Fatih Akın says he is ready for polemics over his film on 'Armenian genocide'

VENICE – Anadolu Agency

Fatih Akın (R) poses with Tahar Rahim, the leading actor in ‘The Cut.’

Turkish-German director Fatih Akın’s recent film “The Cut,” which takes the Ottoman killings of Armenians in 1915 as its starting point, is one of the films competing for the coveted Golden Lion award at the 71st Venice Film Festival.

Speaking at the festival after its premiere, Akın said he was "ready for the polemics" that would inevitably follow a film about such a sensitive subject.

“There are not many films on the Armenian genocide. This is why this film is necessary ... I have spent seven years of my life preparing for all of the polemics that may be caused by the film. I can say that I have already received threats, but it is worth dying for art,” he said. 

Akın, along with the screenwriter of the film, Mardik Martin, and artists Tahar Rahim, Simon Abkarian, Arevik Martirosyan, Numan Acar, Hindi Zahra, Nurhan Sekerci and Lara Heller attended a press conference over the weekend in Venice.

In the film, Rahim, a French actor of Algerian origin, plays an Armenian man living in the southeastern province of Mardin, who survived the killings of 1915 and begins a journey that takes him to the United States in a search for his two daughters.

When asked why he linked the Armenian issue with the killings of native Americans, Akın said it would help Turks empathize with the story.

“I know very well that Turks cannot accept a film about an Armenian hero. This is why I used the genocide of native Americans to develop empathy with them,” he said.