Head-On

Cahit and Sibel, both Turkish Germans, meet after separate suicide attempts. She proposes a sham marriage so she can escape her strict family, and he agrees; what begins as an arrangement of convenience turns into a fierce and damaging attachment.

The film pairs self destruction with an identity split between two cultures, showing people caught between the expectations of family and a freedom they cannot safely hold. It is a raw study of self harm, belonging, and love as both rescue and wound. It won the Golden Bear at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival.