Biography

İlker Çatak (born 11 January 1984; Berlin) is a Turkish-German director. İlker Çatak was born in Berlin in 1984 and later lived in Istanbul where he completed high school. İlker studied Film Directing in Berlin and Hamburg, graduating in 2014 at Hamburg Media School. His graduation film SADAKAT received many international awards before winning the Student Academy Award in Gold in 2015. İlker’s first feature film, ONCE UPON A TIME INDIANERLAND debuted in 2017 and is an adaptation of the award-winning youth novel ‘Es war einmal Indianerland’ by Nils Mohl. İlker’s second feature film I WAS, I AM, I WILL BE (2019) received the Bronze Lola at the German Film Awards. His feature film STAMBUL GARDEN was released in Germany in autumn 2021 and also selected at the German Film Awards. İlker’s other projects include directing an episode on the TV show TATORT. His latest film THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE will have its world premiere at the 73. Berlin Film Festival and hit theatres in May 2023.