Director Bülent Akinci's debut feature length film “Running on Empty” (“Der Lebensversicherer”) tells the neo-romantic story of an inexhaustible and restless search for love and redemption.

Status: completed

Festivals and Awards (selection):

Winner of the Dialogue en Perspective Award, Berlinale 2006

Winner of the Silver St. George for Best Actor Jens Harzer, Moscow International Film Festival 2006

Winner of the Diploma of the Russian Guild of Film Review, Moscow IFF 2006

Nominated for the First Steps Award for Best Feature Film, Berlin 2006

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2006

World Film Festival Montreal 2006

Copenhagen International Film Festival 2006

Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2006

Warsaw International Film Festival 2006

Valladolid International Film Festival (Competition) 2006

Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2006

Cairo International Film Festival 2006

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2006

Trieste Film Festival 2007

Sofia International Film Festival 2007

AFI, Dallas 2007

Seattle International Film Festival 2007

Ankara International Film Festival 2008

Festival of the German Film Ludwigshafen (competition) 2006

Insurance agent Burkhard Wagner has left his family with the promise of building a better life for them. All he needs to do is sell enough insurance policies. But the years pass by and Burkhard Wagner travels the German autobahns like a modern day Flying Dutchman forever sailing the seven seas but unable to come to port. The only contact he has with his family is through the answering machine. Although determined to realize his plan, it dawns on Burkhard that he is running on empty, and just as he is about to close his last deals, Burkhard literally stops altogether. Only Caroline, who barely makes ends meet running a roadside motel, can help him to find his way back to life.

Biography Bülent Akinci

Bülent Akinci was born in Ankara in 1968. He has been living in Berlin since 1970 and is a German citizen. After working as a musician, security guard and insurance salesman, he began to study Philosophy, Art, Theatre, Film, and Music Studies at the Free University in Berlin. In 1996 he enrolled at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). He has won many prizes with his short films. “Running on Empty” (Der Lebensversicherer) is his first feature length film.

Cast: 

Jens Harzer, Marina Galic, Anna Maria Mühe, Christian Blümel, Tom Jahn and Hussi Kutlucan

Team:

Scriptwriter & Director: Bülent Akinci

Director of Photography: Henner Besuch

Editors: Inge Schneider, Tina Baz

Music: Wim Mertens

Production:

Razor Film,

ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel (editor: Claudia Tronnier)

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin

Funded by: FFA, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg

World Sales: Razor Film

Distribution Germany: Zorro Film (www.zorrofilm.de)