German filmmaker of Turkish descent, born in Hamburg in 1973. After an award-winning first short film at the Hamburg Film Festival, he began his successful career as a feature film director with the film Short and blunt (1998), which won awards at various festivals. In 2004, he received the Golden Lion at the Berlin Film Festival for Best Film and the Best Director award for Against the wall, a film that depicts the struggle against traditionalism of a young Turkish woman.

Akin is considered one of the leading directors of the New German Cinema thanks to his enormous versatility. He has directed films as diverse as the road movie In July (2000) Crossing the bridge: the sounds of Istanbul (2006), a documentary about the music scene in the Turkish city or the recent The edge of heaven (2007), winner of the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival.