''In July'' () is a 2000 German-Turkish

road movie A road movie is a film genre, genre of film in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the the ...

Plot

At the beginning of his summer holiday, a somewhat naive trainee teacher Daniel (

Moritz Bleibtreu Moritz Johann Bleibtreu ( is a German film actor, voice actor, and film director. He has been a successful actor in many movies such as ''Run Lola Run, Das Experiment, The Baader Meinhof Complex'', and Atomised (film), ''Elementary Particles''. ...

) buys a ring from a stall run by a neighbor, the aspiring artist and street vendor Juli (in German, "Juli" would be not only the month July but also a common nickname for someone named "Julia";

Christiane Paul Christiane Paul (; born 8 March 1974) is a German film, television and stage actress. Career Paul first worked as a model for magazines such as '' Bravo''. She was 17 when she obtained her first leading role in the film '. Prior to her acting c ...

). The ring bears a Mayan

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

symbol, which, according to Juli, has the power to lead him to the woman of his dreams, whom he will recognise by a similar sun symbol. As Juli has the ring's counterpart, and as she is in love with him, she invites Daniel to a party that evening, hoping that they will meet. Curious, Daniel goes to the party and meets Melek ( İdil Üner), a young Turkish woman who is wearing a

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

imprinted with a sun symbol. Convinced that she is the woman of his dreams, Daniel talks to her. Melek is only passing through and looking for a place to spend the night. After spending the evening together seeing the sights of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Daniel invites her to spend the night in his apartment. Daniel and Melek leave the party just as Juli arrives. She sees them leave together. In her disappointment, she decides to leave town. Next day she goes to the

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

to hitch a ride, with no predetermined destination. As

fate Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predeterminism, predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words wiktionary ...

would have it, Daniel is the first car to stop, on his way back from the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

, where he has just dropped Melek off. He has decided to drive to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

in search of Melek, who, as she told him, will be under the bridge over the

Bosporus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

at a certain time a few days later, although he does not know why. Daniel takes Juli with him in his stoner roommate's rusty old car. And this is the beginning of a long and exciting trip across a scorching hot

Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

Symbolism

The film opens with an eclipse, an event in which the sun and the moon cross paths. Daniel crosses paths with Luna, whose name means "moon," and suffers the consequences. July is a sunny month.

Cast

as Daniel Bannier *

as Juli * İdil Üner as Melek * Mehmet Kurtuluş as İsa * Jochen Nickel as Leo *

Branka Katić Branka Katić ( sr-Cyrl, Бранка Катић; born 20 January 1970) is a Serbian actress known for appearing in the films ''Black Cat, White Cat'' and '' Public Enemies'', and the TV series ''Big Love''. Career Katić debuted in the film ' ...

as Luna * Birol Ünel as Club Doyen * Sandra Borgmann as Marion * Ernest Hausmann as Kodjo, Daniel's neighbour * Gábor Salinger as Jewellery vendor in Hungarian market * Cem Akın as Turkish border guard *

Fatih Akın Fatih Akin (, born 25 August 1973) is a Turkish-German film director, screenwriter and producer. His films have won numerous awards and accolades, including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his film '' Head-On'' (2004), Best Scr ...

as Romanian border guard * Sándor Badár as Alin * Daniel Puente Encina as singer and musician. Cameo appearance with his band Niños Con Bombas.

Trivia

* The sequence of the film when Daniel and Juli travel through

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

is made up of a series of still photos, a decision taken for mainly financial reasons. * The director has a cameo as a Romanian border guard on a checkpoint of the Hungarian-Romanian border. * The director's brother Cem Akin plays the role of a Turkish border guard on a checkpoint of the Bulgarian-Turkish border. * Fatih Akin attended the school shown at the beginning of the film.

Accolades

* German Film Awards 2001: Moritz Bleibtreu (Best actor) * Tromsø International Film Festival 2001: People's choice award: Fatih Akin (Best direction) * Jupiter 2001 (Best actor: Moritz Bleibtreu; best director: Fatih Akin)

References

External links

* * {{Fatih Akın 2000 films Films directed by Fatih Akin 2000s German-language films German road movies 2000s road movies Films set in Hamburg Films set in Budapest Films set in Istanbul 2000s German films