Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay is a writer, producer and director. He studied Media Arts at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. His graduation film, Oray (2019), enjoyed international success and was awarded the Best First Feature prize at the Berlinale. His second feature film, Hysteria (2025), was honoured with the Berlinale Prize for Best European Film. He is the founder of the production company filmfaust and was a producer and screenwriter of several award-winning films, including Liebe, D-Mark und Tod by Cem Kaya and Sirens Call by Miriam Gossing and Lina Sieckmann. He is currently working on his first novel. Büyükatalay lives in Cologne.

As of September 2026