An incident at a state school in Anatolia thwarts a teacher's dream of escaping his bleak life in a remote Turkish region.
Samet, a teacher at a state school in a remote province, is very candidly bored with everything and longs for a posting to Istanbul. He has a favourite pupil: Sevim, a 14-year-old with whom he exchanges flirtatious banter and sometimes puts his arm round her shoulders. When a love letter addressed to Samet is found in Sevim’s exercise book by a member of staff, Samet is coldly embarrassed: his warm affection for her is replaced by a wary sense that this is going to get him into trouble. He almost loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. Will his encounter with Nuray, herself a teacher, help him overcome his angst?
festivals, awards Cannes 2023 (Best Actress), Karlovy Vary 2023