In light of the climate crisis, authoritarian tendencies, hostility, and militarism, Max Czollek explores the power of friendship in his discussion series Discourse. Pop. Love. For each date, he invites two guests who are connected by their friendship, collaborate, or support each other’s work. He discusses with them the importance of community in political and artistic work.

Melika Foroutan is an actor who studied philosophy, English and history in Cologne before completing her acting training at the Berlin University of the Arts from 1999 to 2003. She then joined the Schauspiel Leipzig theatre company. For her leading role in the feature film Pari by Iranian director Siamak Etemadi, which premiered at the 2020 Berlinale, she received the 2021 Hellenic Film Academy Award for Best Actress. She is currently filming the third season of the International Emmy Award-winning Netflix series The Empress and has been the new Frankfurt Tatort detective alongside Edin Hasanović since 2025. Foroutan lives in Berlin.

Edin Hasanović is regarded as one of Germany’s most versatile actors and one who consistently defies categorization. He represents a mindset that actively seeks change rather than avoiding it, and a career that continually reinvents itself through inner curiosity and artistic courage. He gained international recognition in 2022 with his role in the four-time Academy Award-winning Netflix global hit All Quiet on the Western Front. This was followed by successful cinema releases including Trauzeugen (2023) and Spieleabend (2024). Since autumn 2025, Hasanović plays the detective in the Frankfurt edition of Tatort alongside Melika Foroutan. Hasanović lives in Berlin.