Carla Nowak, a dedicated sports and math teacher, starts her first job at a high school. She stands out among the new staff because of her idealism. When a series of thefts occur at the school and one of her students is suspected, she decides to get to the bottom of the matter on her own. Carla tries to mediate between outraged parents, opinionated colleagues and aggressive students, but is relentlessly confronted with the structures of the school system. The more desperately she tries to do everything right, the more the young teacher threatens to break.

Directed by: İlker Çatak

Written by: İlker Çatak, Johannes Duncker

Produced by: Ingo Fliess

Cinematography: Judith Kaufmann

Editing: Gesa Jäger

Production Design: Zazie Knepper

Costume Design: Christian Röhrs

Make-Up: Barbara Kreuzer, Karsten Drews

Sound: Thorsten Többen

Original Score: Marvin Miller

Casting Director: Simone Bär, Alexandra Montag, Patrick Dreikauss

Cast: Leonie Benesch, Leonard Stettnisch, Eva Löbau, Michael Klammer

Original Title: DAS LEHRERZIMMER

Film Production Country: Germany

Website: https://www.beforfilms.com/theteacherslounge

Statement of the Director/s
Available in the Press Kit

Biography of the Director/s
İLKER ÇATAK was born in Berlin in 1984 and, as the son of Turkish immigrants, moved to Istanbul at the age of twelve, where he completed his high school diploma together with co-writer Johannes Duncker at the German School there. İlker Çatak then returned to Germany and worked for four years on German and international cinema productions.

Starting in 2005, the filmmaker already attracted attention with his first short film works such as "Als Namibia eine Stadt war..." (directed in collaboration with Johannes Duncker), before earning his bachelor's degree in film and television directing in 2009. He then completed a master's degree in directing at the Hamburg Media School. During this time, he made the short films "Alte Schule" and "Wo wir sind", among others. With the latter, İlker Çatak won the short film competition of the Max Ophüls Festival in 2014 and received a nomination for the Student Academy Award. One year later, the talented director convinced the juries with his graduation film "Sadakat". İlker Çatak was not only awarded the Max Ophüls Prize and the First Steps Award for Best Short Film - he received the prestigious Student Oscar® in Gold for Best Foreign Short Film.

In 2017, Çatak made his first feature film, ES WAR EINMAL INDIANERLAND, the adaptation of the award-winning novel for young people by Nils Mohl. This was followed in 2019 by ES GILT DAS GESPROCHENE WORT, his second feature film work. Ingo Fliess was responsible for the production. The film premiered in 2019 at the Filmfest München and was awarded two prizes there, and in early 2020, already nominated several times for the German Film Award, won the Lola in Bronze in the category Best Film. In 2021, the filmmaker adapted Finn-Ole Heinrich's successful novel RÄUBERHÄNDE and directed his first "Tatort": For RÄUBERHÄNDE as well as for "Borowski und der gute Mensch," Çatak worked with award-winning cinematographer Judith Kaufmann.

Filmography of the Director/s
2023 - THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE, Feature
2020 - FOR RÄUBERHÄNDE, Feature
2019 - ES GILT DAS GESPROCHENE WORT, Feature
2017 - ES WAR EINMAL INDIANERLAND, Feature

Production Company:
if… Productions Film GmbH
Ingo Fliess
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +4915110750155
Website: NA

World Sales:
Be For Films
Pamela Leu
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.beforfilms.com