DE | 2010 | colour | 119 min
reż|dir Feo Aladag  pro|pro Feo Aladag, Züli Aladag sce|sc Feo Aladag zdj|ph Judith Kaufmann muz|mus Stéphane Moucha, Max Richter mon|ed Andrea Mertens ob|cast Sibel Kekilli, Nizam Schiller, Derya Alabora Settar Tanriogen dys|dis VIVARTE

Feo Aladag first began to research the subject of violence against women at the invitation of Amnesty International. After these films were released, Aladag’s interest in the subject continued. She felt that more questions needed to be answered about what the media regularly labelled ‘honour crimes’, and she decided to explore the issue in greater depth. The first step was a lengthy process of research. The director talked, in particular, to victims of these crimes, and then drew on her findings to write the screenplay for a feature film. So, while the story in When We Leave is fictional, the violence against women – especially in the form of ‘honour crimes’ – which inspired it is a very real phenomenon. The theme that writer, producer and director Feo Aladag tackles in When We Leave is universal: the clash between an individual’s desire for self-ful­filment and the pressures of family and society. The film portrays a young Turkish woman, Umay, choosing to lead an independent life in a cultural context where women have traditionally had to submit to male authority in the form of husbands, fathers or brothers. By moving the story between Germany (where Umay grew up and to which she returns to live with her family) and Turkey (the country of her marriage, where she lived with her in-laws), Aladag places the theme in the context of inter-cultural adjustment in Europe.

AWARDS
2010 The European Parliament’s annual film prize LUX
2010 German Film Awards – award in category Best Film
2010 Berlin International Film Festival – Europa Cinema Label Award
2010 Tribeca Film Festival -  award in category Best Film World Narrative Feature Competition

DIRECTOR | Feo Aladag (1972)
Austrian film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and Psychology Doctorate. Aladag began her film career as an actress, completing her training in London and Vienna. She acted in numerous film and television productions. During this time she also maintained a career as a successful scriptwriter and commercial film director (for example for Amnesty International). Her 2010 film “When We Leave” was selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards.

SPECIAL SHOW | LUX AWARD

The German film “When we Leave” (Die Fremde) directed by Feo Aladag, raises the problem of “honour crimes”. It is a story about a drama of a Turkish family living in Germany. The main character of the film is Umay, who runs away from an overwhelming marriage in Istanbul taking her little son Cem with her. She hopes to find a better life at her family in Berlin, but her unsuspected arrival creates a conflict.

The European Parliaments LUX Prize is given to films that promote values connected with the European identity, showing the cultural diversity of Europe, or participating in the debate concerning EU integration. The LUX Prize laureate benefits from European Parliament financial support of 90.000 euro to pay for subtitling in all European Union languages, including adaptation of the original version for visually or hearing impaired people, as well as support of 35 mm or DVD copies cinema distribution.

Since its establishment in 2007 the Lux Prize was granted to the following films: At the Edge of Heaven | Auf der anderen Seite, dir. Fatih Akin, 2007; Lorna’s Silence | Le silence de Lorna, dir. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2008; Welcome, dir. Philippe Lioret 2009.