Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da)

Nuri Bilge Ceylan wrote and directed the 2011 crime drama Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. A Turkish-Bosnian co-production, it follows a prosecutor and a doctor through twelve tense hours of a murder investigation. Ceylan returns here to the troubled provinces, this time with the tension of a murder story.

Police led by Commissioner Naci, with Prosecutor Nusret and Dr. Cemal, spend the night on the Anatolian steppe with Kenan, a suspect who confessed to the killing but cannot recall exactly where the body lies. As the drive drags on, the men's everyday talk, from recipes to bureaucracy, opens onto questions of guilt, punishment and death. Muhammet Uzuner, Yılmaz Erdoğan and Taner Birsel share the lead roles, with Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan and Ercan Kesal.

Ceylan wrote the script with Ebru Ceylan and Ercan Kesal, drawing on a real experience of one of the writers; the eleven-week shoot took place in Keskin, Kırıkkale. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and shared the Grand Prix with the Dardenne brothers' Le Gamin au vélo. It opened in Türkiye on September 23, 2011, and was Türkiye's Oscar submission. A 2016 BBC critics' poll ranked it 54th among the 21st century's best films, the only Turkish film.