Image: The Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, will welcome German filmmaker İlker Çatak as the 2022 Max Kade Foundation Artist-in-Residence for the Spring 2022 semester. Prior to his first full-length film in 2017, Çatak made several award-winning short films, including Wo wir sind (2014, Max Ophüls Prize) and Sadakat (2015, Max Ophüls Prize, First Steps award, Student Academy award). He also worked on several German international cinematic and television productions (directing a recent Tatort episode) and in the advertising industry (for Allianz, Telekom, and Audi), as well as completing his master's degree in film at the Hamburg Media School in 2014. Çatak’s 2017 feature-film debut, Es war einmal Indianerland, is a coming-of-age drama set in Hamburg. His 2019 feature Es gilt das gesprochene Wort, which tells the story of a marriage of convenience between a German pilot and a young Turkish man, won awards from Neues Deutsches Kino and Bavarian Film and garnered further award nominations. His third major production, Räuberhände, a Turkish-German road movie, is currently running in German cinemas and has been nominated for further awards. In spring semester 2022 at UGA, İlker Çatak will offer an undergraduate course (GRMN 4510) in which a close look at his own work and creative process, as well as influences and inspirations in film, literature, and music, form the basis of student discussion, writing, and original creative projects. Tags: #film #cinema #German
