Hande Erçel to Star in Nader Saeivar's Berlin Drama "Diaspora"

Turkish star Hande Erçel will lead “Diaspora,” a Berlin-set drama from Iranian director Nader Saeivar, Deadline reported exclusively, with filming planned for early 2027.

Erçel plays Merve, an educated, middle-class Turkish woman who tries to rebuild her life and that of her 12-year-old son in Germany after her husband dies in Turkey. The production takes place entirely in Berlin, and characters will speak German, English and Turkish.

Said Nur Akkus of Berlin’s Arthood Films and Emre Oskay of Istanbul’s Sky Films are producing. Both partners have worked across the Turkish and German industries. Akkus also produced Saeivar’s 2024 Austrian-German crime drama “The Witness,” which Jafar Panahi co-wrote.

In a director’s note, Saeivar described the film as arising from an urgent need to re-examine the quiet, tangled dynamics between East and West. He pointed to systemic misunderstandings, subtle prejudice and historical projection as forces that too often shape that relationship.

The project extends the thread of Saeivar’s recent work. Born in Tabriz, he shared the best screenplay prize at Cannes in 2018 for Panahi’s “3 Faces,” and his earlier features dealt largely with Iran. He has said he emigrated to Germany after growing up under decades of religious dictatorship, and he spoke this year about making his first European film, “Hijamat,” also set in Berlin. He called the city so cosmopolitan that it is hardly a German city at all.

Erçel brings a large audience. Born in 1993 in Bandırma, she became a household name in Turkish television through series including “Aşk Laftan Anlamaz” and “Sen Çal Kapımı,” then made her film debut in 2024’s “Intoxicated by Love,” which broke box-office records in Turkey. She followed it with the 2025 Netflix romance “Chasing the Wind.” “Diaspora” would give her a dramatic role in a European art-house production.

Saeivar has not yet announced the rest of the cast or a financing structure. Casting a major Turkish name could help the film reach audiences in both countries.