Biography
Cihan Inan was born in Switzerland as the third of five children to Turkish immigrant parents.
While studying Philosophy and German Literature at the University of Bern, he worked as a cinema projectionist in Switzerland's capital and also served as a film and theater critic.
Following university, he spent two years as an assistant director at Theater Freiburg in Germany, where he directed his first production in 1999. Since then, he has consistently directed plays across the German-speaking world.
In 2002, he chose to direct a film adaptation of Nick Cave's debut novel, "And the Ass Saw the Angel." The project was completed in 2003 in Turkey, funded largely by his own private resources. However, the filmed material was stolen at Freiburg train station in Germany that same year and remains missing.
After this setback, he began working on the script for "180°," his first widely recognized feature film. Released in September 2010, "180°" received multiple international awards for best film, director, screenplay, music, and supporting actress. He has also served as a consultant on films such as Esen Isik's "KÖPEK" and documentaries like Nicolas Steiner's "ABOVE AND BELOW."
In September 2018, his second feature film, "ZONE ROUGE," premiered in Swiss cinemas. The film, a reunion story set entirely in one location, acts as a "huis clos" of memories.
From 2017 to 2022, he was the artistic director at the State Theater in Bern, Switzerland. Following a successful tenure, he chose to return to filmmaking.
He wrote the screenplay for the film noir psychodrama "RETOUR" and began shooting in Italy. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, he filmed this intense mother-daughter huis clos, inspired by the ancient story of "Elektra," with a small crew and cast in a remote country house.
He is currently developing various international projects.
Cihan Inan lives near Zurich with his wife and son.
