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Shepherd Scar

Mood trailer

Stage: In development
Co-directors and Co-writers: Sholeh Zahraei & Kamil Saldun
Duration: 100 min
Genre: Fiction, Drama
Production Company: Filmblades Productions
Productions Country: Cyprus
Completion Year: 2026

Synopsis: Traditional hunter Ibrahim runs for the European Parliament to reunite his country Cyprus. His son’s hidden love and a returning friend with past secrets jeopardize his campaign. Ibrahim fights to avert scandals, unaware that his biggest battle is yet to come.

– Cyprus Film Days International Festival 2024, Dot on the Map **Selected project**

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The Hunt

Co-directors and Co-writers:: Sholeh Zahraei, Kamil Saldun
Cast: Ali Düşenkalkar, Erdoğan Kavaz, Andreas Orphanides, Barış Refikoğlu, Elmaziye Derviş, Yaşar Aydın Karaca, Harisson (dog)
Production: Out of Focus films – Marios Petrondas, Lupa Pictures – Sholeh Zahraei – Kamil Saldun
Co-producers: Deputy Ministry of Culture – Cyprus Film Advisory Committee, Accept – LGBTI Cyprus, Youth Board of Cyprus
Year: 2020
Genre: Drama
Duration: 21min
Cinematographer: Stephan Metzner
Editing: Mustafa Köroğlu, Kamil Saldun
Music: İnal Bilsel
Synopsis: The sudden discovery of his son’s secret turns Ibrahim’s traditional world upside down. Fraught with emotional conflict, he takes his son Ismail on a fateful trip.
About the film: Made up of actors and crew from Cyprus’ Turkish-speaking and Greek-speaking communities, it is the first fiction film on the divided island to take on homophobia, patriarchal values, and queer identity head-on.
– Raindance Film Festival 2021, England
– Izmir International Short Film Festival 2021, Turkey
– Sedicicorto Film Festival 2021, Italy **Audience Award**
– South London Film Festival 2021, England **Best International Short Award**
– International Short Film Festival of Cyprus, 2020 **Second Prize for Best Cypriot Short Film Award**
– Paphos International Film Festival, 2021, Cyprus **Audience Award**
– Queer Wave Cyprus LGBTIQ+ film festival, 2021, Cyprus
– FACE à FACE – Festival du Film LGBTI+ à Saint Etienne, 2021, France
– Wicked Queer – Boston’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival, 2022, USA
– Cork International Film Festival, 2022, Ireland
– International Queer Film Festival Merlinka, Belgrade, Serbia, 2022 **Best Short Film Award**
– Beijing Queer Film Festival, 2023, China

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From Heaven (Experimental Short, 1min, 2016)

Written and directed by: Sholeh Zahraei
Production: Lupa Pictures
Year: 2014
Genre: Drama
Duration: 1min
Editing: Kamil Saldun

About the film: A video art about the abandoned Nicosia International Airport, based on the events of 1974 in Cyprus and their aftermath.

– Encounters Film Festival 2019, England
– Midnight Sun Film Festival 2016, Finland
– Cartoon Club 2016, Italy
– Countryside Animafest Cyprus 2016, Cyprus

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Celluloid Me (Experimental Short, 3 min, 2014)

Written and directed by: Sholeh Zahrae
Production: Lupa Pictures
Year: 2014
Genre: Drama
Duration: 3min
Editing & VFX: Wshyar Mustafa Mohamed

About the film: The urge to leave the human body. Abandoning a body and transforming into another. The desire to become one with water, nature and celluloid. An experimental self-portrait.

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Letters to Cyprus (Short Film, 22 min, 2014)

Synopsis: Year 2016 – Cyprus has come to peace and is reunited. A Cypriot woman returns back to her home that she was forced to leave alongside her belongings, due to the war in 1974. 42 years of waiting for peace are over now… This film is based on original letters from 1974 that were sent from UK to Cyprus in the occasion of a pen-friendship between a young British girl and a Cypriot girl.

About the film: This film is based on letters that belong to Kamil’s mom. She used to have a pen friendship with a British girl called Ann before the war in Cyprus in 1974. You might remember that in the past many people had pen pals/friendships. We found these letters in his mother’s room when moving houses. They took us on a time travel to the past… it was very touching to hold a piece of history in our hands… and we got inspired to do this film. We made this film in 2014 with the hope that Cyprus would be reunited again in 2016. So it was futuristic back then…and we are still waiting… Shot in the open areas of Varosha in 2014.

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The Olive Tree at the Border (Short Film, 6 min, 2014)

Synopsis: A multi-layered short film about the unique nature in Cyprus, the division in Cyprus and a man who goes beyond borders. Dedicated to Mother Nature and peace.

– Green Peace Action Group Film Festival, 2014, Nicosia **Best Short Film**
– International Family Films Festival Ankara, 2015, Turkey
– Amucine Short Film Competition 2015, Santo Domingo/Dominican Republic
– 8º Festival Internacional Cine en el Campo, 2015, Mexico
– Climate Change International Film Festival Portland, Oregon, USA, 2015 **Winner Best Film Acting, Honorable Mention Advocacy, Honorable Mention Best In Festival, Honorable Mention Hope, Honorable Mention Music**
– Kolkata International Wildlife & Environment Film Festival, India, 2015, India, Inaugural film, **Best Director Award**
– International Green Culture Festival GREEN FEST Belgrade, 2015, Serbia
-Paphos International Short Film Festival, Cyprus, 2016 **Best Short Film Audience Award**
– Boston Turkish Festival Documentary & Short Film Competition, 2016, Boston, United States

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Neighbor/Gomşu (Short Film, 5 min, 2013)

Synopsis: In post-war Cyprus, every day, Şenay knocks on the door of her beloved neighbor, Elena, longing for her company.

About the film:  The short film Gomşu (Neighbor) touches upon the psychological aftermath of war and the longing for peace. Filmed in Varosha in 2013, at an abandoned house marked by past conflict, the house itself represents the trauma and loss felt by displaced Cypriots (Greek- speaking, Turkish-speaking, Maronite, Armenian, and Latin Cypriots). Gomşu explores this collective loss, passed through generations while highlighting shared memories, emotions, and the ongoing hope for reconciliation. In Cyprus and Palestine (and eventually in some other countries), a custom emerged long before the days of phones and text messaging. It remains mostly practiced by the older generation of Cypriots: When visitors found no one at home, they would cut a small branch or flower from the garden or the nearby area and place it on the door. This gesture was a way to let the homeowners know they had a visitor in their absence. Certain flowers, or the way they were arranged, acted as signatures for specific people. This was a personal and vital form of communication, but with today’s technology, it is slowly fading away. Yet, it has been carried and practiced by many Cypriots abroad. Shot on location in Famagusta, Cyprus, at an unchanged original setting.

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Granny’s Garden (Short Film, 6 min, 2012)

Synopsis: A young man in his final hour has flashbacks to his granny’s garden, where there was life, love, nature, and hope. These are the last moments of a man and his parallel journey to his childhood.

-Aydin Doğan Competition for Young Communication Majors, Istanbul, Turkey **Grand Jury Prize**
-32nd Istanbul Film Festival, Istanbul
-Tirana Film Festival, 2016, Albania

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