Hidden Faces (Saklı Yüzler) (translated)

Saklı Yüzler (Hidden Faces) is a 2007 Turkish drama written and directed by Handan İpekçi, who had previously drawn attention with Büyük Adam Küçük Aşk. Released in Turkish cinemas on 23 November 2007 and running roughly 127 minutes, the film took İpekçi years to complete because of financial difficulties, and it continues her line of socially engaged filmmaking by confronting the reality of so-called honor killings.

The story unfolds in a small Anatolian village where customs and tradition rule everyday life. Zühre, a young woman of the village, could not marry the man she loves because his family was unable to raise the bride price, and she becomes pregnant by him. When this is discovered, the village elders convene and decree that she must be killed together with her baby after giving birth, leaving the men of her own household — her father and her brother — to carry out the sentence.

Unable to bring himself to kill his daughter, the father takes his own life, while Zühre, helped by the local prosecutor, is made to appear dead and starts a new life under another identity. The cast features Füsun Demirel, Şenay Aydın, Muhammed Cangören, Berk Hakman, Açelya Akkoyun, Necmettin Çobanoğlu and İştar Gökseven.