THE CUT
Directed by Fatih Akin (Head-On, The Edge of Heaven, Soul Kitchen)
Written by Fatih Akin and Mardik Martin (Mean Streets, New York, New York, Raging Bull)
Starring Tahar Rahim (A Prophet)
Opens in New York (Lincoln Plaza and Landmark Sunshine) and Los Angeles (Sundance Sunset Cinema, Laemmle Playhouse 7 and Laemmle Royal Theatre) on September 18th followed by a national rollout
THE CUT is Fatih Akin’s epic drama about one man’s journey through the Ottoman Empire after surviving the 1915 Armenian genocide. Deported from his home in Mardin, Nazareth (A Prophet’s Tahar Rahim) moves onwards as a forced laborer. When he learns that his daughters may still be alive, his hope is revived and he travels to America, via Cuba, to find them. Co-written by Armenian screenwriter, USC professor and Martin Scorsese collaborator Mardik Martin (Raging Bull, Mean Streets, New York, New York)THE CUT was an official selection of the Venice and Film Festival, and opens on Friday, September 18 in NY and LA followed by a national release. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
One night, the Turkish police round up all the Armenian men in the city, including the young blacksmith, Nazaret Manoogian, who gets separated from his family. Years later, after managing to survive the horrors of the genocide, he hears that his twin daughters are still alive. Determined to find them, he sets off to track them down, his search taking him from the Mesopotamian deserts and Havana to the barren and desolate prairies of North Dakota. On this odyssey, he encounters a range of very different people: angelic and kind-hearted characters, but also the devil incarnate.
One of his generation’s most influential European directors, German-Turkish filmmaker Fatih Akin was born in Hamburg to Turkish immigrant parents. His 2004 breakthrough film Head-On, a Hamburg-set love story between two young self-destructive Turks in revolt against tradition, won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear, The European Film Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Next came Akin’s documentary about the music scene in Istanbul, Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul, followed by The Edge of Heaven, winner of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival’s Best Screenplay; New York, I Love You, the compilation film for which he directed an episode; the comedy Soul Kitchen, winner of the Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize; and Polluting Paradise, a documentary about environmental damage in the Turkish village of his ancestors. THE CUT is Mr. Akin’s final film in his trilogy about “Love, Death and the Devil” following Head On and The Edge of Heaven. THE CUT’s production designer is Academy Award winner Allan Starski (Schindler’s List.)
French-Algerian actor Tahar Rahim won two Césars for Most Promising Actor and Best Actor for his breakthrough role in Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet. He has worked with Chinese director Lou Ye (Love and Bruises), Scottish director Kevin MacDonald (The Eagle) as well as Belgian director Joachim Lafosse’s (Our Children). Rahim was most recently seen by US audiences in Asghar Farhadi’s The Past.
“THE CUT is a genuine, hand-made epic, of the type that people just don’t make anymore. In other words, a deeply personal response to a tragic historical episode, that has great intensity, beauty and sweeping grandeur. This picture is very precious to me, on many levels.” — Martin Scorsese
OPENS IN LA ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
SUNDANCE SUNSET CINEMA
8000 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA. 90046
(323) 654-2217
For Tickets and More Information
LAEMMLE ROYAL THEATRE
11523 Santa Monica Blvd.
West L.A., CA 90025
(310) 478-3836
For Tickets and More Information
LAEMMLE PLAYHOUSE 7
673 E Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA. 91101
(310) 478-3836
For Tickets and More Information
Q&As with Armenian-American screenwriter Mardik Martin Opening Weekend at all theaters!
See theater websites for details.