Turkish actor and filmmaker Nadir Sarıbacak, who has lived in exile in the US since a failed coup in Turkey in 2016, said he is preparing for a US theater tour after the festival run of his first feature film, a drama rooted in immigrant loneliness and trauma, Turkish Minute reported.
Sarıbacak said in a YouTube interview with journalist Metin Yıkar that he will return to the stage with a one-man adaptation of 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground,” with the first performances scheduled for June 26 and 27 in New Jersey before a wider US tour. He said the play would mark his first major stage performance in 10 years.
The actor, renowned in Turkey for roles in films including “Winter Sleep” and “Ivy,” said the first years after he settled in the US were not just a period of adaptation but a struggle to find meaning and survive. He said there were days when he sat on sidewalks and cried, describing part of his early life in the US as a trauma he is now ready to face through art.
Sarıbacak’s comments came as his debut feature, “Gazelle,” continues to attract attention on the festival circuit. The film follows a Turkish immigrant in New York who is separated from his family and struggles to bring them to the US, a story that reflects the emotional cost of exile, displacement and starting over in a new country.
Sarıbacak co-directed “Gazelle” with Samy Pioneer and co-wrote it with Ayhan Hülagü. The movie had its world premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2025, where it won the Vanguard Audience Award, and was later screened at the Chicago International Film Festival.
In the interview Sarıbacak said the film had reached the shortlist stage for major festivals including Berlin, Venice and Sundance, adding that the recognition gave him courage to continue making movies. He also said he is writing a second film.
The actor has previously said he went to the US in 2016 with his wife and children for a vacation, shortly before the failed coup in Turkey triggered a government crackdown that led to mass arrests, dismissals and blacklisting across public life and the arts. He has said he later learned he had been blacklisted after an award speech in which he voiced concern about Turkey and expressed solidarity with jailed journalists.
Sarıbacak said his time in the US had changed his view of art, freedom and survival. He said freedom mattered more than art in the early years because without it, he could not build a life or continue his work.
He also said Turkish acting training gave him a foundation that could travel with him, arguing that actors from Turkey should not see the US only as a place to receive training but also as a place where they can teach and contribute.
