Virtually unknown in the United States, Ömer Kavur is Turkey’s most celebrated contemporary filmmaker. Born in 1944, raised in Istanbul, and educated in Paris at the Cinémathèque Française (on Pabst, Lang, and especially Antonioni), Kavur has made documentaries, television commercials, and—beginning in 1974—twelve feature films. Time and mystery are at the heart of all these works, for although Kavur renders the world itself in precise and realistic terms, by the end of each film we are left with enigmas, secrets, and unanswered questions about the nature of reality and illusion and the motivations behind his characters’ choices. Most importantly, we are left in the presence of ultimate questions about the human condition.