HEAD ON / GEGEN DIE WAND (dir. Fatih Akın, 2004)
Cahit (Birol Ünel) stumbles from bar to bar in Hamburg, Germany, lost in an alcoholic and drug-fuelled haze. One day, he decides to end his life and crashes his car into a wall, which lands him in a mental institution. There he meets the suicidal Sibel (Sibel Kekilli). She convinces him to marry her, because otherwise her family will arrange her marriage to a Turkish man of their choosing. She proposes a deal to Cahit: she will cook and clean for him and they can see other people. There begins their strange romance. Head-On was released to near universal critical acclaim in 2004 and won that year’s Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Hailed as a turning point in German cinema, the film explores themes of migration, assimilation, family relations, gender and sexuality. This film screening has been organised for students on the Department of Turkish Literature’s Fictions of Migration course but students from all other departments are also welcome to attend. The film will be shown with English subtitles.
PLACE: Bilkent Library Orientation Room TIME: Thursday 18th October at 18:30-20:30