World Premiere
Yakup, a Turkish music teacher seeking political asylum in New York, is trying to keep his head above water as he navigates the US immigration system. Working illegally in a restaurant kitchen with a lively group of fellow immigrants, he is laser focused on laying the groundwork to bring his wife and daughter abroad. In a desperate attempt to expedite the process, he seeks help from a group of shady fellow countrymen who resort to risky methods to get people out of Turkey. But things quickly go sideways and chances to reunite with his loved ones deteriorate by the minute.
In their emotionally astute and confident turn behind the camera, accomplished actor Nadir Saribacak (known for his memorable lead role in Winter Sleep, winner of the 2014 Cannes Palme d’Or) and editor Samy Pioneer craft a deeply moving character study that blends European social realism and American indie traditions. This is a raw and timely record of the profound distress of displacement.
Oct 3 & 5: Q&A
Media Partner
Community Partner
Nadir Sarıbacak, Salem Hadeed, Faysal Ahmed, Abraham Taylor, Ayhan Hulagu, Ziad Alezabi
USA/Turkey
2025
In Turkish and English with English subtitles
Coarse language, violence
Open to youth!
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Ömer Faruk Gündüz
Producer
Mehmet Tözün, Kenan Baysal, Ender Zirekoğlu
Screenwriter
Nadir Sarıbacak, Ayhan Hülagü
Cinematography
Lasse Ulvedal Tolbøll
Editor
Samy Pioneer (Selman)
Production Design
Lorenza Astengo Fefer
Original Music
Ichika Kanagawa
Nadir Saribacak
Nadir Sarıbacak is an acclaimed Turkish actor and filmmaker based in New Jersey. His work includes landmark Turkish cinema and television titles such as Winter Sleep (Palme d’Or, Cannes 2014), Ivy (Sundance 2015), Magnificent Century: Kosem, and Leylak (Special Jury Mention, Tribeca 2021). He has earned multiple Best Actor awards from the Antalya Golden Orange and Istanbul Film Festival. Known for his layered, deeply human portrayals, Sarıbacak now brings that emotional precision to Gazelle, his directorial debut.
Samy Pioneer (Selman)
Samy Pioneer (Selman) is a Turkish filmmaker based in Los Angeles who focuses on amplifying marginalized voices. He started his career in television editing before directing commercials for major brands. Known for crafting visually striking and emotionally resonant stories, he makes his feature directorial debut with Gazelle, continuing his commitment to socially conscious storytelling and cinema’s power to inspire empathy and dialogue.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Executioner
Regularly cited as the greatest Spanish film ever made, Berlanga's masterpiece is a pitch black comedy about an undertaker lined up by the state executioner to marry his beautiful daughter -- but he'll also have to inherit the old man's job.
8
The always stylish, idiosyncratic Basque auteur Julio Medem is back with one of his most ambitious films (and our closing night gala), a sweeping historical romance in eight chapters, spanning eight decades in Spanish history from the 1930s to the present day.
The Plague
At a water polo camp, Ben is plunged into the deep end of toxic peer pressure. Terrified of incurring his campmates’ wrath, he joins them in tormenting a kid whose skin rash has been branded “the plague”. But then he experiences a breakout of his own...
Yunan
In this haunting mood piece, Munir is a middle-aged Syrian writer in exile in Germany. In crisis, he takes himself up to one of the Halligan islands in the North Sea, a suitable place to end it all...
