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Im Juli, (English: In July) is a 2000 German road movie directed by Fatih Akin and starring Moritz Bleibtreu and Christiane Paul. The film takes place in July, 1999, and features a solar eclipse, which actually took place on 11 August 1999.
Plot
At the beginning of his summer holiday, a somewhat naïve trainee
teacher Daniel (Moritz Bleibtreu) buys a ring from a stall run by Juli
(Christiane Paul). The ring bears a Mayan sun 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 has fallen in love with him, she invites Daniel
to a party that evening, in the hope that they will meet.
Curious, Daniel goes to the party and meets Melek (İdil Üner), who is
wearing a T-shirt 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, Daniel invites her to
spend the night in his apartment.
Daniel and Melek left the party just as Juli arrived. She saw them
leave together. In her disappointment, she decides to leave town. Next
day she goes to the Autobahn to hitch a ride, with no predetermined
destination.
As fate would have it, Daniel is the first car to stop, on his way back
from the airport, where he had dropped Melek off. He has decided to
drive to Istanbul in search of Melek, who, he knows, will be under the
bridge over the Bosporus a few days later. Daniel takes Juli with him
in his neighbour's rusty old car. And so begins a long and exciting
trip across Eastern Europe.
Crew
* Direction: Fatih Akın
* Script: Fatih Akın
Awards and recognition
* Deutscher Filmpreis 2001: Moritz Bleibtreu (Best actor)
* Tromsø International Film Festival: People's choice award: Fatih Akin (Best direction)
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