George R.R. Martin shows up at Harbourfront Literaturfestival with Sibel Kekilli

A crowd of 3000 fans showed up to see author George R.R. Martin when he spoke Sunday at Harbourfront Literaturfestival in Hamburg, Germany, but the audience received an extra treat when actress Sibel Kekilli showed up to listen to the lecture. Kekilli, who lives in Hamburg, was fulfilling her promise to Martin to show him the city whenever he came to visit. Kekilli made that promise when she visited Martin's hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico last December. That visit was captured on video for an episode of "Durch die Nacht" which was aired on German and French television in March.

After an interview conducted at the Congress Center Hamburg convention center by literary critic Denis Scheck, Martin treated fans to a reading of a chapter from his still-unpublished book, "The Winds of Winter," which will be the sixth novel in the fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire." The HBO television series "Game of Thrones" is based upon that series, and Martin met Kekilli when she was cast as the prostitute Shae for that series. In an interview in April, Martin told Entertainment Weekly that he hopes to have the new book published by next spring, before "Game of Thrones" begins its sixth season.

After Martin finished his reading, a number of fans took the opportunity to pose for selfies with both Martin and Kekilli. Many of those photos were posted on social media. Instagram user "Juleficent" called her selfie with Kekilli a "Shae-fie."

Martin told Shez.de that Kekilli served as his personal tour guide for his visit to Hamburg. They took the opportunity to travel some of the city's network of canals and they also visited the St. Pauli Elbe Tunnel, which was originally constructed in 1911. Martin was amazed that the tunnel was older than any of the tunnels he knew as a child growing up in New Jersey.

Sibel Kekilli and Kaviar Gauche make a great fashion team

When "Tatort" and "Game of Thrones" actress Sibel Kekilli hit the red carpet at the German Film Awards last week, she was wearing an all-white outfit designed by Kaviar Gauche. The Berlin-based fashion house was founded in 2004 by designers Alexandra Fischer-Roehler and Johanna Kühl, and it is now known as one of the most successful young German fashion labels. Kaviar Gauche is currently sold in boutiques in 10 countries, including the United States.

The 35-year-old Kekilli is a fan of Kaviar Gauche's designs. Last September, she attended Paris Fashion Week as a guest of the company and VOGUE Germany came along to shoot a video of Kekilli consulting with designers in one of their fitting rooms. Shortly before this year's German Film Awards, the company posted on its Facebook page a photo of Kekilli getting fitted for the dress she would later wear to the ceremony.

At 5-foot-4, Kekilli doesn't have the height for the fashion runway, but she has nevertheless established herself as a popular model in Europe. The photo page on her official website displays samples from dozens of fashion shoots she has done over the years. Early in her career, she had the honor of appearing on the April 2006 cover of Elele magazine in Turkey. More recently, photographers Till Janz and Hendrik Schneider conducted a particularly edgy and colorful shoot that was published in the Winter 2014 issue of QVEST. That issue also featured an interview in which she discussed her fashion preferences.

[Translated from German] "Fashion is an expression of personality for me," she told QVEST. "The individual style of women like Kate Moss or Charlotte Gainsbourg is great, but with help from my stylist, I'm slowly developing a good sense of what is me and what is not. I like a simple elegance on the red carpet, without too many patterns or too much decoration. Kaviar Gauche, for example, is my absolute favorite label."

Sibel Kekilli starts filming a new episode of 'Tatort'

Filming is underway for Sibel Kekilli's newest episode of the long-running German TV crime series "Tatort." According to Tatort Blog, production for the episode, titled "Borowski und die große Stille" (Borowski and the Great Silence), will continue through July 14 in Kiel and several cities near Kekilli's hometown of Hamburg -- Wentorf, Glinde, Großhansdorf and Reinbek.

According to Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the film commission in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, many of the scenes shot in Kiel will coincide with Kieler Woche (Kiel Week), an annual event that bills itself as "the greatest sailing event in the world and the largest summer festival in northern Europe." The festival will serve as the backdrop for the murder mystery that will be investigated by Klaus Borowski (played by Axel Milberg) and Sarah Brandt (played by Kekilli). The victim is a woman whose body is found in a vacant apartment in the heart of Kiel, and it appears that the perpetrator had been hiding in that apartment for months.

This episode is the second one that Kekilli has filmed this year. A previous episode, titled "Borowski und die Rückkehr des stillen Gastes" (Borowski and the Return of the Silent Guest), was filmed February 24 through March 25. The official "Tatort" website calls this episode a sequel to a 2012 episode titled "Borowski und der stille Gast" (Borowski and the Silent Guest). "Tatort" began its run in 1970 and has aired more than 900 episodes, but this will be the first time the series has advanced a story over two episodes. Lars Eidinger played suspect Kai Korthals in the original episode, and he will reprise that role in the sequel.

"Borowski und die Rückkehr des stillen Gastes" is scheduled to air on January 1, 2016, and "Borowski und die große Stille" will air later in the year.

George R.R. Martin pays a return visit to Sibel Kekilli

George R.R. Martin, author of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy books series upon which the TV series "Game of Thrones" is based, announced on his blog this week that he'll be flying to Hamburg on Thursday for a "big event." Martin wrote that during his visit, former "Game of Thrones" actress Sibel Kekilli will show her around the city.

Last December, Kekilli traveled to Martin's hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she made a personal appearance at a screening of her 2004 debut film, "Gegen die Wand" (released in the United States as "Head-On"). The film was screened at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, which was purchased and restored by Martin in 2013. Kekilli's visit with Martin was filmed by a Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) production crew for the Arte television show "Durch die Nacht," a documentary series that features two celebrities exploring a city together in each episode. Kekilli's episode, which was aired in Germany and France in March, shows her inviting Martin to her hometown of Hamburg, where she has lived for more than a decade.

Although Martin did not specify the "big event" in Hamburg, the website for the Harbourfront Literaturfestival is advertising that Martin will appear at the book festival on Sunday, June 21. About 3000 fans are expected to show up for a Q&A session which will be hosted by Denis Scheck. It will be Martin's first public appearance in Germany.

It's not certain when Martin will get a chance to hang out with Kekilli because the latter has been pretty busy this week. Filming for her latest episode of the Germany TV crime series "Tatort" started on June 15 and will continue through July 15, and Kekilli still took time off to attend the German Film Awards in Berlin on June 19. The new episode is titled, "Borowski und die große Stille," and it is expected to air some time in 2016.

German Film Awards 2015: Again, Sibel Kekilli looks stunning on the red carpet

Although two-time Lola Award winner Sibel Kekilli wasn't nominated this year, she nonetheless showed up for the 2015 German Film Awards on June 19 in a classy outfit. Her white floral top with a sheer white tea-length skirt was fairly typical for Kekilli, who has worn white at a number of red carpet events in recent years, include this year's Berlinale International Film Festival in February. White heeled sandals and a white clutch completed her outfit.

This year, the Lola Award for best actress went to Spanish actress Laia Costa for her portrayal of the title character in "Victoria," a drama about a runaway girl who gets caught up in a bank robbery perpetuated by three men she had just met. Also nominated were Nina Hoss for her role in "Phoenix," and Katharina Marie Schubert for her role in "Ein Geschenk der Götter." Kekilli's awards came in 2004 for her performance in "Gegen die Wand" (released in the United States as "Head-On"), and in 2010 for her performance in "Die Fremde" ("When We Leave"). 

Kekilli was already a star in Europe when she was cast as Shae in the HBO fantasy series "Game of Thrones" in 2010. Shae was the proud, feisty prostitute who entered into an exclusive relationship with Lord Tyrion Lannister, played by American actor Peter Dinklage. "Game of Thrones" creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss asked the Turkish-German actress to audition for the part after seeing her performance in "Gegen die Wand." Kekilli's audition inspired them to expand Shae's part beyond what was originally planned.

"Sibel brought such life and intelligence to the part," said Benioff. "Her intensity inspired us to make the character more complex." 

Currently, Kekilli has a starring role in the long-running German TV crime series "Tatort." An episode that aired in March featured a guest-starring appearance by Tom Wlaschiha, who plays Jaqen H'ghar in "Game of Thrones."