Director and screenwriter, İlker Çatak, grew up in Berlin and Istanbul an worked for four years on German and international productions before studying film. He has directed over a dozen shorts. His fourth feature film, Das Lehrerzimmer (The Teachers’ Lounge), premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale in 2023 and was nominated for the 2024 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. His films, among them Es gilt das gesprochene Wort (I Was, I Am, I Will Be), have received numerous awards.