{ "id": "ep7091xzms", "slug": "im-juli", "title": "Im Juli", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002", "label": "Comedies of 2000 to 2002", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002.comedies-of-2000", "label": "Comedies of 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002.comedies-of-2000" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Im Juli (In July, Turkish Temmuz'da) is Fatih Akin's 2000 German romantic road movie starring Moritz Bleibtreu and Christiane Paul, following a Hamburg teacher's drive to Istanbul; released 24 August 2000, Metascore 71, Lola-winning.", "snippet": "Im Juli (In July, Turkish Temmuz'da) is Fatih Akin's 2000 German romantic road movie starring Moritz Bleibtreu and Christiane Paul, following a Hamburg teacher's drive to Istanbul; released 24 August 2000, Metascore 71, Lola-winning.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2000-to-2002.comedies-of-2000", "markdown": "# Im Juli\n\n**Im Juli** (In July; Turkish title *Temmuz'da*) is a 2000 German romantic road movie written and directed by [Fatih Akin](https://www.edgepedia.org/fatih-akin), in which a shy Hamburg physics teacher drives across Europe to Istanbul chasing a woman he believes is his destiny, while the girl secretly in love with him rides along.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858) • [2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/2237/en/interview/404193/) It was Akin's second feature film, made immediately after his debut crime drama *Kurz und schmerzlos* (1998), and marked a deliberate turn from gritty social realism to light comedy.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/im-juli)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title / international title | Im Juli / In July (Turkish: *Temmuz'da*)[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858) • [4](https://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/7276/1/426600.pdf) |\n| Director and writer | Fatih Akin[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858) |\n| Release | German theatrical release 24 August 2000; 100 minutes; 35mm, 1:1.85; FSK 12[5](https://www.filmportal.de/film/im-juli_6944224c1b4f42099563a7533835400d) |\n| Principal cast | Moritz Bleibtreu (Daniel), Christiane Paul (Juli), Mehmet Kurtulus (Isa), Idil Üner (Melek)[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858) |\n| Key crew | Cinematography Pierre Aïm; music Ulrich Kodjo Wendt; editing Andrew Bird[2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/2237/en/interview/404193/) |\n| Reception | Metascore 71 (10 positive, 2 mixed reviews); IMDb 7.6/10 from about 24,000 votes[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/in-july/critic-reviews/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858) |\n| Award | German Film Award 2001, Lola in Gold for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Moritz Bleibtreu)[5](https://www.filmportal.de/film/im-juli_6944224c1b4f42099563a7533835400d) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nDaniel Bannier (Moritz Bleibtreu) is an insecure trainee teacher with no plans for the summer holidays. At a Hamburg flea market, the free-spirited jewelry seller Juli (Christiane Paul), who has long carried a secret crush on him, sells him an old Mayan ring bearing a sun symbol, telling him it will lead him to the woman of his life; she means herself.[7](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/26461/kritik.html) • [8](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/in-july/2000152719/) That same evening Daniel meets Melek (Idil Üner), a young Turkish woman passing through Hamburg, and believes the ring's prophecy has come true.[7](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/26461/kritik.html) • [9](https://transit.berkeley.edu/2009/im-juli/)\n\nWhen Melek returns to Istanbul, Daniel impulsively sets off after her by car. He picks up the hitchhiking Juli, and the two travel together through Central and [Southeastern Europe](https://www.edgepedia.org/southeastern-europe) toward Turkey, through hardships and bizarre episodes, while Daniel dreams of Melek and Juli hopes his affections will turn to her.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/im-juli) Along the way Daniel is beaten up, seduced, robbed, gets high on drugs for the first time in his life, and is jailed by Turkish border guards; the journey becomes one of self-revelation, and he realizes at the end that love was traveling beside him all along.[10](https://www.wuestefilm.de/en/filme/im-juli/)\n\n## Production\n\nShooting ran from 20 July to 30 September 1999 in Hamburg, Munich, Hungary, and Turkey.[5](https://www.filmportal.de/film/im-juli_6944224c1b4f42099563a7533835400d) The film was produced by Ralph Schwingel and Stefan Schubert for Wüste Filmproduktion, with Senator Film Verleih as German distributor and Bavaria Film International handling world sales.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/im-juli) • [10](https://www.wuestefilm.de/en/filme/im-juli/) Funding came from FilmFörderung Hamburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, the Filmförderungsanstalt, and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.[5](https://www.filmportal.de/film/im-juli_6944224c1b4f42099563a7533835400d)\n\nThe French cinematographer Pierre Aïm, known for *La Haine*, gave the film a bright, postcard-like look with light-toned color filters and sequences of still photographs that recall old analog snapshots.[7](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/26461/kritik.html) During Daniel and Juli's journey across Romania, the film shifts from live action to a sequence of still photographs, a decision made largely for budgetary reasons.[11](https://www.netflixmovies.com/in-july-2000) Akin and his brother Cem appear in cameo roles as border guards, in two scenes of comic communication breakdowns with Daniel.[7](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/26461/kritik.html)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film premiered in the main program of the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2001.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/im-juli) Critics received it favorably: on Metacritic it holds a Metascore of 71 from 12 reviews, 10 positive and 2 mixed, with no negative reviews.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/in-july/critic-reviews/) The *New York Daily News* praised its \"off-the-cuff sense of adventure, a winningly scruffy charm and a whip-smart sense of humor,\" and the *Washington Post* called it \"so unambiguously good-natured it feels like something fresh.\"[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/in-july/critic-reviews/) On IMDb it rates 7.6/10 from about 24,000 users.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858)\n\nThe German board of film rating (FBW) awarded the film the *Prädikat wertvoll* (valuable) rating, describing it as a romantic road movie that aims to entertain rather than problematize, and crediting the versatile performances of Bleibtreu and Paul.[12](https://www.fbw-filmbewertung.com/film/im_juli) At the 2001 German Film Awards, Bleibtreu won the Lola in Gold for Best Actor in a Leading Role.[5](https://www.filmportal.de/film/im-juli_6944224c1b4f42099563a7533835400d)\n\n## Place in Akin's work and Turkish-German cinema\n\nAfter the critical attention of *Kurz und schmerzlos*, a hard-edged thriller set in Hamburg's petty-gangster milieu, *Im Juli* was a striking genre change. Akin told his crew before shooting that the comedy belonged to him just as the drama did, and the German as much as the Turkish.[7](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/26461/kritik.html) The Rotterdam festival catalog read the film as evidence that Akin, a German-born son of Turkish parents, refused to be compartmentalized, and noted that it put him on the track toward commercial success.[3](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/im-juli) A later survey of his career calls the film his commercial breakthrough.[13](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/28885585.pdf)\n\nScholars of Turkish-German cinema have placed the film in a body of work, alongside *Head-On* and *The Edge of Heaven*, in which protagonists journey in the reverse direction of classic migration narratives, from Germany to Turkey, so that transnational travel becomes a quest for redemption or new forms of identity.[14](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/35596/) The film also plays with cultural symbols: the Mayan sun ring is detached from its original meaning and reinterpreted by Juli as a sign of luck and love, and the story addresses exoticizing stereotypes of [Turks in Germany](https://www.edgepedia.org/turks-in-germany) while remaining, in the FBW's phrase, a film fairy tale.[15](https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-artslaw/gcfe/bjfe/issue-2/2-4-marissa-munderloh.pdf) • [9](https://transit.berkeley.edu/2009/im-juli/) • [12](https://www.fbw-filmbewertung.com/film/im_juli)\n\n## References\n\n1. [In July (2000), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177858)\n2. [In July (Im Juli), Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/2237/en/interview/404193/)\n3. [Im Juli, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2001](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/im-juli)\n4. [Im Juli ('In July', Turkish title Temmuz'da), London Metropolitan University repository](https://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/7276/1/426600.pdf)\n5. [Im Juli, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/film/im-juli_6944224c1b4f42099563a7533835400d)\n6. [In July critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/in-july/critic-reviews/)\n7. [Im Juli, FILMSTARTS.de Kritik](https://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/26461/kritik.html)\n8. [In July, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/in-july/2000152719/)\n9. [Im Juli (In July), TRANSIT, UC Berkeley](https://transit.berkeley.edu/2009/im-juli/)\n10. [In July, Wüste Film](https://www.wuestefilm.de/en/filme/im-juli/)\n11. [In July (2000) facts and trivia, NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/in-july-2000)\n12. [Im Juli, Deutsche Filmbewertung und Medienbewertung (FBW)](https://www.fbw-filmbewertung.com/film/im_juli)\n13. [New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, Volume 4 Number 3 (2006)](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/28885585.pdf)\n14. [On the streets and on the road: identity in transit in Turkish–German travelogues on screen, New Cinemas 7(1), 2009](https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/35596/)\n15. [The Third Space of Fatih Akin's Cinema, University of Birmingham](https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-artslaw/gcfe/bjfe/issue-2/2-4-marissa-munderloh.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2000 to 2002 › Comedies of 2000*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/im-juli", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/im-juli.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Im Juli\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/im-juli. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Im Juli](https://www.edgepedia.org/im-juli)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/im-juli](https://www.edgepedia.org/im-juli). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Im Juli\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/im-juli. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Im Juli is Fatih Akin's 2000 German romantic road movie starring Moritz Bleibtreu and Christiane Paul, following a Hamburg teacher's drive to Istanbul; released 24 August 2000, Metascore 71, Lola-winning." }