THE EDGE OF HEAVEN

A FILM BY FATIH AKIN

"RIVETING!" – David Ansen, Newsweek

“The latest from HEAD-ON’S Fatih Akin is another cross-cultural stunner.
This detour into Altmanesque territory suggests a dramatic leap forward, and the performance by Fassbinder muse Hanna Schygulla is, in a word, heavenly.”
– David Fear, Time Out NY

LIKE FATIH AKIN’S PREVIOUS FEATURE, THE SMASHINGLY SUCCESSFUL HEAD-ON, THE EDGE OF HEAVEN spans the uneasy relationship between two cultures, Germany and Turkey. German born and educated, of Turkish descent, the filmmaker fashions a complex story with six protagonists whose lives become inextricably linked. Ayten, a Kurdish activist wanted by the German authorities, is harbored by Lotte, a German student whose political naivete is offset by her sexual agenda. Fassbinder muse Hanna Schygulla plays Lotte’s suspicious mother with understated hauteur. It’s a riveting story of intergenerational conflict between grown children and their parents, the clash of values between East and West and the edgy relationship between conventional and gay sexuality. Akin throws into the mix his special knowledge of how Europe’s borders are disappearing, bringing people together in random, dangerous, exciting and sometimes fatal ways.

GERMANY/TURKEY • 2007 • 122 MINUTES • IN GERMAN, TURKISH & ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES • STRAND RELEASING