Fatih Akin, Soul Kitchen

Fatih Akin is one of the world’s great directors. His latest film, Soul Kitchen, is an amiable comedy about a Berlin restaurant, two brothers, a crazy chef and tax collectors, and it marks a notable change of pace from his past endeavors. Akin, 37, established his international reputation with Head On, a riveting examination of love's ferocious powers, which won Berlin's Golden Bear in 2004. Akin's 2007 follow-up, The Edge of Heaven, garnered the writer-director the Prix du scénario at the Cannes Film Festival. As he tells us today, Heaven was written expressly for Fassbinder muse Hanna Schygulla and Soul Kitchen, his most expensive film, was originally conceived as a lark.

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