CV Nedim Hazar

Born in Ankara (1960) and raised in Sydney and Istanbul, where he studied acting, Nedim Hazar has been living in Cologne since 1980. He worked at the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (Theater) for three years, and acted in various TV and cinema films (including Hark Bohm’s “Yasemin” in 1986). A breakthrough of his Ethno-Rock-Band “Yarinistan” (4 Albums out) where he sang and co-composed, put him on an unending musical tour between London and Alma Ata for the next 6 years. Since the 90’s he has been hosting and producing radio programmes at WDR, German public radio. He has directed and written TV reportages for WDR, 3 Sat, and Arte. 1998, he graduated from the screenwriting school of the International Film School of Cologne and the following year he completed a semester at the Maurits Binger Film Instituut of AHK Amsterdam as director. He has written and co-written several fiction screenplays, he has hosted world music programmes in German radio for years on end. Hazar is a German citizen of Turkish origin.

He returned back to Istanbul in 2003. After various independent productions, Hazar presently works together with the Turkish TV channel NTV.

2008 - Turkey on the Move - 7 part documentary (Director and screenwriter)

2007 - Arabesque - Addict To Pain of All Kinds- 45 min.(Director and screenwriter)

2006 / 2007 - The Background Music of our Lives - 5 part musical documentary (Director and screenwriter)

2006 - Özcan Deniz Without Makeup - 72 min. (Director and screenwriter)

2005 - Nearby Yet Far Away - The Isle of Burgaz - 60 min. (Director and screenwriter)

2004 - Kushtepe Blues - 42 min. (Director and screenwriter)

2004 - A Voyage With Mercan Dede - 45 min. (Director and screenwriter)

2003 - Burhan Öçal & Trakya All Stars / Au Musical Homecoming - 33 min. (Director and screenwriter)

2001 - Asylum on the Bosphorus
86 min. (Director and screenwriter)

1997 - Du hängst einfach in der Luft... / You Just Hang Around... - 30 min. (Director and screenwriter). A film about radical tendencies among Turkish youth in Germany. Produced by WDR. Prize for the best reportage in "U siebie / At Home" Documentary Film Festival of Cracow Television, 1997. 

2000 - T.I.R. / Orient on Wheels (Screenwriter, co-written by Laura Coroianu) A Road-Movie Comedy Project for De Campo Film, Cologne, funded by the Filmstiftung NRW.

1999 - Die Bosporus Jahre / The Bosphorus Years (Screenwriter, co-written by Bernhard Pfletschinger) Historical Drama Project for WDR, funded by the Filmstiftung NRW. 

1999 - Familie Dorsnee (Sreenwriter, co-written by Laura Coroianu) 4-Part-Serie-Project for VPRO, Netherlands. 

1998 - Bürgermeister Mehmet / Mehmet, the Mayor (Screenwriter) TV movie, a political comedy. Project at the IFS Screenwriting School in Cologne.

Presenter of “Çağdaş Yarınlara Adım Adım” in Show TV, a programme for Turkish youth in Germany (1995)

Director and writer of reportages and short documentaries for programmes such as "Kulturszene" , "Alice", "Europaplatz", "Gott und die Welt - Magazin", "Babylon", "Spuren" in WDR, 3Sat etc. (since 1994) 

Actor in films like "Yasemin" (directed by Hark Bohm, titel track by N. Hazar), "Eine türkische Hochzeit" (directed by Pavel Schnabel), "Heimliche Weihnacht" (directed by Y. Akay), Arbeiter in "Per Luftpost" (directed by Seyhan Derin, music by N. Hazar / G. Schaller) 

Radio host and producer (1995-2002) of various radio shows in WDR, BR, DW und DLF, Funkhaus Europa in North Rhein Westphalia and Radio Multikulti in Berlin like "Karawane", "Radio 5 am Vormittag", "Stadtklänge", "Musik der Welt", "Szene", "Musikpassagen", "Euro-SCALA" and "5 Planeten", a world music show. 

Other activities:

1986-92 Ensemble member of the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen Theater

1986-92 Singer, composer and musician of the ethno-rock band Yarınistan
(4 LPs, approx. 250 concerts in Germany, Benelux, France, England, Scandinavia, Russia, Aserbaidjan, Turkmenistan, Kasachstan etc., TV-shows) 

Musical cabaret Yarinistan (two productions, approx. 170 shows)

1992-2002 Jury member of the „German Music Critics’ Award“ 

1998-2002 Panel Member of the „World Music Charts Europe“ of the EBU 

My real surname is Bora, I am registered as Mehmet Nedim Bora. 

A few months after I came to Germany, the head staff of the Turkish military usurped political power in Turkey. The courts of the military junta which began to reign, confined me to imprisonment because I allegedly provoked workers to strike by playing an accordion at the entrance of a textile factory in 1978. Like thousands of other fellow country people, I preferred not to go back home at that particular time. In the 80's, while I began performing music and theatre in Germany, the Turkish military began to strip off Turks abroad of their citizenship. In order to avoid that I decided to take a pseudonym. "Hazar" means the Caspian Sea in Turkish and is the name of the daughter of a friend of mine, who is now obviously grown up and still lives in Germany.

On my return to Turkey, I was surprised to discover another Nedim Hazar in Istanbul, a journalist colleague, whose real name is "Nedim Hazar". So, I'm the fake one :)

Nedim "Hazar" Bora