happiness
Firat Yücel • Netherlands, Turkey • 2025 • 18 min. • HD
SYNOPSIS
An urgent desktop diary made at the intersection of a hectic digital landscape and the inner violence of modern colonization.
The film chronicles the sleepless nights of a group of activists, eyes fixed on screens as they follow the news from Palestine and across the region. In Amsterdam, far from their home countries, police violence and the threat of deportation glue them to digital interfaces night after night.
Engaging with anti-colonial resistance across screens and streets, “happiness” is a humble reminder to keep searching for solutions.
TRAILER
+ Info: Imageacts
AWARDS
Best Glocal Film Award
NeMaf Seoul International ALT Cinema & Media Arts Festival. South Korea (2025)
Best International Short Film Award
Adana Golden Boll Film Festival. Turkey (2025)
Best Short Film Award
Terraviva Film Festival. Italy (2025)
FESTIVALS & ALTERNATIVE SCREENINGS
Visions du Réel International Documentary Film Festival | Medium Length & Short Film Competition. Switzerland (2025)
Ayvalık International Film Festival. Turkey (2025)
BIEFF Bucharest Int. Experimental Film Festival. Romania (2025)
INTERSECCIÓN International Film Festival. Spain (2025)
Vancouver International Film Festival. Canada (2025)
DokumentArt films & future. Germany (2025)
Middle East Now Festival. Italy (2025)
Kaohsiung Film Festival. Taiwan (2025)
BFI London Film Festival. UK (2025)
DOXS RUHR. Germany (2025)
Uppsala International Short Film Festival. Sweden (2025)
Izmir International Short Film Festival. Turkey (2025)
PARISCIENCE International Science Film Festival. France (2025)
INTERFILM International Short Film Festival. Germany (2025)
BISFF Beijing International Short Film Festival. China (2025)
IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Netherlands (2025)
Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival. Germany (2025)
Doha Film Festival. Qatar (2025)
Which Human Rights? Film Festival. Turkey (2025)
Vilnius International Short Film Festival. Lithuania (2026)
Internationale Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg. Germany (2026)
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Greece (2026)
Movies that Matter Festival + MTM On Tour Program. Netherlands (2026)
DOC.Coimbra International Film Festival. Portugal (2026)
PRESS
Sight & Sound Magazine
"Poignant look at overpowering nature of consuming injustice through social media"VERDICT • by Ben Nicholson
Filmmakers Behind IDFA Openers Talk Role of Short Documentary at Times of Sociopolitical Unrest: ‘Art Is Never About Length’Variety • by Rafa Sales Ross
"Practically a digital geopolitical diary."BIANET (In Turkish Only)
CREW
DIRECTOR
Fırat Yücel
SCRIPTWRITERS
Fırat Yücel
Aylin Kuryel
EDITOR
Fırat Yücel
PRODUCERS
Image Acts
SOUND MIX
Metin Bozkurt
DCP
Soner Daştan
FESTIVALS & SALES
María Vera (KINO REBELDE)