Hesitation Wound (2023) + Q&A w/ dir. Selman Nacar
Schedule
Fri, 21 Nov, 2025 at 07:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University | Durham, NC
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"Hesitation Wound"(Selman Nacar, 2023, 84 min, Turkey, Turkish with English subtitles, DCP)
--Q&A to follow with filmmaker Selman Nacar, moderated by Prof. Didem Havlioğlu (AMES / Coordinator, Duke Turkish Program)
One tense day in the life of a Turkish criminal defense attorney (Tülin Özen) as she wrestles with legal and ethical questions in defending a factory worker accused of murder while also keeping her hospitalized mother on life support. A Dostoyevskian thriller laced with moral anguish, "Hesitation Wound" places writer-director Selman Nacar in the company of his compatriot Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
"Nacar crafts a taut and terse narrative that blends the unexpected twists and turns and engaging rhetoric of the legal trial with the suspense and intrigue of an investigative thriller." - New Indian Express
"A truly enticing and welcoming sub-90-minute treat. Between the social commentary, depth of composition and subtlety of performance, Nacar finds the distinctly delicious sweet spot." - IndieWire
"This intimate character study keeps a tight focus on its protagonist, yet also takes in wider issues of insidious corruption and the seeming impossibility of genuine justice." - Screen International
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About the Filmmaker:
Selman Nacar is a filmmaker, with an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University in New York City. He gave lectures on fictional filmmaking at the same university. He graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law in 2015 and from the Faculty of Film in 2016. Nacar is the founder of Kuyu Film, a production company that has produced the films "The Pillar of Salt" (2018), "Belonging" (2019), and "Forms of Forgetting" (2023), all of which have premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Nacar's debut "Between Two Dawns" premiered at the 69th San Sebastian Film Festival and received many awards, including the Best Film Award at the 39th Torino Film Festival. Nacar's second film premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival, and received many awards, including the Best Film Award at the 19th Zurich Film Festival, Best Screenplay Award at APSA also known as Asian Oscars. He is the writer & director of the Netflix Original Series "Istanbul Encyclopedia", which was released in 2025.
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Sponsored by the Duke Turkish Program, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (AMES), Cinematic Arts, Critical Asian and Middle Eastern Humanities (CAMEH), Duke University Middle East Studies Center (DUMESC), Provost's Initiative on the Middle East (PIME).
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Event URL: https://cinematicarts.duke.edu/screensociety/screenings/hesitation-wound-2023-qa-w-dir-selman-nacar
View Trailer:
Screen/Society screenings are free and open to the public.
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https://cinematicarts.duke.edu/covid-19-information
Parking Info: https://artscenter.duke.edu/parking
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Where is it happening?
Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University, 2022 Campus Dr, Durham, NC 27708-9940, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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