Yellow Letters

Regisseur Ilker Çatak ('Das Lehrerzimmer') serves up a flaming protest against the authoritarian regime in Turkey. We follow a couple who are hunted because of their ideals and seek refuge in Istanbul. Winnaar Gouden Beer in Berlin. Aziz, theater maker and professor at the University of Ankara, suddenly receives the dreaded "yellow letter" informing him of his dismissal. When his wife Derya, a renowned actress at the national theater, also finds the same letter in the mailbox, the blow is definitive. Their dismissal is the result of their political opinion, which brought them into the government's crosshairs. They move to Istanbul with their daughter to live with Aziz's mother. Balancing between this new, difficult situation and their political conviction will put their marriage to the test. 'Yellow Letters' is a subdued family drama about how a repressive system penetrates private life. Although the story takes place in Turkey, the film was shot entirely in Germany - a conscious choice that underscores its universal character. With his thriller 'Das Lehrerzimmer', about a committed teacher in a web of suspicion and lies, the German-Turkish director Ilker Çatak made it to the Oscars two years ago. His new film 'Yellow Letters' premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and was awarded the Gouden Beer, the most important prize of the Berlinale. Juryvoorzitter Wim Wenders aptly described it as a film about the political language of totalitarianism versus the empathetic language of cinema. Director: Ilker Çatak / Cast: Özgü Namal, Tansu Biçer, Leyla Smyrna Cabas, etc. / Turkey, Germany, 2026 / Turkish spoken, NL/FR subtitled / Duration: 2h09 Read more De Standaard - “As a filmmaker, you feel the pressure to speak out continuously” (interview Ilker Çatak)