Nejat seems disapproving about his widower father Ali’s choice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in girlfriend. But he grows fond of her when he discovers she sends money home to Turkey for her daughter’s university studies. Yeter’s sudden death distances father and son. Nejat travels to Istanbul to search for Yeter’s daughter Ayten. Political activist Ayten has fled the Turkish police and is already in Germany. She is befriended by a young woman, Lotte, who invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, a gesture not particularly pleasing to her conservative mother Susanne. When Ayten is arrested and her asylum plea is denied, she is deported and imprisoned in Turkey. Lotte travels to Turkey, where she gets caught up in the seemingly hopeless situation of freeing Ayten …
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (Auf der anderen Seite) is Fatih Akin’s fifth fiction feature and makes its world premiere in Competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. 2005’s CROSSING THE BRIDGE – THE SOUND OF ISTANBUL presented the variety of music found in contemporary Turkey. 2003’s HEAD-ON (Gegen die Wand) won the Berlinale Golden Bear, as well Best Film at the German and European Film Awards.
Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage. While studying Visual Communications at Hamburg’s College of Fine Arts, he wrote and directed his first short in 1995: SENSIN – YOU’RE THE ONE! (Sensin – Du bist es!), which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival, followed by WEED (Getürkt, 1996). His first feature, SHORT SHARP SHOCK (Kurz und Schmerzlos, 1998), won Locarno’s Bronze Leopard and the Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Director.
2007 THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (Auf der anderen Seite) /// 2005 CROSSING THE BRIDGE - THE SOUND OF ISTANBUL (documentary) /// 2003 HEAD-ON (Gegen die Wand) /// 2002 SOLINO
2001 WIR HABEN VERGESSEN ZURÜCKZUKEHREN (documentary) /// 2000 IN JULY (Im Juli)
1998 SHORT SHARP SHOCK (Kurz und Schmerzlos)
Ayten Öztürk / NURGÜL YES¸ILÇAY /// Nejat Aksu / BAKI DAVRAK /// Lotte Staub / PATRYCIA ZIOLKOWSKA /// Yeter Öztürk / NURSEL KÖSE /// Ali Aksu / TUNCEL KURTIZ /// Susanne Staub / HANNA SCHYGULLA
Written AND Directed by / FATIH AKIN /// producers / ANDREAS THIEL / KLAUS MAECK / FATIH AKIN /// COMMISSIONING editor / JEANETTE WÜRL (NDR) /// director of photography / RAINER KLAUSMANN (BVK) /// editor / ANDREW BIRD /// music composer / SHANTEL / SOUND / KAI LÜDE /// SOUND MIX / RICHARD BOROWSKI /// COSTUMES / KATRIN ASCHENDORF /// a production of / CORAZÓN INTERNATIONAL / in co-production with ANKA FILM / NDR / DORJE FILM /// WITH SUPPORT OF FFA, BKM, FILMFÖRDERUNG HAMBURG, FILMSTIFTUNG NRW, NORDMEDIA, KULTURELLE FILMFÖRDERUNG SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
FORMAT / 35 mm / 1:1,85 / Colour / Dolby Digital Surround EX / LENGTH 122 mins / ORIGINAL LANGUAGE
German / Turkish / English / SUBTITLES English
