Sibel Kekilli
- This article is about a porn star
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Sibel Kekilli (born June 16, 1980 in Heilbronn, Germany) is an award-winning German actress of Turkish origin, who gained public attention after starring in the 2004 film Gegen die Wand (Head-On). She won twice the highest German movie award Lola Prize.
Life and career
Kekilli grew up in Heilbronn, the daughter of Turkish parents, who had come to Germany in 1977. She describes her parents as fairly liberal, allowing her to participate at school trips and to go without a headscarf. After leaving school at age 16, she worked for two years for the local city government, then moved to Essen, where she worked various jobs.
One day in 2002 while at a Cologne shopping mall, she was noticed by a casting director, who called her up for an audition for a role in a movie. Sibel won the leading role for Fatih Akın's planned movie against a field of 350 other hopefuls. This movie Gegen die Wand (Head-On) was released in 2004 and was a major public success, receiving several prizes at film festivals.
Shortly after the release of "Head-On", the German tabloid newspaper Bild-Zeitung revealed, in a sensationalist tone, that she had previously acted in pornographic films using the stage name "Dilara". This report led to a public scandal. Kekilli's parents broke off all contact.
For her role in Head on, Kekilli received the 2004 Bambi Prize for best "shooting star"; during the televised acceptance speech, she tearfully complained about the "dirty smear campaign" and "media rape" against her. The Bild-Zeitung was later reprimanded for the coverage by the Deutscher Presserat, the self-control institution of German publishers
She starred in the Turkish coup d'état movie Eve Dönüş (2006), playing the wife of a man, who was unjustly imprisoned and tortured. Although her performance was criticized, especially her distinctive accent (some suggested over-dubbing her voice), she still managed to receive the award of Best Actress at the 2006 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.
Sibel Kekilli played a young Jewish woman on the way to the Auschwitz concentration camp in the 2006 German movie Der letzte Zug (The last train).
In 2009, she played Umay in Feo Aladag's Die Fremde (When We Leave) a young Turkish woman, who leaves Istanbul to return to her family in Berlin. Kekilli was awarded the Best Actress Lola Prize of Germany in 2010 for her leading role in this film.
Sibel Kekilli lives in Hamburg and supports the organization Terre des Femmes in their work against violence in families with Islamic background. In December 2006, at an anti-domestic violence event of the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet in Berlin, she stated "I have experienced myself that physical and psychological violence is seen as normal in Muslim families. Unfortunately violence belongs to the culture in Islam." This caused the Turkish consul general to leave the room.
This movie Gegen die Wand (Head-On) written and directed by Fatih Akın was a major public success and received several prizes at film festivals:
- The "Golden Bear" prize for the best movie at the "54. Berlinale" ([Berlin International Film Festival) on February 14.
- The golden prize in the category for the best actress at the "Deutscher Filmpreis" ("German Film Prize") on June 18.
- The "Quadriga" prize on October 3 in Berlin, Germany.
- The "Silver Mirror Award" for the best "movie from the south" at the Film Festival on October 16 in Oslo, Norway.
- The audience prize at the "9th Festival de Cine" on November 6-November 13 in Sevilla, Spain.
- The "Golden Bambi" for the best shooting star at the "56. Bambi-Verleihung" on November 19 in Hamburg, Germany.
- The golden "Gilde" prize for the best German movie 2003/2004 at the "Leipzig Film Fair".
- The award for the best "European movie 2004" at the "European Film Prize" on December 11 in Barcelona, Spain.
External links
- German Fansite about Sibel Kekilli
- International Sibel Kekilli - Forum
- Sibel Kekilli at the Internet Movie Database
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