Fatih Akin on ‘The Edge of Heaven’ - coming soon in theaters
When I saw Fatih Akin’s ‘ The Edge of Heaven ‘ - winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the 2007 Festival de Cannes at this year’s MAMI Film Fesitval in Mumbai, I was spellbound. Hearing that the film will be released theatrically in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore at PVR on 10th October makes me rejoice all the more!
After Head-On and Crossing The Bridge: The Sound Of Istanbul (2005), Akin puts his mighty filmmaking talents into a complex film that has been hailed as his best yet.
This German/ Turkish film has already won multiple international awards and has screened at various film festivals from around the world.
It’s great to see such gems regularly releasing in the major cities of India courtesy NDTV Lumiere. They have also released a bunch of amazing world cinema titles in India on DVDs. The current list includes The Orphanage – it’s quite spooky, Goodbye Children ( Louis Malle probably at his best! ), Half Moon, Crossing the Bridge, Head On ( another Fatih Akin masterpiece) and a few more.
Below are comments from Fatih Akin on The Edge of Heaven and his films in general -
Courtesy : Match Factory
—–
Erich Fromm’s “The Art of Loving” influenced me a lot. I’m fascinated by human relationships. Not just boy meets girl or in a sexual sense, but also between parents and children. All human relationships. I believe that all the wars in the world are the result of not using love in the way that humanity should. I think evil is the product of laziness. It’s easier to hate someone than to love them.
Shooting In Turkey
I finally started shooting on May 1, 2006. The Edge Of Heaven was shot in Germany – Bremen and Hamburg, and in Turkey – Istanbul, the Black Sea Coast and Trabzon. The shoot lasted about 10 weeks. For a filmmaker, Turkey is a great place to shoot. Shooting in Germany is much less interesting. It can be attractive, but you have to look hard or create it. The light is extraordinary in Turkey because of its geographic position. For me, shooting in Istanbul is like shooting in New York. They’re both attractive and cosmopolitan. Each city is a megalopolis. I love to shoot in cities. I’m a big city child. It’s what I know. In The Edge Of Heaven, the city of Istanbul is actually a character. Since she doesn’t speak the language, foreigner Lotte becomes lost as she confronts Istanbul. But I also wanted to break the urban image with scenes in the countryside and the coast.
In Between Two Cultures
I have this Turkish background and I have this German background. I was born in Germany, but I’m in between the two cultures. Educated in Europe, but also raised in Turkish by my parents. Turkish culture has always been a part of my life. I traveled to Turkey with my family every summer since I was a kid. Since I’m in between these two cultures, it’s natural that my films are in between, too.
Love-Hate Relationship With Turkey
I have this love-hate relationship with Turkey, a very complicated relationship. I became much more interested in Turkey after I finished school in 1995. I decided to make my first short film there, Weed in 1996. I saw another face of Turkey and I became more and more fascinated. I became more Turkish. With every meter of film I shoot in Turkey, I try to understand the country more and more. But the more I understand it, the more it makes me sad. I hate the politics, the nationalism. Look at what is happening in that country.
History repeating itself. The same mistakes again and again. I love that country, but shooting in Turkey takes a lot of energy, tears and blood.
Turkish Bureaucracy
The image of Turkish bureaucracy in The Edge Of Heaven isn’t harsh, it’s Kafkaesque. This is not criticism, it’s truth without comment. In the film, when the political activist is arrested in front of Ayten, the happy crowd applauses. The sad thing is that this happened naturally in rehearsal, the extras just automatically clapped. This really only happens when those arrested are considered to be “enemies of the state”. Fascism is alive and well in the streets of Istanbul.
Count The Turkish Flags
There are a lot of Turkish flags seen in The Edge Of Heaven. Go ahead and count them. I guess the nationalists will interpret that as a sign of love for Turkey, but I didn’t put one in. They were all already there. I didn’t change the locations. I shot them the way they were. Maybe I went too far, there are so many Turkish flags!
Intelligence Is Sexy
I think intelligence is sexy, so I made the character of Nejat a professor. And a German professor of Turkish origin breaks certain clichés which still exist in Germany. Turks today play a significant role in German culture, politics and science. They’re not just hustling in the streets. For Yeter, education is important enough for her to prostitute herself to provide one for her daughter. Nejat can relate to this desire for knowledge. I liked the irony that when Nejat goes to Istanbul he trades places with a German intellectual running a bookstore.
Education Can Save The World
Literacy, education, plays a profound role in The Edge Of Heaven. A book is a key image in the conflict between Nejat and his father. Which book to show? It was a very difficult decision for me. I didn’t want “Siddartha” or “The Hobbit” or anything too full of some parallel meaning. So I thought I would advertise my friend’s fantastic book. I chose “Die Tochter Des Schmieds” (“The Blacksmith’s Daughter”) by Selim Ozdogan. In regards to the film, the key element is about reading. Reading stands for education. And education is the only thing that can save the world.
Hannah and Tuncel
I imagined this German mother coming to Istanbul looking for her missing daughter. I had this image early on with Hanna Schygulla in mind. I had met her in Belgrade in 2004 and she put a spell on me. I was really into the idea of working with her. Some German journalists have compared my career to that of Fassbinder’s, but I don’t see it at all. I come from the streets, not the theater. Yilmaz Güney is more my background, independent against the norm. What Fassbinder was to Hanna, Güney was similar to actor Tuncel Kurtiz, who I also imagined early on to be part of The Edge Of Heaven. But my goal wasn’t to use them as icons from films by Fassbinder and Güney. It would have been vain of me to try and use them like no one else before. I didn’t want my direction to be affected like that. For me, my job is storytelling. And both Hanna and Tuncel fit the idea I had for the parents in the story.
Sampling
The challenge for me as a filmmaker is not to repeat myself. I like to surprise myself and ultimately the audience. I hope that all my films will seem different. I guess we’ll be able to judge that five films from now. When my ideas come, they all come at the same time and they come from a lot of different sources. I even recycle, like sampling in hip hop music, which I love. They use known bass lines to create something new from something old, and it’s a sort of homage at the same time. Some of the issues in The Edge Of Heaven were sampled from Crossing The Bridge. The character of the political activist Ayten was inspired by those Kurdish singers. Here in the West, we don’t have to fight for freedom of speech. But the war for justice is still going on in Turkey.
Passion Is Sexy
Fighting for something with passion is sexy. And I wanted a sexy character for The Edge Of Heaven. Ayten is very emotional. She’s street-smart and very attractive. She’s a political person. At first, actress Nurgül Yesilçay didn’t feel comfortable with the political background of the character. When she finally agreed, she went all the way. I was fascinated by how well she knew her character. I know a lot of women like Ayten and Nurgül is not one of them. Ayten is sort of a female version of me. She believes in one thing, but later she will surprise herself and change her ideas.
Am I political?
I want to change the world - am I political? My film hopes the world will change – is it political? Probably more philosophical, but I think everything is political in today’s world. In the times we live in, I think it’s impossible to separate life and politics and art. I believe in the stuff I believe in, but I might change my mind tomorrow. I try not to be dogmatic. Whatever people believe in – religion or politics – everything has limits, everything heads in one direction. I wanted to make a film about going to the other side of all that, going beyond all that. I tried to make this film with some distance, as a viewer from the outside. But it didn’t seem to be possible. Sometimes it’s not the head which directs. I guess it’s a part of me that’s much more irrational, like the heart.
Germany And Turkey
As Germans, Susanne and Lotte represent the European Union, while Ayten and Yeter represent Turkey. Everything that happens between them in The Edge Of Heaven is representative of the relationship of those systems. I had some fun with the argument between Susanne and Ayten regarding the European Union. But where I stand is not the point. I wrote this dialogue based on what I have often heard from real people around me. By the end of the film, German Susanne and Turkish Ayten both experience a profound change in how they see and feel about things. In the bookstore scene at the end where they hug, I noticed a small detail only in the edit. Not far from the women, there are two small flags, one German, the other Turkish. My friend and partner, Andreas Thiel, who passed away during the last week of the shoot, put them there. This stands for something. I guess it’s also a film about the relationship between the two countries.
Trailer of The Edge of Heaven
blogged by Shamath Mazumdar, NDTV Lumière
This is a sponsored blog-post written by NDTV Lumière via PFC’s blogsAlly partner program.
Filed Under
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29 Responses to “Fatih Akin on ‘The Edge of Heaven’ - coming soon in theaters”
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There is something about these war-torn regions film-makers that they can’t seem to shake off the fact that they have to imbibe that shade of their history into their film-making. This movie could well be one of those…. I will check netflix to see if it’s available…
to be honest i had no idea about Fatih Akin’s films before this, but am surely interested now.
i hope this makes its way to kolkata pretty soon
till then I’ll Google up on more information on Akin’s films.
cheers,
rick.
Have not seen Fatih Akin’s ‘ The Edge of Heaven” but his background and comments on the film and its subject are alluring enough to watch the film.
This understanding is coming from his own life. A large number of Turkish people live in German speaking countries and Many european countries are opposing Turky’s inclusion in the European Union.
Lots of Youngesters are half Turkish and Half German or half European and this cultural clash is obviously complicated.
When Western world is joining hands against Jihad and many people have started seeing every Islmaic man with doubtful eyes then such youngesters may play a big role in todays European and world politics afterall they are the products of mixed race and only they know their internal conflict when they have to face outside wordly conflict.
NDTV Lumiere is doing good by releasing world cinema in India.
This is unbelievable. A Fatih Akin film is releasing in India.
HEAD ON is one of the best films I have seen in last 5 years. I remember Anurag talking about it all the time the first time he came to IFFLA with Black Friday. I got the DVD as soon as the Festival was over. Have made atleast 10 people watch it so far. No one has complained so far.
I am gonna ask all my friends in b’lore to go watch these NDTV films.
I know half of them won’t go. ( Time nahi mila). And then probably that same weekend they would be bitching how great films never get released in India. I find it amusing.
I’ve added the trailer to the NDTV Lumiere’s post
Very interesting. Its one thing to hear about Cannes winners in news and quite another to read about it on a forum like Pfc.
And I personally think NDTV Lumiere is doing India a great service by bringing world greats home. I recently watched Persepolis and Three Monkeys thanks to Lumiere and look forward to be a lot more such great films.
Superb! We need to have more such films released. Looking forward to this one especially because of Turkey. Istanbul as a city is indeed a character as evidenced in works of Orhan Pamuk. This is a treat, indeed
fatih akins dvd’s are officially available in india.. his head on is one of my all time favourite films.. head on and crossing the bridge both can be bought from any dvd or book shop in india
Thanks for adding the trailer. Looks fantastic.
But i cannot possibly imagine how he can make something better than HEAD ON.
Lets see….
Very nice to see, such movies releasing in India…pleasant..very pleasant
Awesome. Good to read Fatih’s insights into film making here. I love Head On like many others. Edge of Heaven looks interesting, partly because of the Head On connection, partly because of the cool trailer(well put together collage, brilliant music) and of course the cross-cultural theme. I am in Bangalore and would love to catch it in the theater.
i dont know much about Fatih Akin but now i am very much interested …this is a great news for world cinema lovers and such movies releasing in India is simply awesome
have heard a lot about faith akin ..eagerly looking forward to his films ..
welcome to pfc and thanks for this
awesome more power to NDTV!!!
and I thought World Cinema is just a matter of DVD or TV.. Good to see its releasing in theaters.. Dilli door nahin par Jaipur abhi door hai!
Kudos to NDTV Lumière for a great service they are doing for cine fans…
Would be keen to understand the viability of running these shows. Clearly, showing these films is a better idea than Hari Puttar or One Two Three. It’s important to get the right slots at PVR. How many shows does it require for breaking even? Are there previews planned?
Good job Lumiere…bring the goods for us..in India..great work!
great news
looking forward to watching ‘the edge of heaven’ and hopefully his other films too some time soon.
Kudos to NDTV Lumiere for this. We need more of world cinema to release in India.
Yes, Subrat, that was a pertinent question, how are the shows going to be planned. As of now, being in the trade as a partner with multiplexes, I see all of them do a late night or afternoon show with World Cinema and the usual newspaper ads. It does not do much for the awareness. Evidently, NDTV Lumiere is trying something more here and so these blogs. But, with more well timed shows, spot promotions and Double Bills and such like, these movies are bound to get their audience.
But looking forward to this. Bring it on!!
I just hope the PVR people in Mumbai don’t slot it for the 10.45 night show. This is their usual timing for world movies and it is real bad timing. It’s too late in the night and by the time the film gets over the trains are on the verge of shutting down for the night. This works only if you live close to PVRs or have your own vehicle or are willing to shell out an obscene amount on taxis.
Many world-movie buffs have no option but to let the movie go. It would be great if NDTV Lumiere could come up with viewer-friendly timings.
Like it or not, ticket price does play an important part in pulling crowds. I hope they have considered that too.
helloo..
thanks for getting three monkeys …loved every bit of it …but pvr juhu screen and chair sucks for the amt they charge …and the worst part i watched the same movie in b’lore for 110 bucks and have to shell 200 bucks here at juhu …dnt make it so bloody elitist man …think abt few poor souls too ocassionally…shift it to pvr goregaon if you can …but keep it going
ciao
I saw the movie recently. It was a very sensitive portrait of German - Turkish community. It is also movie about people who affect each others life without knowing that they are responsible fot it. And the intertwining stories are interwoven beautifully without any major melodrama or any prominent common thread or by showing characters moving past each other just for the effect.
Strongly recommended!!! plz chk out the link where a friend (Satish Naidu-PFC Ronin Rank 2) of mine has reviewed the movie
http://movie-place.blogspot.com/2008/08/auf-der-anderen-seite-edge-of-heaven.html
It’s coming to the theaters is good news but main thing is @ the show timings.
Asif Kapadia’s Far North came to a PVR in Delhi and there was only 1 show that too at 9.30 pm. Within a week it went off screen.
I live in the suburbs and I couldn’t make it. So I hope the condition changes. Till then its not going to make a difference I guess.
Far North had amazing photography but as i mentioned elsewhere it was sickening to see people complain once the movie was over that they did not get the usual stuff they were looking for.
hi rick,
the edge of heaven will be coming to kolkata at fame southcity mall soon! meanwhile, you can catch Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Three Monkeys which is playing in Kolkata from today @ 7.15 pm
Cheers!
@10 MAINAK,
U guessed it right mainak, The Edge of Heaven in “NO WHERE CLOSE” to HEAD-ON !!! HEAD-ON defines the word “CULT” !!!!
GK
# Rusted rick on October 3rd, 2008 9:06 am
to be honest i had no idea about Fatih Akin’s films before this, but am surely interested now.
i hope this makes its way to kolkata pretty soon
till then I’ll Google up on more information on Akin’s films.
cheers,
rick.
=—
‘ The Edge of Heaven ‘ will release in Kolkata at Fame Southcity Mall on 7th Nov ! Cheers!