EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has an exclusive new trailer for Hesitation Wound, the sophomore feature from Turkish writer-director Selman Nacar (Between Two Dawns), which is set to world premiere in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival on Monday, September 4th.
Representing the film’s worldwide rights there is Magnolia Pictures International, which is coming off a successful Cannes launch and Mubi sale for Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents.
The winner of the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival’s WIP Europe Industry Award, Hesitation Wound is a morality tale that tells the story of Canan (Tülin Özen), a criminal lawyer who divides her time between the courthouse in the mornings and her mother’s hospital bed at night. On the day of the sentencing hearing for a murder suspect whom Canan is defending, she must make a moral choice that will affect the lives of her mother, the judge, and the defendant.
Also starring Oğulcan Arman Uslu, Gülçin Kültür Şahin, Vedat Erincin and Erdem Şenocak, the film is produced by Burak Çevik and Diloy Gülün, as well as Nacar. It was inspired by a fascination with concepts of crime, justice and morality that Nacar had carried with him ever since his “student years” at Istanbul University’s Faculty of Law. “Hesitation Wound is a film that covers less than 24 hours, forms around a hearing, and focuses on Canan’s moral preferences, which affect her personal and professional life,” said Nacar in his director’s statement. “Even though I preferred to shoot the film from the subjective perspective of Canan, my focus is not on the outcome of her choices but on the consequences of her process.”
Set for two September 3rd P&I screenings at Venice — timed for 7:30 p.m. CET at Sala Casinò and 10:00pm CET at Sala Pasinetti — Hesitation Wound will officially world premiere at 2:15pm CET on the 4th at Sala Darsena, also enjoying a public screening at 1:15pm CET on the 5th at PalaBiennale.