Turkish actress Hande Ercel has been cast in the lead role of "Diaspora," a new film by Iranian director Nader Saeivar that will be shot in Germany.
Filming is scheduled to begin in the first months of 2027. Ercel is expected to travel to Berlin about a month earlier to prepare.
Ercel will play Merve, a woman who moves from Türkiye to Germany with her 12-year-old son after her husband dies.
In Berlin, Merve takes a job at a language school run by a German family.
After she experiences inappropriate behavior from the family’s son and speaks out about it, she is drawn into an unexpected struggle, according to details of the plot reported so far.
The film will be shot in German, English and Turkish. During her time in Berlin, Ercel is expected to take language lessons, join rehearsals and work on her character.
German actor Moritz Bleibtreu will co-star as the father of the family that runs the language school.
Additional cast members are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The film is being produced by Said Nur Akkus and Emre Oskay.
Ercel is one of Türkiye's best-known television actors, and the project marks a move toward an international, multilingual production.