The Cemil Show

When he auditions for the remake of a classic Turkish film, Cemil is rejected almost immediately. He returns to his job as a security guard at a large shopping mall, where he finds out that his colleague is the daughter of veteran actor Turgay Göral, who once played Cemil’s dream part. When Göral dies an ignominious death, Cemil promptly immerses himself in his life’s work. In the meantime, the mild-mannered protagonist is taunted and humiliated from all sides to such an extent that he increasingly withdraws into Göral’s acclaimed villainous role.

This slightly absurd, darkly comic drama makes use of various film formats. ‘Archival footage’ of grainy classic Turkish black-and-white films, shot by director Bariş Sarhan, is interspersed with Cemil’s tormented life in the present. The stylish shots and characteristic, often brightly coloured, locations betray the fact that director Bariş Sarhan also works as an art director and maker of commercials. In 2015 he made a short with the same title and largely the same cast, in which security guard Cemil does his utmost – in vain – to become employee of the month.