Ömer Faruk Sorak was born in Ankara on April 27 1964. He studied at the School of Press and Broadcasting of Ankara University and subsequently worked as a camera operator for Turkish TV network TRT. He did cinematography on numerous commercials and music videos, as well as on some Turkish feature films.

After founding the production company Böcek Yapim in 1998, Sorak made his directorial debut with the 2001 tragicomedy "Vizontele" ("Vision Tele", TR), which became a huge box office hit with three million admissions in Turkey. He enjoyed continued success in Turkey and the Middle East with the sci-fi comedy "G.O.R.A." (TR 2004), the Jean-Claude Van Damme-starring "Sinav" (TR 2006), the oriental western "Yahsi Bati" ("Yahsi Bati - Die osmanischen Cowboys", TR 2009) and the romance "Aşk Tesadüfleri Sever" (TR 2011).

Sorak established himself as the commercially most successful filmmaker in his native Turkey, and in 2012, he made the acquaintance of German producer Tom Zickler from Til Schweiger's company Barefoot Films. Their idea of a collaboration eventually evolved into a German-Turkish co-production put together by Barefoot Films and Böcek Yapim (as well as Neue Schönhauser Filmproduktion): The poetic drama "8 Sekunden - Ein Augenblick Unendlichkeit" ("8 Seconds") was released in Turkey in early 2015, and opened in German cinemas later that year.