Akin prepares first comedy
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin (Head-On [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Cannes award-winner The Edge of Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fatih Akin
interview: Klaus Maeck
film profile]) is making his first foray into comedy. His new feature project, entitled Soul Kitchen, has existed since 2004 but the director set it aside to shoot The Edge of Heaven first.
The film has received funding from the FFA (€3.2m) and the Filmforderung Hambourg Schleswig-Holstein regional fund (€800,000), which covers the €4m budget previously announced by producer Klaus Maeck (partner of the director and of Andreas Thiel at the production company Corazón International).
Akin, who recently directed a segment of New York, je t'aime, has just finished acting in Costa-Gavras' Eden à l'Ouest – along with Riccardo Scamarcio, Ulrich Tukur and Michel Bouquet and – and is currently working on the documentary Garbage in the Garden of Eden.
The cast of Soul Kitchen is already confirmed. Adam Bousdoukos (Kebab Connection, co-written by Akin and directed by Anno Saul) plays the owner of a Greek restaurant going through some hard times. Birol Ünel, the star of Head-On, and Moritz Bleibtreu (The Elementary Particles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Franka Potente & Moritz Ble…
interview: Oskar Roehler
film profile]) also head the bill.
Principal photography is set to start in Hamburg in October. According to the director, the film is an unpretentious love story that will mark his debut in the comedy genre. Akin, a self-declared admirer of Billy Wilder, says comedy is harder than drama but he cannot wait to give it a try.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
