Edge Of Heaven, The

Director Fatih Akın says of The Edge of Heaven, a film that won him the Ecumenical Jury Prize and Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival: “I felt a lot of pressure on me to make something better than Head-on.” He adds, “I’ve broken through to another level with The Edge of Heaven.” Describing the feature as “a film about death”, Akın says the film is still unfinished, but will be completed in a third film about the devil. When retired widower Ali meets hooker Yeter, he thinks he has found an answer to his loneliness. Ali proposes to Yeter that she live with him in return for a fixed monthly wage. Ali’s son Nejat, a German language and literature professor, is disapproving of his father’s decision at first, but when he discovers that Yeter sends her illicit gains to a daughter studying in Turkey, he begins feel warmly about her. Yeter’s untimely death in an accident puts an even greater distance between father and son, both emotionally and physically. Nejat sets off for Istanbul to find Yeter’s daughter, Ayten. But what Nejat doesn’t know is that 20-something Ayten is a political activist who has fled from the Turkish police to Germany... Says Akın, “I have a background that is both Turkish and German. I was born in Germany, but I have always found myself caught between two cultures. I studied in Europe, but grew up speaking to my parents in Turkish. Turkish culture has always been part of my life. As a child, I went to Turkey with my family every summer. Given that I myself am caught between two cultures, it is only natural that my films are too.” Fatih Akın
Turkey
'
2007

Director
Fatih Akin

Cinematography
Rainer Klausmann

Editing
Andrew Bird

Production
Corazon International

Cast
Baki Davrak
Hanna Schygulla
Nurgül Yesilcay
Nursel Kose
Tuncel Kurtiz

Music
Shantel

Awards
Best Director
Best Editing Antalya Best screenplay
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Lino Brocka award Cinemanila
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Cannes
Special Jury Prize

Festivals
13th Festival on Wheels
TURKISH CINEMA 2007