Life is good for Derya and Aziz, a celebrated artist couple from Turkey, until an incident at their play’s premiere. Suddenly targeted by the state and struggling to balance their ideals with life’s necessities, their marriage is pushed to a breaking point.
Ilker Çatak
He was born in Berlin in 1984 and grew up in Istanbul. He studied directing in Berlin and Hamburg. His graduation short, ‘Sadakat’ (2014) won numerous awards, including the Student Academy Award for Best International Short Film. His feature debut, ‘Once Upon a Time in Indian Country’, was released in 2017, and two years later he directed ‘I Was, I Am, I Will Be’, which premiered at the Munich Film Festival, won multiple awards, and received the German Film Award (Lola) in Bronze for Best Film. In 2021, he adapted Finn-Ole Heinrich’s novel ‘Räuberhände’ for the screen with the film ‘Stambul Garden’. His film ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ (2023) premiered at Panorama at Berlin International Film Festival, and won the Label Europa Cinemas and CICAE Awards, recived the award for best editing at Seminciand was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. With ‘Yellow Letters’ (2026), he won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Lola Award from the German Film Academy for Best Film.
