Çöl

Shot in colour on 35 mm and classed as an action picture with adventure and drama leanings, the Turkish film Çöl ("Desert") was directed by Çetin İnanç in 1983. It owes its reputation to the way its subject and several scenes echo the 1975 American thriller Jaws, which is why it is known around the world as "Turkish Jaws". Its listed genres also include "mockbuster", the label for productions made in the shadow of a popular foreign film.

Cüneyt Arkın, Emel Tümer and Salih Kırmızı head the cast. Arkın plays Kemal and Kırmızı plays Ali; Hüseyin Peyda is the Captain and Ali Demirel a police officer. Nejat Gürçen, Turgut Boralı, Baykal Kent, Feryal Feray, Murat İnanç, Osman Betin, Mehmet Uğur, İbrahim Kurt, Yılmaz Kurt, Sönmez Yıkılmaz, Oktar Durukan, Deniz Ünsal and Arap Celal complete the list. In the dubbing credits, Abdurrahman Palay voices Arkın, Gülen Kıpçak voices Tümer, Erhan Yazıcıoğlu voices Kırmızı and Timuçin Caymaz voices Peyda.

The screenplay was co-written by İnanç and Arkın, and Mehmet Karahafız produced. The film was made for Anıt Film and Tele Video, with dubbing and colourisation handled by Kunt Film. Sedat Ülker was the cinematographer, Necdet Tok the editor, Ahmet Gürkonak the production manager and Kunt Tulgar the sound recordist.