Title: Happiness
Year: 2025
Countries : Netherlands /Turkey
Language: English
Director: Fırat Yücel
We live in a world where a parallel universe is quietly taking shape—a digital landscape of apps, feeds, and online conversations that increasingly define the lives of a younger generation.
Happiness unfolds as a video-diary written entirely within this sphere. It chronicles the director’s days and nights, moving between political awareness and personal struggle. From the genocide in Gaza to the colonial abuse of Congo, from protests on the streets of Amsterdam to the police brutality in Europe to the glow of his sleepless nights, Yücel links global injustices with his own intimate battles. Political causes he supports, social inequalities he encounters, and the demonstrations he joins all merge with the harsh blue light of his computer screen.
Gradually, the personal and the global become inseparable—even the medicine prescribed to ease his insomnia is revealed yet another product of the Western structures he resists.
The film is crafted with precision: the digital language never overwhelms, and the editing holds many threads together without slipping into propaganda. Although the protagonist remains unknown, the film always centers on his personal journey and evolution. Happiness reminded me that fighting for one’s beliefs is inseparable from living, and it offered a quiet reassurance that a braver, fairer world is still possible. I highly recommend this short film!
