KABUK
24’
Iran, Romania, Turkey
Fiction, Drama
A film by Hakan Ünal & Hamed Soleimanzadeh
synopsis
Zeynep, an idealist painter in her forties who has never married, cares for her ailing mother in a stifling apartment. Trapped between duty and repression, her carefully constructed shell begins to crack, exposing desires and fears she can no longer contain.
director’s notes
In The Shell, we wanted to explore the fragile line between Zeynep’s life inside the shell where she feels trapped and suffocated — and the possibility of freedom outside it. For us, the shell is both protection and prison. It is the silence she hides behind, but also the barrier that keeps her from living fully. We were drawn to the subtle moments where this shell begins to crack: in gestures, in pauses, in the quiet eruption of emotions that cannot be contained. Through Zeynep, we wanted to reveal a woman’s unseen struggle to step beyond the walls she has built around herself.
credits
Hakan Ünal, Hamed Soleimanzadeh
directors
Hakan Ünal
writer, producer
Aksel Dönmez
assistant director
Metamorfoz Film
produced by
Fevziye Yıldırım, Aksel Dönmez
co-producers
Hamed Hosseini Sangari
dop
Harun Baysan, Behnam Abedi
editors
Elem Tilev
art director, costume designer
Alice Cora, Aysan Sümercan, Armanç Toktaş, M. Çağatay Keser
with
Elay İnce
make-up
Sara Nasrabadi
sound recordings
Fırat Bayram
boom operator
Akın Ağraş
dit
Mahdi Zamani, Harun Baysan
sound design
Gioia Film
festival distribution
Amir Mohabbati
focus puller
Cemalettin Gücük
camera technical supervisor
Farhad Rostami
gaffer
Helin Takar
clapper
Navid Abdi
best boy
FESTIVAL SELECTIONS AND AWARDS
✷ 27. Izmir International Short Film Festival (Oscar® qualifying) | World Premiere - 2026
bio
Hamed Soleimanzadeh is an Iranian film critic, film philosopher, filmmaker, and lecturer at the University of Göttingen in Germany and the DAM Academy in Rome, Italy. He holds a Ph.D. in Art Research with a focus on Film Studies and a postdoctoral qualification in Film and Philosophy from the University of the Arts in Berlin (UdK). His career includes serving as a jury member at more than thirty prestigious film festivals and events worldwide, such as the Golden Globes Award, Cannes, Berlinale, Karlovy Vary, Warsaw, Istanbul, ZagrebDox, Oberhausen, and Gothenburg. He is also the founder and director of the Abbas Kiarostami International Short Film Festival and a programmer for the Cinehill (Motovun) Film Festival in Croatia. Soleimanzadeh has directed over seven short films and authored several books and hundreds of articles on cinema, theater, philosophy, culture, media, and more. He is a permanent member of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).
bio
Born in 1977 in Manisa, Turkey, Hakan Ünal studied English Literature at Eastern Mediterranean University and completed a Master’s in Screenwriting and Creative Drama in Toronto. He began with short stories before turning to film. His debut short Orange (2015) won awards internationally; Crack in the Wall (2017) earned Best Screenplay at Golden Aphrodite. His feature scripts have been repeatedly shortlisted, including Metamorphosis (TIFF Filmmaker Lab shortlist) and Rabbit Still Hiding (finalist at Oaxaca and Drama Pitching Forum). The Shell (2020) and Purgatorio (2023–25) received major awards at Rhode Island and Garden State. His latest feature, Hidden (2025), won Stafford Film Festival, was selected for the Bahamas IFF, and advanced at Sundance. He was selected for Reykjavik Talents (2018 & 2020) and the Nostos Screenwriting Retreat (2025).
filmography
Hakan Ünal:
✷ THE SHELL
(2026)
ALLEGORIA
(2020)
CRACK IN THE WALL
(2017)
ORANGE
(2015)
Hamed Soleimanzadeh:
✷ THE SHELL
(2026)
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE?
(2022)
FROM PARIS TO ROME
(2015)
A SINGLE TREE
(2014)
A PUBLIC PHONE
(2012)