Özgür Yıldırım

Özgür Yıldırım — Biography

Özgür Yıldırım is a German-Turkish film director, screenwriter and producer born on 12 September 1979 in Hamburg-Dulsberg to a family of Turkish guest workers. He began writing stories at eleven and published his first book, the horror novel Graue Nächte, at fourteen, later studying at the Hamburg Media School.

His early short films, especially the 2004 short Alım Market, led Fatih Akın to call him the most talented young German director. His feature debut as writer-director, Chiko (2008), premiered at the Berlinale, was nominated for the German Film Award in four categories, and won him a screenplay prize. He went on to direct Blutzbrüdaz (2011), starring rapper Sido, the NDR crime film Tatort: Feuerteufel (2013), and Boy 7 (2015), starring David Kross and Emilia Schüle, followed by a second Tatort film, Zorn Gottes, in 2016 and Only God Can Judge Me in 2017.