Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) – Filming Locations
Drama / Crime · Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan · Starring Muhammet Uzuner
A group of men lead a search for a victim of a murder to whom a suspect named Kenan and his mentally challenged brother confessed. However, the search is proving more difficult than expected as Kenan is fuzzy as to the body's location. As the group continues looking and the night begins dragging on, its members can't help but chat with each other about everyday life, as the conversations turn more and more serious, revealing their deeper secrets and profound stories.
Where was Once Upon a Time in Anatolia filmed?
- Cappadocia, Turkey, Cappadocia – The entire film's nocturnal search and journey through the region's distinctive landscape. The film's entire narrative unfolds across Cappadocia's otherworldly terrain of fairy chimneys and rock formations, which becomes a character itself in Ceylan's meditative exploration of mortality and human connection
- Uçhisar, Turkey, Uçhisar – The climactic discovery and excavation sequence at dawn. The ancient castle and surrounding landscape serve as the final location where the buried body is found, providing a sense of historical continuity and inevitability to the film's meditation on death
- Göreme, Turkey, Göreme – Extended night sequences of the police convoy traveling through moonlit valleys and stone formations. The cinematically dramatic valley landscape with its distinctive rock formations provides the primary visual backdrop for the film's nocturnal journey and philosophical conversations