The “critically-acclaimed, wickedly clever comedy” Turkish film Anatolian Leopard arrives in U.S. cinemas on Friday, November 4th, 2022.

The film, the feature debut of acclaimed short filmmaker Emre Kayiş, premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.

Anatolian Leopard stars Uğur Polat as Fikret, the director of a failing zoo in Ankara who must conspire with his assistant Gamze (Ipek Türktan) to hide the fact that the zoo’s Anatolian leopard has died, as the animal’s protected status is the only thing preventing the zoo from being shut down and sold off to real estate developers to build a new amusement park

Also starring in the film are İpek Türktan, Tansu Bi ̇çer, Ege Aydan, Nuri Gökaşan, Osman Alkaş, and Seyithan Özdemir.

At Turkey’s oldest zoo, a lonely manager and a withdrawn female officer form an unlikely bond: as they hide the death of the zoo’s oldest inhabitant, an Anatolian leopard.

In order to stop the privatization process and fake its escape, they set in motion an absurd charade that spins out of control.

In Turkey’s grey and quiet capital, the ghost of this leopard will persist.

Watch a trailer for Anatolian Leopard.