Friday, May 12, 8:00 PM, Charles Theatre 1

Director: Fatih Akin

Cast: Birol Unel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck, Guven Kirac, Meltem Cumbul, Cem Akin, Aysel Iscan

Country: Germany
Year: 2004
Running Time: 121:00 minutes
Format: 35mm

The first clue that Head-On is not your normal romantic movie is the decidedly not “meet cute” initial encounter between the two main characters, Cahit and Sibel, two Germans of Turkish descent.  After he drives his car into a brick wall and she slits her wrists they both wind up in the same hospital.  Sibel proposes marriage because she is looking for a Turk, any Turk, to marry so she can move out of the home where she lives with her strict Turkish family.  In return she will do all of the cooking and cleaning (something Cahit’s apartment desperately needs), but otherwise they will live their lives separately.

Beyond the love story between these two self-destructive individuals, Head-On also provides glimpse of the immigrant experience for Turks in Germany.  While the United States is finally being forced to look at the issue of immigration, European countries have also been dealing with the same issues.  The large population of German Turks faces many of the same issues as Latinos in the United States.

Head-On garnered substantial critical praise upon its release, winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, the Best Film Award at the European Film Awards, and the National Society of Film Critics Best Foreign Film Award among others.  Riding the edge between farce and tragedy, the film does not provide easy answers or expected resolutions.

-- Dan Krovich

Presented By: John Waters

John Waters is most famous for his long career as a film director, which has included such famous (and infamous) works as Mondo Trasho, Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, Serial Mom, and A Dirty Shame.  The Broadway Musical version of his film Hairspray is coming full circle and being turned into a movie to be directed by Adam Shankman and to star John Travolta and Queen Latifah with a scheduled release in 2007.  Waters is also an author, public speaker, and a celebrated photographer whose work has exhibited throughout the world.  His most recent exhibition, Unwatchable, is currently running at the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York City through May 20th.