Fatih Akin On How A Period Of Professional Crisis Inspired His Paranormal Love Story ‘Ghost Song’ — San Sebastian

This evening, Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival opens with Ghost Song, the latest feature from German filmmaker Fatih Akin. The screening marks Akin’s first appearance at the festival in his decades-long career, a surprising fact considering his strong presence on the festival circuit: Akin is among the rare group of directors to win major competitive prizes at Berlin, Cannes, and Venice.

“They previously passed on a film of mine,” Akin says, with a smile, about his long absence from the Spanish festival during an interview with Deadline ahead of this evening’s screening.

Directed from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ruth Toma, Ghost Song tells the story of Farasha and Faris, two young teens, who meet at a graduation party and fall in love at first sight. When Farasha suddenly dies that same night, a paranormal love story unfolds as Farasha discovers that, for 40 nights, she can meet Faris in his dreams. Their love continues to grow until the very last night.

Presented on a bold black-and-white print, Ghost Song is an earnest and spiritually rich film that Akin says was born out of a period of crisis in his career.

“Around 10 years ago, I made a film. It was very ambitious and expensive. I worked on it for many years. I really strongly believed in what I was doing, but sometimes it doesn’t go the way you wish, and I crashed hard,” Akin says.

The filmmaker politely declined to name the feature that pushed him into his period of crisis, but it is a safe bet to assume it was 2014’s The Cut, which won an award at Venice but was divisive among critics and struggled at the box office.

“That was the first time that I had such a crash. And when you experience that, you doubt everything: your talent, lifestyle, everything,” he says. “You almost have to reinvent yourself.”

Akin explains that this is when his son pitched him an idea about a story featuring two young adults. Akin took the idea to Toma, and the pair hashed out a story that would become Ghost Song.

The film is led by Eren M. Güvercin, a German-born actor with credits on titles across German television, and the fantastic Mariam Dawoud, a Syrian-born refugee currently living in Austria, who makes her screen debut in the title.

Akin explains that Dawoud was discovered following an open call on social media, which surprisingly didn’t garner many applicants.

“They made an announcement on social media looking for native Arab speaking girls for a love story. And because of religion, and our current conservative world, not so many popped up,” he says. “We saw many fewer than we hoped or expected, maybe only 20, but Mariam immediately nailed the scene.”

Akin describes Ghost Song as a “very tough” shoot and his most complex production to date. The film features a large open water scene. It was also originally shot in color and was flipped to black-and-white in post-production after Akin was unhappy with the color grading in an early cut.

“I was so frustrated. Everything was so pale. Nothing worked conceptually,” Akin says. “My DP said, ‘Have patience.’ But that’s one thing I’m not. I’m not patient. I don’t have that talent.”

Akin and his DP, Frank Griebe, proceeded to produce both color and black-and-white cuts of the film.

“I was so much over budget,” Akin jokes, adding that both copies of the film will be distributed.

Moving forward, however, the veteran filmmaker says that he plans to move away from work that requires him to build elaborate productions.

“I know this industry is about money, but what comes after? Just more money and higher budgets? There must be another way,” Akin says.

“I’m 53 now. I don’t want to make it more complex. I don’t want to make it more expensive. There must be another way, like how John Cassavetes used to work. I want to find a more humble way to work, because I’m searching for the truth, and that doesn’t come with a higher budget. That is all just a distraction.”

Ghost Song will be distributed by Warner Bros. under Akin’s first-look deal with the studio. The pact was first announced in 2022, and Akin says the two parties remain in business. He is not particularly concerned by the chaos of David Ellison’s messy Warnermount merger.

“They are great partners. They have made some of the most important films in cinema history: Casablanca, Dog Day Afternoon, Mean Streets. And the two best American films of last year, Sinners and One Battle After Another,” Akin says of Warners.

“When I first signed with them, it was Time Warner, and then AT&T, and then Discovery. I’ve survived all of these different companies, and they still let me do what I want, so all I can do is take the chance.”

Akin continues: “Let’s see what happens and if I feel happy and comfortable.”

In previous interviews, Akin has joked that his hometown of Hamburg is the perfect base for a filmmaker because it is boring and allows him to focus on his work. As such, the filmmaker is already working on his next project. He was tight-lipped about what the project will be, but he confirmed what the project won’t include.

“I’m not shooting it in Hamburg. And it won’t be in the German or English language,” he says.