverified · IdRef (French universities)
Consult the source - 06
- 07
Library of Congress authority file no2002088351
institutional register · Unverified · Library of Congress
Consult the source - 08
- 09
Union List of Artist Names authority file 500469887
institutional register · Unverified · Union List of Artist Names
Consult the source - 10
- 11
“Fatih Akin”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
reference work · Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Consult the source - 12
Wikidata, structured authority record Q77061: Fatih Akin
institutional register · Unverified · Wikimedia Foundation
Consult the source
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
37,408 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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