Filming finishes for İlker Çatak's "Yellow Letters" in the Hanseatic city

11.07.2024 | Hamburg Senator for Culture visits film set

if… Productions Film GmbH / Ella Knorz

The shooting of İlker Çatak's new feature film "Yellow Letters" came to an end on Wednesday. The Director of the Oscar-nominated film "The Teachers' Lounge" has been filming in Hamburg and the surrounding area over the past few weeks. Hamburg's Senator for Culture and Media, Dr Carsten Brosda, visited the film set on the last day of shooting.

The film team led by Directors İlker Çatak and Executive Producer Ingo Fliess spent almost a month shooting in the Hanseatic city and Norderstedt - the final take was shot on Wednesday at the PRG Cinegate Studios in Hamburg-Wandsbek.

The film "Yellow Letters" tells the story of an artist couple from Ankara who are sued for allegedly rebelling against the state. Derya and Aziz lose their job and their flat and have to ask themselves what comes first - survival or morality? The trade-off between their ideals and the necessities of life proves to be a challenge for their marriage and puts their relationship with their teenage daughter to the test.

The two Turkish stars Özgü Namal and Tansu Biçer can be seen in the leading roles in the new film "Yellow Letters". The script for "Yellow Letters" was written by İlker Çatak, Ayda Meryem Çatak and Enis Köstepen. Judith Kaufmann was in charge of the camera. A large part of the crew also comes from Hamburg, including Production Designer Zazie Knepper, Line Producer Ingrid Holzapfel and Assistant Director Shawn Bäumer.

Executive Producer Ingo Fliess, if... Productions Film, is enthusiastic about the shooting: "Hamburg has once again captivated us - with its highly professional team members and its cosmopolitan motifs: the Higher Regional Court, the barge on the Elbe, the neighbourhood and the mosque in Böckmannstraße will be iconic images in our film. Co-operation with the authorities is quick and uncomplicated - just as you would wish."

Dr Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media, continues: "Hamburg is committed at all levels to providing good shooting conditions for films in the city. I am therefore very pleased that İlker Çatak, after the great success of 'The Teachers' Lounge', is also shooting his new film 'Yellow Letters' largely in Hamburg and the region. I am delighted to have been able to get an impression of the filming on the last day of shooting. The film deals with the freedom of the arts and the effects it has when it is restricted. The dialogue with İlker Çatak on the set was intense. I'm very excited to see how the film will tell this highly relevant story. You can already tell from the atmosphere on set that this is a great team working together who are very keen to tell us this important story."

More about İlker Çatak and Hamburg

Hamburg Media School graduate İlker Çatak was nominated in the "Best International Film" category at the 2024 Oscars® with his previous film "The Teachers' Lounge". The film was shot entirely in Hamburg and celebrated its world premiere at the 2023 Berlinale. Çatak wrote the script together with Johannes Duncker. "The Teachers' Lounge" also won several German Film Awards in 2023, including the LOLA in Gold. Directors İlker Çatak already had his first taste of Oscar® air in 2015. He won the "Student Oscar®" in Gold with his HMS graduation film "Sadakat".

More about "Yellow letters"

"Gelbe Briefe" is a production of the independent company if... Productions Film GmbH from Munich with Haut et Court (Paris) and Liman Film (Istanbul) with arte/ZDF. MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein has supported the production with 450,000 euros. Distribution Alamode will release the film in cinemas in 2025.

If you have any questions about "Yellow Letters", please contact the press agency JUST PUBLICITY GmbH, Regine Baschny, Tel.: 089 / 202082-60, E-Mail: info@just-publicity.com