| Baran bo Odar | |
| Birth Date: | 18 April 1978 |
| Birth Place: | Olten, Solothurn, Switzerland |
| Nationality: | German |
| Occupation: | Film and television director |
| Years Active: | 2005–present |
| Known For: | Who Am I Dark 1899 |
| Partner: | Jantje Friese |
Baran bo Odar (born 18 April 1978) is a German film and television director and screenwriter. He is known for co-creating the Netflix series Dark (2017–2020) and 1899 (2022) with his creative and romantic partner, Jantje Friese.
His film Who Am I reached the top of the German cinema charts[1] and was nominated for a German Film Award for Best Fiction Feature Film and Best Screenplay in 2015. Odar directed and co-wrote the film with Friese.
Odar was born in Switzerland. He is of Turkish descent on his mother's side and has Russian ancestry from his paternal grandfather, a former doctor who fled Russia after the October Revolution.[2]
Odar's first feature film, produced as a final project for his University of Television and Film Munich diploma, was Under the Sun (German:), a sixty-minute coming-of-age story about a twelve-year-old boy who is infatuated with his older niece. It was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2006 and Utah's Slamdance in 2007.[3] [4] [5] For the film, Odar was awarded the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award and the Munich Feature Film Award and was nominated for the Max Ophüls Prize.[6]
Directing a Hollywood production had been a longtime dream of Odar's.[7] Following the success in Germany of The Silence and Who Am I, Odar attracted the attention of American producers who were searching for a director for Sleepless, an action thriller to which Jamie Foxx was already attached. After Odar came on board, Michelle Monaghan was cast as Foxx's co-star, and the film was shot in Atlanta.
The TV series Dark, which Odar co-created with Friese, gained popularity worldwide and was Netflix's first German-language original series. Every episode was co-written by Friese and directed by Odar. Odar was honored with a Grimme-Preis, Germany's most prestigious television award, in 2018 for his direction of Darks first season.[8] In 2019, the second season of Dark was released. The third, and final, season followed in 2020.[9]
Prior to the release of season 3 of Dark, Odar and Friese announced their next series, 1899.[10] The first two episodes premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022.[11] The full season came out on 17 November 2022 on Netflix.[12] The creators had ideas for two more seasons, but in January 2023, Netflix canceled the show.[13]
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Silence | Film | |
| 2014 | Who Am I | Film | |
| 2017 | Sleepless | Film | |
| 2017–2020 | Dark | TV series | |
| 2022 | 1899 | TV series | |
| TBA | Tyll | TV series |