Biography
Yasemin Şamdereli was born in Dortmund on July 15 1973. From 1993 until 2000, she studied at the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (HFF) in Munich. During that time, she worked freelance at Bavaria-Film and as an assistant director on international film productions.
Şamdereli directed the 2002 TV comedy "Alles getürkt!" and worked as a writer on the successful TV show "Türkisch für Anfänger". She also moonlighted as an actress in the short movie "Delicious" from 2004. Şamdereli's first theatrical release was "Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland" in 2011. The film, which she co-wrote with her sister Nesrin Şamdereli, celebrated its premiere in the competition of the 2011 Berlin IFF and went on to win the award for Best Screenplay and a silver award in the category Best Feature Film at the 2011 German Film Awards. Moreover, the film won the awards for Best Screenplay and Best Feature Film Debut at
the German Film Critics Awards.
Yasemin Şamdereli, her sister Nesrin and producer Anja-Karina Richter together founded the production company S2R Filmproduktion in 2013, through which Şamdereli completed her sophomore feature "Die Nacht der Nächte" ("The Night of All Nights") in 2014. The film about four couples from three continents who have been together for more than 50 years was named Best Documentary at the 2018 Bavarian Film Awards.