Bülent Akıncı

Bülent Akıncı — Biography

Bülent Akıncı is a Turkish-German director, screenwriter and producer who lives in Berlin. He won the F. W. Murnau Prize in 2002 for his short film A Short Story, and his first feature, Der Lebensversicherer, was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2006. He holds both Turkish and German citizenship and has been active in film since 1998.

Born in Ankara, he has lived in Berlin since 1970. In his youth he made a living as a musician, a security guard and an insurance salesman while finishing his school-leaving certificate. After school he enrolled to study philosophy, art history and theatre studies at the Free University of Berlin, and then began studying directing at the Kaskeline Film School, founded in Berlin in 1926 by the German filmmaker Wolfgang Kaskeline. In 1996 he moved to the DFFB Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin to finish his studies.

After shooting a few short films, he won the Murnau Prize with A Short Story (2001), starring Gudrun Landgrebe. His first feature, Der Lebensversicherer, made in 2006, was shown at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival and won a prize at the 28th Moscow International Film Festival.