The American Turkish Society and Moon and Stars Project
are proud to co-present “Soul Kitchen” at Tribeca Film Festival

IFC Films presents U.S. Premiere
Soul Kitchen
2009 | 99 min | Feature Narrative
In German with English subtitles

Director Fatih Akın dishes out lighter fare in his delightful and appropriately titled Soul Kitchen. Having previously achieved worldwide art-house fame for such brooding and powerful films as Yaşamın Kıyısında (The Edge of Heaven) and Duvara Karşı (Head-On), Akın is at ease and in great form in this wistful comedy.

Zinos Kazantsakis runs a no-frills pub in Hamburg called Soul Kitchen, where loyal locals flock for the good grub and music. His idle life begins to tilt when his girlfriend takes a job in China, fast-tracking his plan to leave the restaurant business forever. However, his exit strategy gets derailed in this vibrant comedy of errors. His surly brother is recently out on parole and needs a job, and his new chef's fancy fare is turning away the currywurst-loving customers. To make it all worse, he just slipped a disc, and a greedy businessman is trying to steal his family's property. What ensues is a foot-tapping-music-filled, mouthwatering journey of revelations. Soul Kitchen is a deliciously fun and heartfelt romp, and Akın has proved that—no matter what the genre—he can serve up poignancy and soul from his own filmmaking kitchen.
--Genna Terranova

Cast & Credits

Featuring: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Pheline Roggan, Anna Bederke, Lukas Gregorowicz, Dorka Gryullus, Uğur Yücel
Directed by: Fatih Akın
Written by: Fatih Akın, Adam Bousdoukos
Produced by: Klaus Maeck, Fatih Akın
Co-Produced by: Fabienne Vonier, Alberto Fanni, Flaminio Zadra, Paolo Colombo

SOUL KITCHEN is about family and friends, about love, trust and loyalty and about the struggle to protect a place called home in an increasingly unpredictable world.

Director Statement

The idea for Soul Kitchen has been there for a while now. I always had to think about my old friend Adam Bousdoukos and his Taverna in the Ottensen quarter of Hamburg. This was more than just a restaurant for us: It was a playground for adventure, a collecting tank, a place to celebrate, a home. I wanted to capture that feeling and way of life that I so deeply connect with the Taverna, and I wouldn't have been able to do it had I been much older. I can't party forever or go out on the town five nights a week anymore. At some point, you start to get headaches, you find the music too loud, you can t handle all the smoke. We are getting older, and that's okay because at some point this lifestyle simply disappears. Yet, making a film about it is still valuable because in the end it's about an existential issue. It's about drinking, eating, partying, dancing, and about home. I wanted to make a film about home, not one that is defined by any nationality, not Germany or Turkey, home not as a location but as a state of being and an attitude.

** The film is dedicated to Fatih's brother, Cem Akın, who plays one of Illias' buddies. It also features one of the last performances of Moritz Bleibtreu's mother, Monica (who died in May 2009), in a comically explosive cameo as Nadine's grandma.

Festivals and Awards

2010   Toronto International Film Festival
2009   66th International Venice Film Festival: Best Film “Young Cinema Award” and Special Jury Prize (Fatih Akın)
2009   17th Filmfest Hamburg

Fatih Akın, born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage, studied Visual Communications at Hamburg’s College of Fine Arts. His first short Sensin (You're the One!), which he wrote and directed while in school, received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival in 1995 and was followed by his second short film Weed in 1996. He made his debut as director of a full-length film in 1998 with Kısa ve Acısız (Short Sharp Shock), which brought him the Bronze Leopard at Locarno Film Festival and the Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Director. This film was followed by the road movie Temmuz'da (In July) in 2000, by Wir Haben Vergessen Zurückzukehren in 2001 and by the emigration drama Solino in 2002. His fourth film, Duvara Karşı (Head On) was internationally acclaimed in 2004 and received several awards including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as the Best Film and the Audience Awards at the German and European Film Awards. İstanbul Hatırası: Köprüyü Geçmek (Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul), the documentary he made in 2005, presented the diversity of music found in contemporary Turkey. Yaşamın Kıyısında (The Edge of Heaven) won the Prix du scénario at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography

1995   Sensin / You’re the One (short)
1996   Weed (short)
1998   Kısa ve Acısız / Short Sharp Shock
2000   Temmuz'da / In July
2001   Wir Haben Vergessen Zurückzukehren (Documentary)
2002   Solino
2003   Duvara Karşı / Head On
2005   İstanbul Hatırası: Köprüyü Geçmek / Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul        (Documentary)
2007   Yaşamın Kıyısında / Auf der anderen Seite / The Edge Of Heaven
2009    Soul Kitchen

Screenings

Thu, Apr 22, 6:30PM
Village East Cinema 6

Mon, Apr 26, 5:30PM
Village East Cinema 3

Thu, Apr 29, 1:00PM
Clearview Chelsea Cinema 8

To purchase tickets, please visit Tribeca Film Festival’s website.

Distributor