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At the start of Turkish auteur Zeki Demirkubuz’s long-awaited and frustratingly miscalculated “Life” — the filmmaker’s first movie in seven years, now serving as Turkey’s international feature submission to the Academy Awards —a young woman named Hicran flees the claws of an impending arranged marriage and goes into hiding.

We learn as much, not from Hicran at first, but from the men in her orbit, as the likes of her embarrassed dad and distraught former fiancé drop Hicran’s name in conversations and ponder the circumstances surrounding her mysterious flight. Quickly, it feels pointed to keep hearing the word “Hicran,” a common-enough female name in Turkey (where this critic is from) that roughly translates as “longing,” or rather, the intense pain one feels out of longing. That’s because it’s anything but an accidental name choice here, as everyone in “Life” seems to be yearning for something or someone.

At Turkey’s oldest zoo, a lonely manager and a withdrawn female officer form an unlikely bond: as they hide the death of the zoo’s oldest inhabitant, an Anatolian leopard.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

The critically-acclaimed, wickedly clever comedy, which wowed audiences at TIFF and won the festival’s coveted Fipresci Jury Award, arrives in U.S. cinemas next Friday, November 4th.

The feature debut of acclaimed short filmmaker Emre Kayiş, the picture stars Uğur Polat, İpek Türktan, Tansu Bi ̇çer, Ege Aydan, Nuri Gökaşan, Osman Alkaş, and Seyithan Özdemir.

Today the first wave of titles playing at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival were announced and while the majority of the titles are new to me the names in front of the camera most certainly are not as you'll see the likes of Michael Fassbender, Nicole Kidman, Saoirse Ronan, Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Jack Black, James Marsden, Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, Jemaine Clement, Sarah Silverman, Toni Collette, Vincent Cassell and many, many more among the titles featured. I have collected several photos from many of the films playing the festival, which will take place from January 22 - February 1 in Utah next year. Today's selection includes the U.S. Dramatic Competition, U.S. Documentary Competition, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition and Next program. I'll be adding a few more pictures soon enough, but for now, have a look and see what stands out.