Biography
Sedat Kirtan was born in Berlin in 1980. By his own admission, he grew up in a difficult social environment and got into conflict with the law as a teenager. In 2002, he trained to become a bodyguard and worked on several jobs in the following years. He then got first acting experiences working for smaller theatre and video projects.
In 2008, together with Kubilay Sarikaya, he created a short video clip about the Rütli school in Berlin, in which pupils share their view on the school that made national headlines in 2006 when teachers surrendered to a culture of violence and disrespect. Together with Sarikaya, Kirtan then co-founded the independent production company Lynarwood, named after Lynarer Street in Berlin-Spandau. In the same district, the duo shot their first medium-length film, the docudrama "Verzokkt" (2012). To earn money, he, at the same time, worked on some temporary jobs and eventually was employed by a security agency.
After developing the story for several years, in October 2015, Kirtan and Sarikaya started shooting their first fiction feature film, "Familiye", in which Sarikaya also played the lead part. The drama about three brothers in Berlin, who get caught in a whirlwind of crime and violence, premiered as the opening film of the Filmfest Oldenburg in autumn 2017 and went on to win the festival’s main prize, the German Independence Award. In May 2018, "Familiye" was released to German cinemas.