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Im toten Winkel

Deutschland 2021-2023 Spielfilm

In the Blind Spot

A German documentary film project in north-eastern Turkey. Simone wants to learn more about Hatice, whose son was abducted a quarter of a century ago. Storytelling to prevent forgetting, rituals to contest disappearance. The lives of the Kurdish people – lives lived in a blind spot – are characterised by violence and resistance to an uncertain existence. Strange incidents soon overshadow the filming as well: turning up alongside interpreter Leyla and directly in front of the camera is the neighbour’s little daughter Melek, with her pretty purple dress and a mysterious gaze that goes right through you.

What follows is a subtly framed, coldly brutal political thriller told in three chapters and from multiple perspectives. For it is not only the strategies of sinister organisations and the logic of paranoia that is the focus of this clever and complex cinematic conundrum, but the act of seeing itself – in all its dimensions, from observation to prophecy. The blind spot is in fact trauma, of the transgenerational kind. German-Kurdish director, screenwriter and producer Ayşe Polat stages it to perfection.

Source: 73. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)

Credits

Director

  • Ayşe Polat

Screenplay

  • Ayşe Polat

Director of photography

  • Patrick Orth

Editing

  • Serhad Mutlu
  • Jörg Volkmar

Music

  • Dynamedion (Mainz)

Cast

  • Katja Bürkle
    Simone
  • Ahmet Varli
    Zafer
  • Çağla Yurga
    Melek
  • Aybi Era
    Leyla
  • Max Hemmersdorfer
    Christian
  • Nihan Okutucu
    Sibel
  • Tudan Ürper
    Hatiçe
  • Muttalip Müjdeci
    Hasan
  • Riza Akin
    Burhan
  • Aziz Çapkurt
    Eyüp

Production company

  • mîtosfilm (Berlin)

Producer

  • Mehmet Aktaş
  • Janna Heine

Alle Credits

Director

  • Ayşe Polat

Assistant director

  • Yasemin Müge Manus

Script supervisor

  • Manfred Behrndt

Screenplay

  • Ayşe Polat

Director of photography

  • Patrick Orth

Assistant camera

  • Christoph Kunze
  • Nurbahar Kiran
  • Zeynep Seçil

Colour grading

  • Nils Petersen

Visual effects

  • Julian Grumer

Still photography

  • Ayberk Temiz

Lighting design

  • Hüseyin Nazim Sirli
  • Christoph Dehmel-Osterloh

Production design

  • Osman Özcan

Art director

  • Görkem Canbolat

Make-up artist

  • Antonia Petschow
  • Suat Inalhan (Assistenz)
  • Sinem Çetinkaya (Assistenz)

Costume design

  • Ece Erol
  • Anja Niehaus

Editing

  • Serhad Mutlu
  • Jörg Volkmar

Sound editor

  • Simone Weber (Dialog-Schnitt)

Foley editor

  • Adriana Espinal

Sound design

  • Jürgen Funk

Sound

  • Johannes Grehl

Sound assistant

  • Aykut Koca

Foley artist

  • Clemens Endress

Audio mixing

  • Stefan Korte

Choreographer

  • Hatice Celik

Special effects

  • Berke Alkan

Casting

  • Pinar Çelik

Music

  • Dynamedion (Mainz)

Cast

  • Katja Bürkle
    Simone
  • Ahmet Varli
    Zafer
  • Çağla Yurga
    Melek
  • Aybi Era
    Leyla
  • Max Hemmersdorfer
    Christian
  • Nihan Okutucu
    Sibel
  • Tudan Ürper
    Hatiçe
  • Muttalip Müjdeci
    Hasan
  • Riza Akin
    Burhan
  • Aziz Çapkurt
    Eyüp
  • Muhammed Oktay
  • Özcan Taş

Production company

  • mîtosfilm (Berlin)

in co-production with

  • punktpunktpunkt Filmproduktion (Berlin)
  • Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)/Arte (Köln)

Producer

  • Mehmet Aktaş
  • Janna Heine

Co-Producer

  • Ayşe Polat

Producer (TV)

  • Andrea Hanke (WDR)
  • Birgit Kämper (Arte)

Executive producer

  • Erhan Özoğul

Line producer

  • Erhan Özoğul
  • Azat Yeşilbaş
  • Marc Wächter

Unit production manager

  • Lea Drescher

Production assistant

  • Baran Aktaş

Production coordinator

  • Ceren Yolcu

Post-production

  • Christoph Hars

Original distributor

  • missingFILMs (Berlin)

Funding

  • Beauftragte/r der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien - Filmförderung (Berlin)
  • Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF) (Berlin)
  • MOIN Filmförderung (Hamburg)

Shoot

    • 24.04.2021 - 24.06.2021: Türkei, Hamburg
Duration:
118 min
Format:
DCP, 1:1,85
Video/Audio:
Farbe, Dolby
Censorship/Age rating:

FSK-Prüfung (DE): 10.10.2023, 247832, ab 16 Jahre / feiertagsfrei

Screening:

Uraufführung (DE): 19.02.2023, Berlin, IFF - Encounters;
Kinostart (DE): 04.01.2024

Titles

Additional titles
  • Originaltitel (DE) Im toten Winkel
  • Arbeitstitel (DE) Eine Woche in Diyarbakir
  • Weiterer Titel (eng) In the Blind Spot

Versions

Original

Duration:
118 min
Format:
DCP, 1:1,85
Video/Audio:
Farbe, Dolby
Censorship/Age rating:

FSK-Prüfung (DE): 10.10.2023, 247832, ab 16 Jahre / feiertagsfrei

Screening:

Uraufführung (DE): 19.02.2023, Berlin, IFF - Encounters;
Kinostart (DE): 04.01.2024

Awards

IFF Berlin 2025
  • Preis der deutschen Filmkritik, Bestes Drehbuch
Bayerischer Filmpreis 2025
  • Regiepreis
EDIMOTION 2024
  • Filmstiftung NRW Schnitt Preis, Spielfilm
Deutscher Kamerapreis 2024
  • Deutscher Kamerapreis, Beste Kamera / Fiktion Kino
Deutscher Filmpreis 2024
  • Lola, Beste Regie
  • Lola, Bestes Drehbuch
  • Lola, Bester Spielfilm in Bronze
IFF Oldenburg 2023
  • German Independence Award, Bester Film
Source-URL: https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/im-toten-winkel_f78a6a1acb964ba6af038817f0006867