From March 31- April 5, the Emory Departments of Film and Media and German Studies hosted German director, Ilker Çatak and his screenwriter Johannes Duncker for a week long-residency. The filmmakers visited classes, presented screenings, delivered lectures, and shared discussions with the Emory community on their creative ethic, their craft, and their personal biographies.
The two met as high school students in Istanbul where they became friends who shared a passion for film. Following school, Çatak and Duncker worked as production assistants and runners, hoping to break into the industry. While Duncker’s parents supported his filmmaking aspiration, Çatak’s parents discouraged their son. According to them, filmmaking was Johannes’s dream, not İlker’s: “Find a dream of your own,” they told him. However, filmmaking was every bit as much of his dream as Duncker’s, and while unsuccessfully working small time film jobs, Çatak began creating his own films in collaboration with Duncker. For years he and Duncker made films in obscurity, receiving film festival rejection after rejection, while at the same time cultivating a uniquely penetrating style of social realist storytelling.
“For years I felt like a fraud and outsider,” Çatak explained, but propelled by faith in power as a storyteller, Çatak maintained his commitment to his work. He and Duncker continued to create films until their hard-work paid off with the festival success of a short film that effectively launched their careers, enabling them to make feature films, including The Teacher’s Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer, 2023), a searing classroom drama that won the Golden Bear Award and was nominated for an Academy Award in Best International Film.
On April 2, Çatak and Duncker presented this film at a screening in White Hall, and in a discussion following the screening, Çatak recounted an illuminating anecdote. He described one day of becoming exasperated on-set while working with the child actors. In response to their disobedience, Catak asked the children frankly why they were there. The children explained that they wanted to become movie stars and get rich. This provoked Çatak to give an impromptu lecture on the foundation of his motivation as an artist: “We are all going to die,” Çatak told the children. “We are sacrifices. We are sacrificing ourselves for our children and our grandchildren and to create something long after we are dead.”
For Çatak and Duncker, a spiritual dedication underpins professional work, and throughout their week-long residency, the filmmakers provided insight into their artistry, discussing their experience and values and inspiring students to think seriously about pursuing a creative career in film.