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Hysteria

Panorama 2025
© filmfaust
When a burned Quran is found on a film set, the shoot takes a dark turn and the crew are thrown into turmoil. Caught in the crossfire, an intern, Elif, is drawn into a dangerous game of secrets, accusations and lies. Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s ambiguous, provocative conspiracy thriller plays with the film-within-a-film motif and is rich in unexpected twists. A piercing reflection on the power of images and the dynamics of perception, projection and societal hysteria.
by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay (Director, Screenplay)
with Devrim Lingnau, Mehdi Meskar, Serkan Kaya, Nicolette Krebitz, Aziz Çapkurt, Nazmi Kırık Germany 2025 German, English, Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic 104' Colour World premiere

With

  • Devrim Lingnau (Elif)
  • Mehdi Meskar (Said)
  • Serkan Kaya (Yiğit)
  • Nicolette Krebitz (Lilith)
  • Aziz Çapkurt (Mustafa)
  • Nazmi Kırık (Majid)

Crew

Director Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
Screenplay Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
Cinematography Christian Kochmann
Editing Denys Darahan, Andreas Menn
Music Marvin Miller
Sound Design Steffen Pfauth
Production Design Mayte Hellenthal
Casting Kerstin Neuwirth
Producers Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay, Claus Herzog-Reichel

Produced by

filmfaust

World Sales

Pluto Film

Photos

Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay

© Marcus Höhn German Films

Born in Bad Hersfeld, Germany in 1987, he studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. In 2019, his film Oray screened in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section of the Berlinale where it received the GWFF Best First Feature Award before going on to win a number of international prizes. With his filmfaust production company, co-founded with Claus Herzog-Reichel, he has written and produced international and award-winning feature and documentary films including Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, Deutschmarks and Death), which screened in the 2022 Panorama.

Filmography (selection)

2013 Vor dem Tor des Ijtihad; short film 2019 Oray 2025 Hysteria

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025