Biography
Savaş Ceviz, born to Turkish immigrants, studied business administration at the University of Cologne until 1992. He wrote his diploma thesis about the effect of movie trailers. For several years he then worked as a producer and editor with the broadcasting company RTL and as a product manager with the record company EMI Electrola. In 1996 he went to New York (USA) for a year to study at the New York Film Academy (NYFA).
Back in Germany he started working for the production company Saban Entertainment in Cologne in 1997. As director of development & production he was responsible for TV movie co-productions. In early 1998 he moved to Studio Babelsberg, where he worked until 2001. His last position at Studio Babelsberg was head of the International Co-Productions department, where he was responsible for the British-German co-production "Gangster No. 1" (2000), among others. During this time he also realised an image film for the mechanical engineering company Winkler & Dünenbier, for which he won a silver directing award at the 7th ITVA Festival in 1998. From 2001 to 2002, Ceviz was Vice President Content for the London Internet channel IchooseTV in Berlin.
In 2002, Savaş Ceviz shot his first short film: "Alemanya", about a Turkish man who is cheated by human traffickers and hides in the trunk of a couple on holidays to get to Germany, premiered at the Hofer Filmtage and was awarded the Murnau Short Film Award in 2003. In 2005/2006, Ceviz made the 45-minute TV documentary "Der blinde Maler", about the Turkish painter Eşref Armağan, who was born blind and yet paints colours, shapes, rooms and objects as if he knew their appearance. The film was broadcast in 2007.
For the episodic film "GG 19" (2007), about the 19 articles of the German constitution, he directed the contribution "Stehplatz". The screenplay for Philipp Stölzl's mountaineering drama "Nordwand" ("North Face", DE/AT/CH 2008) was based on an idea by Ceviz, for which he also acted as dramaturg. Based on "Der blinde Maler" Savaş Ceviz realised his feature film debut in 2010, the documentary "Der mit den Fingern sieht". The film won the audience award at the German Hörfilmpreis. The film was released theatrically in May 2011.
After a break of several years, Ceviz began shooting his first feature-length fiction film in autumn 2017: "Kopfplatzen" ("Head Burst") tells the story of a likeable and popular man who seems to have his tormenting paedophile tendencies under control until he starts a relationship with a woman who has an eight-year-old son. The haunting drama premiered at the Hofer Filmtage 2019. At the Biberach Film Festival 2019 Ceviz won the prize for Best Debut Film. Due to the Corona crisis, the film was first released as video-on-demand in April 2020. The theatrical release followed in August 2020.