Hakan Savaş Mican

Hakan Savaş Mican, born in Berlin in 1978 and raised in Turkey, returned to Berlin in 1997 and completed his architecture studies in 2004. He then studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). During his studies, he made feature films and documentaries for ARTE and RBB, including contributions to the television projects 24h Berlin and 20xBrandenburg. The latter received the Adolf Grimme Prize.

Mican has been working in theater since 2008 and has directed at the Thalia Theater Hamburg, Staatstheater Hannover, Volkstheater München, and Maxim Gorki Theater, where he has been resident director since 2014. His productions have also been shown at festivals in London, Istanbul, Stockholm, and New York, among others, and have been invited to important German-language festivals such as the Theatertreffen, Radikal jung, the Heidelberger Stückemarkt, and the Autorentheatertage.

At the Maxim Gorki Theater, Mican has staged sixteen theater productions to date, including his own texts such as Berlin Oranienplatz, Berlin Kleistpark, Berlin Karl-Marx-Platz, and Alles wird schön sein., plays by Sasha Marianna Salzmann Schwimmen Lernen and Muttersprache Mameloschn, book adaptations such as Vatermal by Necati Öziri, Die Nacht von Lissabon (The Night of Lisbon) based on Erich Maria Remarque, Unser Deutschlandmärchen (Our German Fairy Tale) based on the novel by Dinçer Güçyeter, and Die Ungehaltenen (The Discontented) based on the novel by Deniz Utlu, classic plays such as Glaube Liebe Hoffnung (Faith, Love, Hope) by Ödön von Horváth, and film adaptations for the stage such as Angst essen Seele auf (Fear Eats the Soul) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Der Mann, der Liberty Valance erschoss (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) based on the film by John Ford. He also develops video works and installations that have been shown at the Gorki Herbstsalon, other festivals, and museums, including Souvenirs and Reaching the Level of Contemporary Civilization 2.

His works address issues such as social origins and personal and family relationships in an era marked by acceleration and social change.

Photo: Esra Rotthoff