Director: Cengiz Özkarabekir
Paranoya is a 2024 Turkish film that blends drama and comedy to follow one man's unsettled state of mind after a long separation from the world he knew. Directed by Cengiz Özkarabekir, it runs 118 minutes and centers on a character named Muntazam.
What is Paranoya about?
Muntazam is a journalist whose life takes a sharp turn during his university years, when a poem he writes leads to a prison sentence. The years behind bars reshape his sense of time, trust, and self. A defining moment arrives when he is unable to leave prison to attend his father's funeral, an absence that settles into him and does not fade. Once he returns to ordinary life, the habits of confinement follow him home. Everyday encounters carry a weight they did not before, and he begins to read hidden meaning into small gestures, overheard remarks, and the routines of the people around him. The film tracks how a mind conditioned by years of watchfulness tries to readjust to freedom, moving between tense, inward moments and lighter, almost absurd ones. Rather than dwelling on the circumstances of his imprisonment, the story stays close to Muntazam as he tests whether the world outside can be trusted again.
Cast & crew
The cast is led by Onur Buldu in the central role of Muntazam, with Ege Kökenli, Bülent Şakrak, Cihat Tamer, Ebru Şam, Yağmur Ün, Füsun Demirel, and Ayşen İnci filling out the figures who move through his life before, during, and after his confinement. The ensemble pairs comic timing with quieter dramatic beats, matching the film's shifts in tone.
Context & significance
Paranoya was produced in Turkey and released in 2024, presented in Turkish. It belongs to a strand of Turkish cinema that sets social observation alongside dark comedy. The 118-minute feature is Cengiz Özkarabekir's work as director, and its title points directly at the psychological thread running through the story: the way a long stretch of isolation can leave a person doubting the ordinary world even after returning to it. For viewers in the Iranian diaspora who follow regional cinema beyond Iran's borders, it offers a window into contemporary Turkish filmmaking and the comic undercurrent that so often runs through its dramas.
Where & how to watch
Paranoya is available to stream on K-Time. This page is free to read without signing in; to start watching, log in with a K-Time account. K-Time is built for the Iranian diaspora, with a Farsi-friendly interface that keeps browsing and playback simple across the devices people use at home.