İlker Çatak, born in Berlin, studied film directing at the Hamburg Media School. Today, he works and lives as a screenwriter and director in Berlin. His films mainly deal with themes such as identity, power structures, and social conflicts.

At Villa Aurora, together with Johannes Duncker, İlker Çatak will be working on two filmscripts. For one thing, the fellows will work on the adaptation of a novel, which is to result in an entertaining satire about the “old, white woman” as the best friend of the patriarchy. They want to research locations and the social specifics of the USA. They also want to work on a project that deals with the topic of “regretting motherhood” and tells the story of a mother who breaks one of the last taboos of our time: leaving her family and children.

İlker Çatak is Villa Aurora Fellow of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

Selected Filmography
2025 | Yellow Letters (screenplay & director)
2023 | The Teachers’ Lounge (screenplay & director)
2021 | Stowaway (director)
2019 | I Was, I Am, I Will Be (screenplay & director)
2017 | Once Upon a Time in Indian Country (director)

Selected Awards
2024 | Academy Award Nomination for The Teachers’ Lounge
2023 | Golden Lola, Best Director, Best Screenplay for The Teachers’ Lounge
2020 | Bronze Lola for I Was, I Am, I Will Be
2015 | Gold Student Academy Award