Rootless (Köksüz) (translated)

Deniz Akçay's first feature, Köksüz (Rootless), is an 81-minute Turkish drama completed in 2013. It follows four people who cannot become a family again after a loss and drift apart. The director describes it as the story of people who cannot find a role of their own and clumsily carry the ones others assign them. It opened on 14 March 2014 through M3 Film.

Nurcan is left alone with three children after her husband dies. Her elder daughter Feride has to take the father's place at home, and Nurcan, in need of support, places the whole burden on her, almost as if she were a husband. İlker, seventeen and devoted to his late father, reacts to his sister taking charge by quickly pulling away. The youngest, Özge, a teenager who can reach neither mother nor sister, is forgotten and keeps trying to be noticed. When Feride, worn down by the load, takes Gülağa's marriage proposal as a way out, the balance of the household changes.

Lale Başar plays Nurcan, Ahu Türkpençe is Feride, Sekvan Serinkaya is Gülağa, Savaş Alp Başar is İlker, Melis Ebeler is Özge and Mihriban Er is Gülten. Ahmet Bayer and Deniz Tortum shot it, Ruşen Dağhan edited, Haluk Ünlü was art director and Mukadder Özal designed the costumes.