Fatih Akin’s film on Armenian Genocide to Premiere at Venice Film Festival

Award winning director Fatih Akin’s latest film, “The Cut,” will premiere at the 71st Venice International Film Festival that will take place from Aug. 27 to Sept. 6, Asbarez reports.

“The Cut” tells the story of an Armenian man, Nazareth Manoogian, who after surviving the Genocide learns that his twin daughters may be alive, and goes on a quest to find them. Nazareth’s journey takes him from his village Mardin to the deserts, to Cuba and finally North Dakota. Nazareth, who is a mute, is played by Tahar Rahim. Other cast members include Simon Abkarian, Arsinee Khanjian, Akin Gazi and George Georgiou. The script is written by Akin himself and Mardik Martin. The film is in English, and runs for 138 minutes, although the version that will premiere in Venice is dubbed over in German.

“Tahar doesn’t say a word throughout the film and he is a bit like Charlie Chaplin, but at the same time, he is a typical western character, like Sergio Leone,” Akin told Cineuropa.

“The Cut” is the third in the thematic trilogy of “Love, Death and the Devil” that Akin has worked on. “I think wickedness exists within us from the moment we are born. What I found fascinating was exploring the fact that wickedness is a process of transition from goodness and that the opposite phenomenon exists too. These are concepts that are very intimately tied to each other. The most beautiful of bodies, for example, can be carrying cancer on the inside, and one same person can be capable of the nicest of actions and the vilest of crimes. I have always thought that humans were in this in between place in the evolution process. We still have to find out whether we will stop living behind borders, separated by religion, nationality,” he told Cineuropa.

Akin had submitted “The Cut” to the Cannes Film Festival, but pulled it last minute, for “personal reasons.”

One of Europe’s prominent filmmakers, Akin was born in Hamburg, Germany, to Turkish parents. His critically-acclaimed films that have won numerous international awards include “Head On” (Golden Bear award at Berlin Film Festival, Best Film and Audience Award at European Film Awards in 2004) and “The Edge of Heaven” (Best screenplay at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, and the LUX prize of European Parliament).