Turkish Cinema Watchlist

Mehmet, a young Turkish man newly migrated from the village Tire, takes a job searching for water leaks below the surface of the streets of Istanbul. Due to a strange set of events, he is mistaken for a Kurd, imprisoned, and brutally beaten.

Serap is a quite but hot-headed adolescent who is working long hours in a cramped clothing workshop as a runner. Fed up with her abusive brother-in-law and detached sister; the only thing that keeps Serap going is the hope of moving into an apartment with her father who is a long distance truck driver.

A reckless electrician, who is struggling with debt, decides to kill his wife and use her savings as a way out. His plan takes an unexpected twist when his loving wife, comes back from the dead to be with her family.

Basri, a widower little out of retirement, walks every day along the railroad tracks to check the status. Aside from his work, his only thought is to have news of his son, who's been missing for many years, after he was arrested during student demonstrations in Istanbul.

A man's life, thoughts, feelings and his very own darkness... Adapted from Dostoevsky's novel "Notes from Undergroud", Demirkubuz follows Muharrem as he gets himself invited to a party where he is not welcome, just to find himself disgusted.

Bekir loves Ugur, who loves Zagor, who is about to get out of jail. An already tense love triangle is thrown into turmoil on a hot summer night, when Zagor kills someone, and Ugur disappears.

Musa, who works as a bookkeeper in the customs office, believes in the emptiness and absurdity of life. He doesn't struggle to change his life; he lets himself flow along with events because he thinks that it all leads to the same end. The death of his mother doesn't affect him. Although he loves her, her death makes him joyful.

Having reached their 40s Handan and Korhan live a humdrum life in an upper scale neighborhood in Istanbul. Handan tries to keep herself occupied, relentlessly trying on new pastimes, counting on Korhan's support for each one. Korhan, on the other hand, having witnessed too many of her whims, has learned not to make much of them.

A middle-class Turkish couple is far from willing to admit they used adoption as a last resort to build a family, and will do anything to keep it a secret.

The difficulties experienced by five prisoners who took a weeks leave from prison.

Because of a local blood feud, a peasant family in eastern Turkey decides to sell its sheep in far away Ankara.

The lives of three homicide detectives are turned upside-down during a murder investigation.

Zer is a young man's journey into his roots, an exploration of a song originated in a village removed from history.

This is the story of Cevher and his family, who all work in cotton fields in late seventies in Turkey. Cevher has to pay blood money to save his life. He even considers getting his daughter married to a rich and old guy. And on the cotton fields, they have to compete with machines, which are preferred to human workers. Eventually, workers unite and go on strike.

After Serap, the theatre actress, acts in an advertisement, she loses her identity and become a housewife with two children. The movie is about dilemma of Serap and Naciye.

A News Channel employee Hasret, has been seeing the same nightmare for some time. Through recurring nightmares, a question creeps into her mind: Is it possible that her parents were not killed in a traffic accident twenty years ago but have died in some other, horrific way?

Set against the backdrop of construction activity promising to fill in the empty spaces of the urban landscape with entirely new neighborhoods, a story unfolds of an aging construction worker who, unlike his peers, has to drop all plans for the future after being diagnosed with a malignant tumor.

"Cold of Kalandar" pictures within a unique pastoral atmosphere the realist, passionate and emotional story of Mehmet and his family living far from modern life, in a mountain village.

The lonely proprietor of a small hotel in a provincial Turkish town develops a passion for a departed guest and the reality of routine everyday-life starts crumbling into pieces.

In 17th century Istanbul, a renowned miniature artist is forcefully brought to a vizier's mansion, where he becomes entangled in political intrigue involving a rebellious Ottoman prince.

Isa is beaten up after being accused of stealing $50. When his landlord demands the back rent, Isa gets angry and shoots him. The police round up the tenants, but are not suspicious of him. Back in his room, Isa collapses and is helped by his pretty neighbor Meryem, who also pays the $50 when the thugs return.

Baris, a 5 year-old little boy, has to stay in a prison with her mother during her detention period. Baris develops a special relationship with Inci, a young woman who also stays in prison. She promises him that the kite will fly someday.

The pain of growing up, as seen by three Turkish youths: Ömer, the son of the local imam, who wishes the death of his father; his best friend, Yakup, who's enamored with the village schoolteacher; and Yildiz, who is forced to balance her studies with the needs of her demanding mother.

A strange man with otherworldly talents becomes both a friend and a pariah in a small Turkish town in this drama from writer and director Reha Erdem. Yahya is nearly in a panic when his young son falls into the river on a wintry day and looks lifeless when he's pulled from the water.

Five interconnected stories set in modern-day Istanbul based on the fairy tales Snow White, Cinderella, Pied Piper, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood.