Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
A weary prosecutor and his troubled brother join a grim search party across the Anatolian steppe, racing against night to locate a murder victim’s hidden body while their own buried secrets surface, threatening both the investigation and their fragile loyalties.
Synopsis
A group of men leads a search for the body of a murder victim, whose killing Kenan and his mentally challenged brother confessed to. However, the search proves more difficult than expected, as Kenan is uncertain about the body's location. As the group continues searching and the night stretches on, its members begin to converse about everyday life. The conversations gradually become more serious, revealing their deeper secrets and personal stories.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 37
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Nuri Bilge CeylanShot by Gokhan TiryakiDesigned by Cagri Erdogan
Box Office
2011 · Box office
Grossed $139K worldwide
Worldwide gross
$139K
Opening week (7-day): $3K
Peak 1 theaters
Also known as
- Es war einmal in Anatoliende
- Once Upon a Time in Anatoliade
- Once Upon a Time in Anatoliaen
- Érase una vez en Anatoliaes
- Il était une fois en Anatoliefr
- C'era una volta in Anatoliait
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Cast & Crew
37 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Muhammet Uzuner
as Doctor Cemal
Y Lmaz Erdogan
as Commissar Naci
Taner Birsel
as Prosecutor Nusret
Ahmet Mumtaz Taylan
as Driver Arab Ali
Firat Tanis
as Suspect Kenan
F Rat Tan S
as Kenan
Ercan Kesal
as Mukhtar
Erol Erarslan
as Murder Victim Yasar
Erol Eraslan
as Murder Victim Yaşar
Ugur Aslanoglu
as Courthouse Driver Tevfik
Burhan Y Ld Z
as Suspect Ramazan
Murat Kilic
as Police Officer Izzet
Supporting cast
17Murat K L C
as Police Officer İzzet
Safak Karali
as Courthouse Clerk Abidin
Emre Sen
as Sergeant Önder
Cansu Demirci
as Mukhtar's Daughter Cemile
Ugur Arslanoglu
as Courthouse Driver Tevfik
Nihan Okutucu
as Yaşar's Wife Gülnaz
Kubilay Tuncer
as Autopsy Technician Şakir
Salih Unal
as Hospital Cook Hamit
Aziz Izzet Bicici
as Restaurant Owner Kazım
Celal Acaralp
as Pharmacist Saim
Mehmet Eren Topcak
as Hamam Scrubber
Ufuk Karali
as Hospital Attendant Sıtkı
Fevzi Muftuoglu
as 1st Digger Hayrettin
Turgay Kurkcu
as 2nd Digger Ethem
Fatih Ereli
as Gülnaz's Son Adem
Huseyin Bekec
as 1st Soldier
Mehmet Ozturk
as 2nd Soldier
Directors
1Writers
3Producers
2Other crew
6Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
Official ratings
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for Once Upon a Time in Anatolia yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for Once Upon a Time in Anatolia yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on Once Upon a Time in Anatolia?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for Once Upon a Time in Anatolia yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on Once Upon a Time in AnatoliaNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…