Die Fremde Wins Grand Prize for Best Film on 37th Film Festival Ghent

Die Fremde / When We Leave has been selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards. ( Left: Director Feo Aladag) Feo Aladag is an Austrian film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. Aladag was born in Vienna, Austria in 1972. She began her film career as an actress, completing her training in London and Vienna from 1990-1995. While studying acting she also completed a masters in Psychology and Journalism, continuing on to receive her Doctorate of Philosophy in 2000. She acted in numerous film and television productions while attending master-classes and directing seminars at the European Film Academy and the German Film and Television Academy. During this time she also maintained a career as a successful scriptwriter and commercial film director; directing various spots for Amnesty International and writing scripts for the German television series Tatort. In 2005 Aladag founded Independent Artists Filmproduktion together with husband and fellow director Züli Aladag.

Mavi Boncuk |

Die Fremde from director Feo Aladag has won the Grand Prize for Best Film on the 37th Film Festival Ghent. That was announced by the international festival jury lead by Wolfgang Kohlhaase on Wednesday October 20.
The international jury consists of Wolfgang Kohlhaase (director, Germany), Els Dottermans (actress, Belgium), Jan Verheyen (director, Belgium), Jean-Paul Wall (composer, Sweden), Goran Paskaljevic (director, Serbia) and Agnes Kocsis (director, Hungary).

Grand Prize for Best Film: DIE FREMDE (FEO ALADAG) – Distributor: ABC. The prize has a total worth of 15.000 euro for the support of the film release in Belgium + 6.000 euro for a media campaign.

The jury about Die Fremde: “This touching story about a turkish young woman (Sibel Kekilli) in Berlin is about the new neighborhoods in which we live, in the same world, at the same place, and yet not at the same time. Feo Aladag has the talent and the power to tell a tragedy. A tragedy exists, when both sides are right. A tragedy doesn't give any answers, it asks questions. But that's what we know about the truth: nobody has it for himself. It needs company.”

Die Fremde (When we Leave)
Director: Feo Aladag, Composer: Max Richter, Stéphane Moucha, Cast: Sibel Kekilli (Umay), Nizam Schiller (Cem), Derya Alabora (Halyme), Settar Tanriogen (Kader), Serhad Can (Acar), Almila Bagriacik (Rana), Tamer Yigit (Mehmet), Alwara Höfels (Atife), Florian Lukas (Stipe), Blanca Apilanez Fernadez (Carmen), Mustafa Jouni (Mete), a.o. Colour - 119 min - 35 mm - German & Turkish)

Umay, a battered twenty-five-year-old woman leaves her husband in Istanbul and takes her five-year-old son Cem back home hoping to find a better life with her parents in Berlin, but their reception is not at all what she expected. She knows that she’s expecting a lot from her family, but she hopes that the bonds of affection will be stronger than all the social constraints. But before long she realises that her family cannot simply ignore their deep-seated traditions and the situation could well break them. When her parents decide to restore the family’s reputation by returning Cem to his father, Umay once again begs for their help – but ends up breaking with them for good. Umay falls in love with Stipe and she and Cem begin a new life. She tries to mend the relationship with her family, but doesn’t realise that it’s too late for reconciliation…. “Die Fremde” is a powerful and deeply human film, featuring a woman’s struggle fighting for her family.