Turkish actress Hande Erçel will star in Diaspora, a psychological drama from Iranian writer-director Nader Saeivar about a refugee single mother trying to build a quiet life in Berlin. Principal photography is set to begin in the German capital in the first quarter of 2027, and Erçel will arrive about a month early to prepare.
Erçel plays Merve, a young widow who leaves Turkey for Berlin with her 12-year-old son after her husband dies in a tragic incident. She finds work at a language school run by a German family who are expecting their second child. The family’s 15-year-old son, Luka, touches her without her consent, and when it happens again she reports it to his father. The family refuses to believe her, turns the accusation around and subjects her to what the production calls severe slander. Merve is then forced into a hard battle with the justice system and social prejudice to clear her name.
Moritz Bleibtreu, known for Run Lola Run and The Experiment, plays the father, Paul. He previously worked with Saeivar on Hijamat. Johan Anton Pietschmann, the son of actor Andreas Pietschmann and actress and musician Jasmin Tabatabai, plays Luka. Erçel’s month of preparation in Berlin will include character work, language training and rehearsals, giving her time to settle into the city where the story takes place before cameras roll. The German and Turkish casting reflects the film’s setting between the two countries.
Saeivar, born in Tabriz, co-wrote Jafar Panahi’s 3 Faces, which won best screenplay at Cannes in 2018, and was part of the creative team on It Was Just an Accident, the 2025 Palme d’Or winner. His own film The Witness won the audience award at Venice in 2024, and Hijamat competed at Karlovy Vary this year. In a director’s note, he frames motherhood as “a universal language” and says the film explores power between East and West.
Said Nur Akkuş is producing for Berlin’s ArtHood Films, which made Saeivar’s three previous films, with Emre Oskay for Istanbul-based Sky Film International Film Production. The German Federal Film Fund has backed the project. For Erçel, the role marks a move into a European auteur production centred on a woman’s fight to be believed, and it puts her alongside one of Germany’s best-known actors. The rest of the cast and the full financing plan have yet to be announced.
