Shadow (Gölge) (translated)

Mehmet Güreli, who is also known as a musician and painter, made his first feature with the 2008 Turkish drama Gölge (Shadow). It adapts Peyami Safa's novel Selma ve Gölgesi about suicide, suspicion, jealousy, friendship and love, with elements of crime, film noir and psychological thriller. Nilgün Öneş wrote the screenplay; Güreli composed the music. Burak Yamanlıca and Tülin Soyarslan produced it.

The story unfolds under the shadow of a series of mysterious suicides. At its heart are a secretive woman quietly carrying out her plans and two close male friends who, softly and without noticing, turn into monsters bent on destroying each other. Görkem Yeltan plays Selma, and Memet Ali Alabora plays Şefik, the strategic man who knows more than anyone about the suicides. Kaan Çakır, Serkan Ercan, Ünal Silver and Alper Kul complete the cast.

It was shot in Istanbul and Venice by cinematographer Ahmet Sesigürgil. The film was first shown on April 15, 2008, at the 27th International Istanbul Film Festival and opened in cinemas on March 20, 2009. At the 15th Altın Koza Film Festival it won Best Supporting Actor for Serkan Ercan and Best Art Director for Selda Çiçek. Güreli said the team stayed as faithful as possible to the novel, and Alabora called it his first thriller.