Film Archive
Head-On (Gegen die Wand)
"You can put an end to your life without killing yourself," whispers the doctor. And Cahit, 40, whose suicide attempt has brought him to the psychiatric clinic, knows what he means: by starting a new life. Yet the anguish in his soul continues to cry out for drugs and alcohol to numb his pain. Sibel – young, pretty and, like Cahit, Turkish-German – loves life too much for a proper Muslim girl. To escape from the prison of her devout, conservative family, she fakes a suicide attempt. But it brings shame, not freedom; only marriage can save her. And so she begs Cahit to marry her. Reluctantly, he agrees. Perhaps to save her. Perhaps to do one meaningful thing in his life. They share an apartment, but little else. She savors her freedom; he has his occasional fling with his sometime girlfriend. Until love enters his life on tip-toes. As he falls in love with Sibel, he finds a new joy in life, the strength to go on. Sibel continues to see other men. Until she, too, realizes that she loves Cahit. But by now it is too late: an explosion of jealousy ends in a violent death. Cahit is sent to jail and Sibel flees to Turkey. Her heart, her mind, her soul are still with Cahit – but for how long?
Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg and began studying Visual Communications at Hamburg's College of Fine Arts in 1994. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, Sensin - You're The One! (Sensin - Du bist es!), which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival, followed by Weed (Getuerkt, 1996). His first full length feature film, Short Sharp Shock (Kurz und schmerzlos, 1998), won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award (Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include: In July (Im Juli, 2000), Wir haben vergessen zurueckzukehren (2001), Solino (2002), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and winner of the German and European Film Awards Head-On (Gegen die Wand, 2004), Crossing the Bridge - The Sound of Istanbul (2005), The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite, 2007), and Soul Kitchen (2009).Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2003
Director Fatih Akin
Screenplay Fatih Akin
Director of Photography Rainer Klausmann
Editor Andrew Bird
Music by Klaus Maeck
Production Design Tamo Kunz
Producers Stefan Schubert, Ralph Schwingel
Production Company Wueste Film/Hamburg, in co-production with Corazón International/Hamburg
Principal Cast Birol Uenel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck
Casting Mai Seck
Length 120 min, 3,383 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Original Version German/Turkish
Subtitled Versions English, Spanish
Sound Technology Dolby SR
Festival Screenings Berlin 2004 (In Competition), Belgrade 2004, Skopje 2004, Buenos Aires 2004, Sydney 2004, Shanghai 2004, Moscow 2004, Karlovy Vary 2004, Denver 2004, Montreal 2004, New York 2004, Rio 2004, London 2004, Pusan 2004, Seville 2004, Ljubljana 2004, Sofia 2008 (Retrospective), Seattle 2008, Gijon 2009
Awards Golden Bear Berlin 2004, FIPRESCI Award Berlin 2004, Best Actor & Best Actress Nuremberg 2004, German Film Awards 2004 for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Leading Actress, Best Leading Actor, Best Cinematography, Audience Award Seville 2004, European Film Awards 2004 for Best Film & Best Direction
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Nordmedia
German Distributor Timebandits Films/Potsdam
World Sales
Bavaria Film International / Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH
Thorsten Ritter
Bavariafilmplatz 7
82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86
fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
email: international@bavaria-film.de
http://www.bavaria-film-international.com
Trailer
click here