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happiness

Fırat Yücel
Turkey / The Netherlands
18'

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 the Middle East. In Amsterdam, far from their home countries, police violence and the threat of deportation glue them to digital interfaces night after night.

The genocide in Gaza is the first live-streamed genocide in history: its victims have facilitated a constant, continuous stream of images of their annihilation, which can be accessed at any time. The concept of continuous exposure to genocide through images and discourse, as well as the terrifying feeling of helplessness in the face of them, is central to HAPPINESS, directed by critic and film essayist Fırat Yücel. For several months Yücel keeps a journal, making notes on his insomnia and doomscrolling caused by the contemporary situation. A compact journal, devoid of poetic flourishes (but not spontaneous humour), that jumps between images of bombings and student protests for Gaza, and collects samples from the various, often strange behaviours of our chronically online lives. (Flavia Dima)

Friday, September 26, 18:00

Cinemateca Eforie
Tickets

Fırat Yücel

Fırat Yücel is a documentary producer and editor who lives and works in Amsterdam and Istanbul. He is also the curator behind the video series Altyazı Fasikül: Free Cinema, which is part of the Altyazı Cinema Association, dedicated to supporting political film and video makers at risk in Turkey and elsewhere. His work is centred around collective filmmaking and resistance against censorship, while his documentaries focus on topics like exile, surveillance and the right to the city – in forms including the video essay, desktop documentary and biopic, among others. Yücel is part of the BAK Cell, Utrecht, in the Fellowship for Situated Practice.

  • Technical sheet
  • SCRIPTWRITERS: Fırat Yücel, Aylin Kuryel
  • EDITOR: Fırat Yücel
  • PRODUCERS: Image Acts
  • SOUND MIX: Metin Bozkurt
  • DCP: Soner Daştan

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happiness

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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 the Middle East. In Amsterdam, far from their home countries, police violence and the threat of deportation glue them to digital interfaces night after night.

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