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The po*n industry is often filled with actors trying to make a living for themselves. However, several stars were also given better opportunities like the ex-p*rn star who appeared in George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones.

A still from Game of Thrones | Credits: HBO Entertainment

Sibel Kekilli, who found worldwide fame with her role as Shae in HBO’s Game of Thrones, once went by the name Dilara. She used to work in X-rated films before she found her breakthrough.

Sibel Kekilli Found a Second Chance With Game of Thrones

Starring in several X-rated films, Sibel Kekilli was a po*n star before her TV role. The German actress stated that there were some decisions in her life that she is not particularly proud of.

Sibel Kekilli as Shae in Game of Thrones | Credits: HBO

Portraying the role of Shae (Tyrion’s lover-turned-betrayer), Kekilli was a prominent character in Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones was known for its utter disregard for fan-favorite characters and brutal on-screen deaths. The show’s first season finale proved to fans that the series was not messing around and would not hesitate to kill even its biggest stars. While the later seasons may have become fan-pleasing, the deaths in the initial seasons set it apart.

Actress Sibel Kekilli, who played Shae in the show, reportedly begged the creators to not kill her off in the show. The character who becomes close to Tyrion Lannister and eventually betrays him, is strangled to death by the Imp after he escapes from prison, which is one of the most harrowing moments of the show.

Sibel Kekilli Begged Game of Thrones Creators To Not Kill Shae Tyrion Lannister and Shae in Game of Thrones | Credits: HBO

Sibel Kekilli played the role of Shae, a young pr*stitute who takes a...

Fatih Akin’s latest film, Rhinegold, tells the fascinating true story of German rapper Xatar, born Giwar Hajabi. Hailing from Iranian Kurdistan, Hajabi endured immense hardships from a young age after his family was forced to flee political turmoil. As a refugee, Hajabi bounced between Iraq, France, and Germany, struggling to find stability in his youth. Facing discrimination and financial troubles, he drifted towards crime, dealing drugs, and getting embroiled in Amsterdam’s criminal underworld.

Just when it seems his future is sealed, Hajabi discovers a passion for music. Enrolling in a prestigious conservatory, he nurtures his musical talents yet stays tangled with gangsters. A botched gold heist lands Hajabi in a Syrian prison, where unspeakable torture awaits. Remarkably, this is where Hajabi’s career truly begins, as he starts recording rap songs, honing his lyrical skills. Upon release, Hajabi emerges, reborn as Xatar, rapidly rising to fame throughout Germany.

Biopics about musical artists seem to be pumped out without much consideration of whether or not the artist in question has a story that’s really worth telling. But Giwar “Xatar” Hajabi, a Kurdish rapper famous in Germany, has a genuinely extraordinary life story, having gone from an Iranian refugee who spent time as a child in a Bagdad prison to a gangster to a highly successful artist and businessman. It’s the type of rags-to-riches ascent that you couldn’t script better — which makes it a shame that the thoroughly mediocre “Rhinegold” can’t shape Habaji’s life into anything particularly engaging.

“Rhinegold” comes from director Fatih Akin, a Golden Bear winner for his 2004 breakout film “Head-On,” whose other achievements include a Best Screenplay prize for 2007’s “The Edge of Heaven” and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film for 2017’s “In the Fade.” Despite Akin’s obvious pedigree...

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof is set to attend the Cannes premiere of his latest feature, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, after receiving an eight-year prison sentence from Iranian authorities and fleeing his home country.

Speculation had been rife that the dissident director would attend the festival when the film receives its world premiere in Competition on Friday (May 24), having found asylum in Germany, but Cannes’ general delegate Thierry Fremaux has now confirmed his attendance.

“We are particularly touched to welcome [Rasoulof] here as a filmmaker,” Fremaux said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (Afp).

Our joy will be that of...

Aubrey Plaza is expanding her TV empire with an “Emily The Criminal” series.

The actress who led the 2022 Sundance breakout crime thriller will executive produce a series adaptation of John Patton Ford’s film for Legendary Television, an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire. She won’t however star in the new series.

“Emily The Criminal” was written and directed by John Patton Ford, who will also executive produce the series adaptation. Ford will also direct the show.

The original film followed Emily (Plaza) who tries to pay off her student debt by working as a “dummy shopper” and purchasing goods with stolen credit cards. The scheme is run by Youcef (Theo Rossi), who becomes entangled with Emily.

“Emily the Criminal” was released by Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment and earned four Film Independent Spirit Award nominations, including for Plaza’s performance and Ford’s screenplay. Plaza was...

Diane Kruger is re-teaming with her In the Fade director Fatih Akin on the new German period drama Amrum, which began principal photography in Hamburg today.

The film follows a family living in a small village on Amrum Island in rural northern Germany in early 1945, in the final days of World War II. The story is based on the childhood memories of Akin’s In the Fade co-screenwriter, German author and director Hark Bohm. Bohm had initially planned to direct the film himself before handing the reins over to Akin, who co-wrote the Amrum screenplay.

The movie is a coming-of-age story of Nanning, a 12-year-old boy (played by Jasper Billerbeck) and his best friend Hermann (Kian Köppke). Laura Tonke (When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before) plays Nanning’s mother, Hille Hagener. Kruger plays Tessa Bendixen, a farmer’s wife. Matthias Schweighöfer (Oppenheimer), Detlev Buck (Same Same...

Beta Cinema is launching international sales in Cannes for director Fatih Akin’s upcoming film “Amrum,” which starts shooting in Hamburg Monday. The film stars Jasper Billerbeck, Laura Tonke and Diane Kruger.

“Amrum” will be released in German theaters in September 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

It is set on the island of Amrum in spring 1945. Seal hunting, fishing at night, toiling in the fields – nothing is too dangerous or too arduous for 12-year-old Nanning to help his mother feed the family in the final days of World War II. With the longed-for peace, however, completely new conflicts arise, and Nanning must learn to find his own way.

The story is based on the childhood memories of German director and screenwriter Hark Bohm. Akin said: “What began as a Hark Bohm film now becomes my 12th feature film and an extraordinary mission: ‘Amrum’ is the journey of young Nanning, who...

The awards ceremony for the 74th Berlin International Film Festival kicks off Saturday night, where this year’s jury, headed by 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong’o, will hand out the coveted Gold and Silver Bears.

Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s Iranian drama My Favourite Cake is being given good odds for an award this year. The drama, about a 70-year-old widow and her tentative attempts at romance with an age-appropriate taxi driver, was a critical fave. A win for the film would also send a political message after the Iranian government banned the directors from attending Berlin. If the jury picks out Cake for the Golden Bear it would be the third time in 10 years —following Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015) and There Is No Evil (2020) from Mohammad Rasoulof —that Berlin has given its top honor to Iranian directors in absentia. World sales for My...

John Tilley, a longtime distribution exec and advocate for independent film at companies including United Artists Classics, Cinevista and Strand, who was instrumental in introducing the films of Pedro Almodovar to U.S. audiences, died Sunday in New York City. He was 75.

“John was always a consummate encyclopedia of knowledge of the industry, and his pool of friends and colleagues from around the globe always created a sense of family in Cannes, Berlin and more. His work at Strand Releasing was invaluable,” said Marcus Hu, co-president of Strand Releasing.

Filmmaker Ira Sachs said, “John was one of the first people I met in the film business, and he remained one of the kindest. He was open, curious, passionate, opinionated, and wise, and he knew the history of American and queer independent cinema like few others. His loss represents the passing of a generation of pioneers that created the community and industry that we know today.

Six independent production companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are pooling their resources to set up a joint development and co-production group to help bankroll high-end drama series and feature films.

Germany’s Claussen + Putz, producers of Netflix series Biohackers and hit children’s film The Little Witch; Hamburg-based Wüste Film (Head-On, Alma & Oskar); Austria’s Die Film Ag (7500 with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Vicky Krieps-starrer Corsage) and Lotus Film (Cold Feet, Cathedrals of Culture); and Hugofilm Features (When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit) and Zodiac Pictures (Heidi, The Divine Order) together have formed Das Dach to jointly develop German-language projects.

The move, unveiled Wednesday, is a reaction to a dramatic shift in the independent production market, brought about by the disruption of the global streaming giants.

“The market is undergoing a fundamental change,” the producers say in a statement. “Previous territorial boundaries and restrictions are being called into question in the...

To no one’s surprise, Edward Berger’s epic WWI drama All Quiet on the Western Front is the front runner for this year’s German film awards. The Netflix feature, which picked up nine Oscar nominations and won four — both records for a German movie — received 12 nominations on Friday for Germany’s top cinema honor, known as the Lola.

The film, the first German-language adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque classic 1929 anti-war novel, is the clear favorite going into this year’s Lolas. In addition to the Oscar sweep — the film won best international feature, best cinematography, best production design, and best score at this year’s Academy Awards — All Quiet on the Western Front dominated the 2023 Baftas, taking seven trophies, including for best film and best director.

All Quiet was nominated in every Lola category it qualified for, including best film, best director for Berger, and best actor...

If the independent film world had to crown a queen, there’s a good chance it would select Aubrey Plaza. The “Parks and Recreation” alum has been a fixture at Sundance for years, consistently starring in cool films and helping new directors gain crucial opportunities in the process. Her latest indie is “Emily the Criminal,” a heist movie she produced in addition to playing the eponymous criminal. In a new interview with L’Officiel, Plaza opened up about some of the films that influenced her and “Emily the Criminal” director John Patton Ford while making the film.

“John is a really big fan of Jacques Audiard,” Plaza said. “There’s a movie called ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’ and that movie was a big reference for him. A lot of foreign films. We talked a lot about ‘Head-On,’ which is Fatih Akın. And also the Safdie Brothers’ ‘Good Time.’ That...

WarnerMedia has struck a first-look deal with German-Turkish director Fatih Akin.

The pact marks the first such deal Akin has signed up for in his career. The helmer is best known for such films as “In The Fade” (2017), “Head-On” (2004) and “Soul Kitchen” (2009).

The deal, which will span multiple years and several projects, will cover German and Turkish-language movies and series for theatrical release, TV and for HBO Max.

Hannes Heyelmann, EVP Programming Emea at WarnerMedia, said: “We’ve worked with Fatih Akin for a number of years now and this deal furthers our fantastic relationship together. We know how important local content is to our audiences and together with Fatih we want to produce some great German and Turkish language content. We are looking forward to continuing our work with this incredibly talented director and writer.”

Fatih Akin added: “Warner Bros. Pictures has inspired me all of my life. Some...

It was on Sept 9, 1971 prisoners seized control of the maximum security Attica prison in upstate New York. The five-day uprising became the worst prison riot in the history of the U.S. with 43 people killed including 39 that were killed in the bloody Sept. 13th raid that saw helicopters flying over dropping tear gas while state police and corrections officers storming the prison shooting some 3,000 rounds killing 29 inmates, ten hostages and wounding 89. Even after the raid, the prisoners were tortured by the police in the form of reprisals; the wounded inmates barely received any medical help.

Authorities stated the inmates slit the throats of the 10 hostages who died during the raid. In fact, Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who never visited the prison during the uprising, stated: they “carried out the cold-blood killings they had threated from the outset.” Autopsies proved, though, that the dead hostages had been shot by the police. Outrage...

The great director discusses some of his favorite movies with host Josh Olson.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Alzheimer Case a.k.a. Memory of a Killer (2003)

Memory (Tbd)

The Protégé (2021)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Cast A Deadly Spell (1991)

The Mask Of Zorro (1998)

GoldenEye (1995)

Casino Royale (2006)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

Slap Shot (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Salt (2010)

Atomic Blonde (2017) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Oliver Twist (1948)

Dr. No (1962) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Guns Of Navarone (1962)

The Dirty Dozen (1967) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s 70mm reissue review

The Spy Who Loved Me...

Clarence Williams III, an actor known for portraying Linc Hayes on “The Mod Squad” and Prince’s father in “Purple Rain,” died on June 4. He was 81.

Williams’ management confirmed his death to Variety, citing the cause as colon cancer.

Williams broke through in 1968 as one of the stars of the counterculture cop show “The Mod Squad,” also starring then-unknown actors Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole. He was a mainstay of the series until its end in 1973, and went on to have a career in film, television and theater spanning four decades.

Williams portrayed Prince’s father in 1984’s “Purple Rain” and had a recurring role as FBI Agent Roger Hardy on beloved TV show “Twin Peaks.” He also had a long-running collaboration with director John Frankenheimer, playing Bobby Shy in 1986’s “52 Pick-Up,” Chaka in 1994’s “Against the Wall,” Archie in the 1997 TV movie “George Wallace” and Merlin in 2000’s “Reindeer Games.

Some movies can bring out the life coach in you, the one who wants to get the characters to straighten up and fly right. Is that just because they’re behaving badly? Not exactly. Bad behavior is half of what movies are. No, when a film nudges your inner life coach, it’s because someone onscreen is up to something so wrongheaded that it ceases to be clear whether it’s him or the movie that needs an intervention.

For a while, “Monday” gives you the fizzy sensation that it’s just what an indie romantic comedy should be: buoyant and real, full of the sexiness of smashed boundaries, with two alluring free spirits at its center. At a disco house party in Athens, Chloe (Denise Gough), an American visitor who’s in the middle of a drunken breakup via cell phone, meets Mickey (Sebastian Stan), an American expatriate who’s DJ-ing the party,...

A horrifying, suspenseful thriller, Antebellum arrived on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray and Digital), Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital), DVD, Digital, and On Demand November 3 from Lionsgate.

The film is currently available on Premium Video On Demand and was the top grossing title over the first two weeks of its debut. Featuring an all-star cast including Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, and Gabourey Sidibe, and the film aims to spark a “new and innovative way of talking about modern issues” (Janelle Monáe).

Successful author Veronica Henley (Janelle Monáe) finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality that forces her to confront the past, present and future – before it’s too late.

Gerard Bush + Christopher Renz, the writer-producer-directors of Antebellum, said, “We are thrilled Antebellum will continue its forward march into homes across America. Ultra 4k HD, Blu-ray & DVD will include never before...

Following its VOD release in September, the Janelle Monáe-starring Antebellum is coming to 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 3rd from Lionsgate, and we have a look at the full list of special features, including deleted scenes and a two-part documentary:

From the Press Release: Santa Monica, CA – A horrifying, suspenseful thriller comes home when Antebellum arrives on 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray and Digital), Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital), DVD, Digital, and On Demand November 3 from Lionsgate. The film is currently available on Premium Video On Demand and was the top grossing title over the first two weeks of its debut. Featuring an all-star cast including Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, and Gabourey Sidibe, the film aims to spark a “new and innovative way of talking about modern issues” (Janelle Monáe).

Successful author Veronica Henley (Janelle Mona...

Birol Ünel, a Turkish and German actor best known for his role in Fatih Akin’s “Head-On” and who also appeared in the film “Enemy of the State,” has died after a battle with cancer. He was 59.

Turkish media reported his death on Friday, and the director Akin, with whom Ünel worked with on three of his films including “Head-On,” “In July” and “Soul Kitchen,” announced his passing.

“Rest In Peace, dear friend. Your light was shining bright,” Akin said on Instagram.

The Turkish publication Bianet reports that Ünel was hospitalized in Berlin on his birthday on August 18 and had suffered from cancer for some time.

Ünel was born in Turkey but moved to Germany at a young age and studied theater at Hanover Conservatory, landing his first part in 1985 on a TV movie and then his first film role in 1988’s “The Passenger.” His breakout role came as an...

Sean Paul has released his first single of 2020, “Calling on Me,” featuring the Swedish singer Tove Lo.

“‘Calling on Me’ is a dope song reflecting the real side of love,” Sean Paul said in a statement. “If you love someone, the energy doesn’t ever change. They are able to call on you at all times. I’m proud to have such an amazing vocalist like Tove Lo be on the track with me.”

On the track, Paul proclaims, “I’ll be there to give you what you need/I...

Puerto Rican producer Tainy enlists an international crack team of hitmakers for his brand-new song, “Lento.” It’s the second single off his upcoming Ep, The Kids Who Grew Up on Reggaeton.

At first glance, the features on “Lento” read like a randomized hodgepodge of Latin-Caribbean talent. Jamaican living legend Sean Paul is joined by two young MCs who bubbled up from the urbano underground: Argentine trap princess, Cazzu, and Dominican rapper Mozart La Para.

True to the name “Lento,” which translates to “Slow,” the new track is an unhurried dembow with brooding,...

Fatih Akin’s latest movie is a fetid stain on the CV of a good filmmaker. Akin has made the true story of a repulsive, grotesque serial killer into a repulsive, grotesque movie, a calamitous misfire for a critical darling of recent German cinema. This is a film that wallows in the most appalling sexual abuse, that fetishizes facial disfigurement and physical deformity and, most cowardly of all, gives no voice to women who were the victims of horrific historic crimes. Set in the early 1970s, it offers a view into many of the trappings of that era’s misogyny, but gives nothing in the way of ironic retrospection or insight–especially inexcusable in today’s #MeToo era. The House of Jack Built, released to indignant uproar last year, is a profound statement of human condition by comparison.

Based on a non-fiction novel by Heinz Strunk, this is the story...

A fetid corpse flower of a film — the kind whose wretched stink only blooms into theaters once every few years — Fatih Akin’s “The Golden Glove” is a movie that you can smell just by looking at it. It’s relentlessly pungent; the cinematic equivalent of an overflowing porta potty. The sets reek of shit and decaying flesh, while even the living characters appear to rot before our eyes. Maggots fall through the ceiling and rain into a young girl’s soup. A jar of pickled sausages grows enough white fur to make a winter coat. There’s no reprieve from all this rancidness. It opens with a long, unblinking take of its sociopathic protagonist stripping the body of a bloated old prostitute and (after the help of some liquid courage) sawing her head off with the wild-eyed clumsiness of a chronic drinker. It’s hard to fathom at the time,...

“The Golden Glove,” Golden Bear winner Fatih Akin’s film about a real-life serial killer, has been sold to multiple territories, including Japan, Spain and Italy, by German sales agent The Match Factory.

The film is scheduled to world-premiere Saturday in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Set in the 1970s, the pic tells the story of Fritz Honka, who killed at least four women in Hamburg’s red-light district. Akin’s screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by Heinz Strunk.

The film, which will be released by Pathe in France and Warner Bros. in Germany, has now been acquired by Bitters End in Japan, Vertigo in Spain, Bim in Italy, Cineart in Benelux and Rosebud in Greece. Other buyers include Vertigo in Hungary, Independenta Film 97 in Romania, Art Fest in Bulgaria, A-One Films in the Baltic states, McF MegaCom Film in the former Yugoslavia, and Bio Paradis in Iceland.

With more than 300 films in its program and 500,000 attendees coming to watch them, the Berlinale is the world’s largest film festival. The 69th edition — the last under the guidance of festival director Dieter Kosslick, who’s overseen the launch of major recent movies like Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Things to Come,” Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs,” and Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation” — is set to kick off this Thursday with the world premiere of Lone Scherfig’s star-studded “The Kindness of Strangers,” and will continue until the following weekend, when Juliette Binoche’s jury awards the prestigious Golden Bear to the film that emerges victorious from the festival’s Competition section.

While the Berlinale has become one of the most eclectic events of its kind, and an unparalleled opportunity to discover fresh and exciting work from all corners of the globe, this year’s program also includes new work...

Variety has been given exclusive access to first-look footage from Fatih Akin’s horror film “The Golden Glove,” which has its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Akin has previously won the Golden Globe, Berlin’s Golden Bear, Venice’s Special Jury Prize, and Cannes’ screenplay award.

Set in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district in the 1970s, the film tells the true story of serial killer Fritz Honka. Akin’s screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by Heinz Strunk.

The action centers on Honka’s favorite bar, the Golden Glove, where schmaltzy German songs move the boozy barflies to tears and drinking is a reflex against pain and longing.

At first glance, Honka – played by Jonas Dassler – is a pitiful loser. The man with the broken face carouses through his nights in the Golden Glove, chasing after lonely women. None of the regulars suspects that...

With his recent Diane Kruger-led terrorism drama In the Fade, Fatih Akin finally returned to the kind of global attention he earned with his break-out films Head-On and The Edge of Heaven. The German director will now, fittingly, return to Berlinale with his next film, Der Goldene Handschuh aka The Golden Glove.

The first trailer has now arrived and while it is currently absent of subtitles it shows the deranged new territory Akin is exploring. The drama, which looks to have some over-the-top comedic tones, follows the true story of a serial killer in 1970s Hamburg who killed four prostitutes. After last year’s The House That Jack Built, we’ll have to see if audiences can stomach a similar story. Starring Jonas Dassler, Margarethe Tiesel, and Hark Bohm, see the trailer and poster below.

The Golden Glove will premiere at Berlinale 2019.

New films by Francois Ozon, Fatih Akin and Denis Cote are among the titles that will compete for the Golden Bear at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.

German director Akin’s “Der Goldene Handschuh” (“The Golden Glove”) and French helmer Ozon’s “Grâce à dieu” (“By the Grace of God”) were announced by the Berlinale in its first batch of competition films Thursday. Akin won the Golden Bear in 2004 with “Head-On.”

The lineup also includes “Der Boden unter den Fuessen” (“The Ground Beneath My Feet”) by Austrian director Marie Kreutzer; “Répertoire des villes disparues” (“Ghost Town Anthology”) by Canadian director Cote; “Ich war zuhause, aber” by German director Angela Schanelec; and “Kız Kardeşler” (“A Tale of Three Sisters”) by Turkish helmer Emin Alper.

All six competition films unveiled Thursday will have their world premieres in Berlin with the exception of “By the Grace of God,” which gets its international premiere at the festival.

After a few features that went underseen — or altogether undistributed — in the United States, Fatih Akin is back in a big way this year. The latest film from the director behind the great Head-On is In the Fade, in which Diane Kruger plays a woman seeking revenge after her family is murdered by the neo-Nazi group National Socialist Underground. Following a debut at Cannes, Magnolia Pictures picked it up with an intention to push Kruger for Best Actress, and now a new trailer has landed.

We said in our review, “Fatih Akin sends a cumbersome bull into the socio-political china shop of present-day Germany, and all its racial and social divides, with In the Fade, a compelling (if somewhat ugly and hammy) contemporary revenge thriller wherein fear begets fear, hates begets hate, and thrills — however imprudent they might be — are easy to come by.”

Check out the trailer and poster below.

Dear Danny and Kelley,What a joy this time of the year to reconnect with old cinephile friends, and to meet new ones. The film festival I’ve been to more times than any other, Tiff seems to grow more personally important with each new visit—as a locus of discovery, an escape from the routine, a sanctuary and a labyrinth, exhausting and intoxicating. Could even a vérité master like Frederick Wiseman capture all its contradictions? The cinema and people I encounter during my ten days here comprise a refuge, a reminder of sublime possibilities in the midst of brutish realities. Art keeps the beast at bay, or so they say. Indeed, the very first film I saw, Alain Gomis’ Félicité, opens with just such a clash. In a roisterous Congolese bar, various squabbles hush up as a woman steps up to the microphone for a fierce, gorgeous song. As...

Germany has picked Fatih Akin's terrorist drama In the Fade to represent the country in the 2018 Oscars in the foreign-language category.

Diane Kruger made her German-language acting debut in the film, playing a German woman whose Kurdish husband and child are killed in an xenophobic terrorist attack. She picked up the best actress award in Cannes for her performance. The story was inspired by real-life neo-Nazi attacks on ethnic Turks and other minorities living in Germany.

Akin is an established figure in the German art house scene — his hard-hitting drama Head-On won the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear...

The thirteenth edition of Santiago International Film Festival, Sanfic (August 20–27, 2017), the largest film festival in Chile, will present more than 100 international and Chilean films, including productions shown and awarded in festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice. Among the feature films will be 7 world and 14 Latin American premieres.

Sanfic (Santiago International Film Festival) is opening the festival to international press this year with Variety Dailies and important international guests for their Sanfic Industry section. Guest attending include Kim Yutani (Sundance programmer), Javier Martin (Berlinale delegate), Molly O ́Keefe (Tribeca Film Institute — fiction features) and Estrella Araiza (Industry director of Guadalajara Iff), to name a few. Matt Dillon is its special guest along with the renowned director of photography Rainer Klausmann.

The Summit starring Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi and Erica Rivas, with an appearance of Christian Slater and renowned Chilean actors Paulina Garcia and Alfredo Castro

The opening film of the...

Jakake Film has just released a teaser for their upcoming stylish thriller EneME. The film is directed by Jakob Gisik based on the script by Adnan Köse and stars Thure Riefenstein (The Man in the High Castle), Dennis Mojen (Nowhere), Udo Schenk (13 Minutes), Branko Tomovic (24: Live Another Day), Jasmin Lord (Vier gegen die Bank) and Adam Bousdoukos (Head-On). The story is about the difficult relationship between two brothers which collapses in a mire of mafia and drugs. Check out the teaser below:...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Shedding the excruciating profundities that turned him into a critical target after 2014’s “The Cut,” Fatih Akin has returned to the more intimate narratives that made two of his earlier (and greatest) films, “Head-On” and “The Edge Of Heaven,” stand out. “In The Fade” tackles Akin’s most personal theme — immigration and cultural identity of Turks and Muslims in Germany — in much more orderly and subtle fashion, and at the very least, we can say that it’s a big step in the right direction towards a surefire dramatic comeback.

Continue reading Fatih Akin’s ‘In The Fade’ Starring Diane Kruger A Lacklustre Courtroom Drama [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

Author: Jo-Ann Titmarsh

Fatih Akin has had a directorial trajectory that oscillates between the compelling and raw Head-On to the less successful Armenian genocide movie The Cut via the joys of Soul Kitchen. In the Fade sees Akin in his native Hamburg tackling racism and the burgeoning far right extremism.

The film opens with Nuri Sekerci (Numan Acar), wearing a white suit and black shirt reminiscent of Tony Manero, is heading out of his prison cell and into marriage with Katja (Diane Kruger). The jostling and joshing inmates cheering him on his way is a joy. From here we jump ahead a few years and see the two happily ensconced in a beautiful home with a lovely six-year-old son Rocco. Nuri has a legitimate business and Katja is a stay-at-home mum. But when a bomb explodes and kills her family, we wonder how legitimate Nuri was and where all the money came from.

In the Fade

Director: Fatih Akin

Writer: Fatih Akin, Hark Bohm

Fatih Akin has been a fixture in German language cinema since his 2004 break out Head-On, which took home the Golden Berlin Bear.

Continue reading...

Fatih Akin, a Hamburg-born filmmaker of Turkish origins, knows his way around a rough-edged, ink-black and punk-infused love story, as he demonstrated in his Golden Bear winner Head-On, as well as something mysteriously beguiling like his Cannes competition title The Edge of Heaven, a Kieslowskian kaleidoscope of lives that unwittingly intersect. His two Venice-selected films couldn't be more different either: Soul Kitchen was, rather fittingly, a messy, upbeat and finally delicious comedy, while his historical drama The Cut, set against the backdrop of the Armenian genocide, never quite managed to reach the epic grandeur it so clearly strived for.

All...

Festival adapts to recent security concerns and adds initiatives for refugees.

Berlin festival director Dieter Kosslick has spoken publicly about security measures for the forthcoming Berlinale (Feb 11-21) and initiatives to build bridges between the festival and newly arrived refugees now living in the German capital.

In an interview with the Berlin newspaper B.Z., Kosslick was asked whether the Paris terrorist attacks in November would result in any changes to the festival’s security policy.

“We are always adjusting our security conditions to the particular current situation, and we work very closely here with the security services and the police,” said Kosslick. “But, in principle, we have a lot of security in place which we naturally try to keep as discreet as possible.”

Long-time visitors to the festival will no doubt remember the 2002 edition – held less than six months after 9/11 – when elaborate airport-style security checks were made on guests as they entered the Berlinale Palast.

However...

The beginning of week two was when the highly anticipated first of three master classes were scheduled with Turkish helmer Fatih Akin breaking bread first. Giving insight into a career that has been celebrated at major film fests since Head-On won over the Berlinale, I’m of the opinion that his only true masterwork was 2007’s The Edge of Heaven. So if I needed a reason for not attending, then this is how I would clear my day for a slight detour.

The organizers gave attendees the possibility of visiting the vistas of Ouarzazate (about half an hour plane ride away from Marrekech). As it turns out, Morrocco has been host to several feature films dating back well beyond Lawrence of Arabia days.

Plenty of film folk made the trip which included stops at the impressive, wish we could have stayed longer Kasbah Ait Benhaddou (Unesco site and 1st set...

It’s been quite a year for Fatih Akin. The Turkish-German filmmaker's Armenian genocide film “The Cut” hit cinemas after much ado last year about whether the film would premiere at Cannes or Venice. The historical drama is the third installment in his "Love, Death and the Devil Trilogy," accompanying previous installments “Head-On” and “The Edge of Heaven.” “The Cut” was met with mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office, but Akin shows no signs of slowing down. Read More: Fatih Akin's Grandiose And Dull 'The Cut' Starring Tahar Rahim In Morocco for the Marrakech International Film Festival, where he is presenting a master class, Akin was candid and reflective on the challenges he faced with “The Cut” and on the future of his career in an interview with the Playlist. Throughout the festival, jury members, guests and filmmakers have contemplated the recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino,...

This review is of the English-language version shown at the Venice Film Festival last year. The U.S. version, currently in limited release features Armenian dialogue, and is subtitled in English, so it's fairly different from our review, fyi. When Turkish-German auteur Fatih Akin pulled “The Cut” from the Cannes slate citing “personal reasons,” the rumor mill went to work overtime. Certainly, Cannes would have seemed like the natural home for the filmmaker’s next opus, so if, as was suggested, he had not been guaranteed the competition slot that his profile surely demanded, what could the reason be? Politics? Pique? Some internecine beef we weren’t aware of? Within all that gossip however, there was one possible explanation that never really got much play: that the film would not be very good. Akin’s previous films, including such terrific, joltingly energetic, critically lauded and awarded titles as “Head-on” and...

Read More: Venice Review: Fatih Akin's 'The Cut' Falls Short of Its Ambititions The Baumi Script Development Award, which is endowed with 20,000 euros in prize money, is seeking international screenwriters to submit original work until November 15.  Martina Baumgartner, Reinhard Brundig (Pandora Film), Petra Müller, and Fatih Akin ("Head-On," "The Edge of Heaven") will be judging the submissions. The award pays tribute to the film producer Karl "Baumi" Baumgartner, whose film production credits include "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" and "Le Havre." Baumgartner passed away last year.  Authors must have already produced at least one screenplay, and first-time screenwriters must submit along with a production company. The awards ceremony for the winners will be held during the 2016 Berlinale. For more information, click here.  Read More: Attention, Screenwriters: 6 Screenplay Contests and...

Third Cut is the Deepest: Akin’s Barren Examination of Armenian Genocide

Turkish-German director Fatih Akin concludes his decade in the making ‘Love, Death, and the Devil’ trilogy with The Cut, a film documenting the devastation of the 1915 Armenian genocide. It is the second film to reach theatrical release in 2015 dealing with the century old tragedy, following the aptly titled 1915 directed by Garin Hovannisian and Alec Mouhibian (both films notably star French-Armenian actor Simon Abkarian), and does convey a certain sense of nobly epic proportions in regards to the detrimental scope of an event robbed of the same historical urgency as several genocides since. But the nature of these horrors are lost in Akin’s overly refined handling of the material, whittled down to one father’s ceaseless journey to reclaim the kin war has separated him from. Those unlikely to appreciate a certain sense of honorable intention in Akin...

The math is pretty simple: put together Turkish-German auteur Fatih Akin (“Head-On,” “Edge of Heaven”) with one of our favorite actors Tahar Rahim ("A Prophet," "The Past"), and it's no brainer that the filmmaker's "The Cut" would make our list of 12 Films To See In September. Today we have an exclusive clip from the drama. Read More: Venice Review: Fatih Akin's 'The Cut' Starring Tahar Rahim Endorsed by Martin Scorsese, who has called the film "a genuine, hand-made epic of the type that people just don’t make anymore," the story follows Armenian Nazaret Manoogian, who is separated from his family after being rounded up by the Turkish police. Years later, after managing to survive the horrors of the genocide of the Armenian genocide from 1915-1917, he hears that his twin daughters are still alive and sets out on a journey to find them. And in this clip,...

Fatih Akin blasted onto the public’s consciousness with the visceral Head-On in 2004. Since then he has consistently turned out high calibre films, from The Edge of Heaven to the more lighthearted Soul Kitchen and New York, I Love You. These films share themes of nationality, belonging and displacement. Akin takes these subjects to new levels in his look at the Armenian genocide in 1915, a term invented to describe the event although Turkey still refuses to accept it.

The eminently watchable Tahar Rahim is Nazaret Manoogian, an ironmonger from Mardin who lives a tranquil life with his wife, twin daughters and extended family. But the Ottomans are approaching and it is a question of time before they reach the town. The audience is given an inkling of what’s to come when Nazaret and the girls talk about a long journey the three of them will take across the ocean.

Earlier this month, a Turkish nationalist group issued an open threat to Fatih Akin, whose new film, The Cut, completes the Love, Death and the Devil trilogy begun by Head-On (2004) and The Edge of Heaven (2007), deals with events in Turkey nearly 100 years ago. Akin tells Stephen Heyman in the New York Times that he's "shown the film to people who deny the fact that 1915 was a genocide and to people who accept it and both groups had the same emotional impact. I hope the film could be seen as a bridge. For sure there are radical groups, fascist groups, who fear any kind of reconciliation. And the smaller they are, the louder they bark." And now, following the premiere in Venice, the first reviews are coming in. » - David Hudson...

Earlier this month, a Turkish nationalist group issued an open threat to Fatih Akin, whose new film, The Cut, completes the Love, Death and the Devil trilogy begun by Head-On (2004) and The Edge of Heaven (2007), deals with events in Turkey nearly 100 years ago. Akin tells Stephen Heyman in the New York Times that he's "shown the film to people who deny the fact that 1915 was a genocide and to people who accept it and both groups had the same emotional impact. I hope the film could be seen as a bridge. For sure there are radical groups, fascist groups, who fear any kind of reconciliation. And the smaller they are, the louder they bark." And now, following the premiere in Venice, the first reviews are coming in. » - David Hudson...

When Turkish-German auteur Fatih Akin pulled “The Cut” from the Cannes slate citing “personal reasons,” the rumor mill went to work overtime. Certainly, Cannes would have seemed like the natural home for the filmmaker’s next opus, so if, as was suggested, he had not been guaranteed the competition slot that his profile surely demanded, what could the reason be? Politics? Pique? Some internecine beef we weren’t aware of? Within all that gossip however, there was one possible explanation that never really got much play: that the film would not be very good. Akin’s previous films, including such terrific, joltingly energetic, critically lauded and awarded titles as “Head-on” and “The Edge of Heaven” (the first two in a thematic trilogy that “The Cut” is mooted to complete), seemed to put that beyond the realm of possibility. And in truth, it’s not not very good. It’s close to a disaster.