In May 2015, 19-year-old aspiring Kurdish singer Mutlu Kaya was shot in the head by a man who refused his marriage proposal. The attempted murder of the women came after dozens of death threats related to the young woman’s successful participation in Turkey’s “Got Talent” contest, which earned her notoriety nationwide.
Co-directed by BAFTA, Emmy Award-nominated Nick Reed (Bolshoi Babylon, The Condemned) and Ice Toprak (“Mr Gay Syria”), “My Name Is Happy”—which featured HiddenLight’s Siobhan Sinnerton (“For Sama,” “Escape,” From ISIS”) as a consulting executive producer – it premiered on November 12 at IDFA as part of the festival’s Frontlight segment.
The story focuses on Mutlu’s rise as a TikTok activist and star after the female murders of both her sister and her close neighbour. Through the social media platform, where she has more than 1 million followers, the pop star is finding a way to do justice to her sister, and reach a sense of independence once again.
The Festival’s Frontlight section is described as a place for “truth-seeking filmmakers who do not compromise stylistic integrity”. Among the 22 titles that joined the song “My Name Is Happy” is Giulia Giabonesi’s song “Bella Ciao,” which examines the relationships between Italian song and fascist movements. Ander Iriart’s personal exploration of the trauma left by the Spanish Basque conflict, The Blue Files; And Richard Messick dives deep into the idea of the public domain, “The History of the World According to Getty Images.”
Watch an exclusive trailer from “My Name Is Happy” below and read on for an interview with directors Nick Read and Ayse Toprak:
When did you first come across Mutlu’s story?
Nick: I first read about Mutlu as soon as she was shot. My first contact with her through our wonderful product in Turkey was in 2016 in the middle of her journey through rehab. She and her family were warm and interested in talking more but we soon realized that it was too early to deal with them as directors. Upon reading about Pınar Gültekin in 2020, who was a genocide victim and whose body was dumped in the forest and burned – a truly horrific situation that led to a series of demonstrations in Turkey – I was reminded of the case and I made contact again with Mutlu. At that point, we also learned of the tragic murder of Mutlu’s sister, so we felt we had a story worthy of a movie for an international audience. That’s when we met, and went into production in February.
ayishah: I knew about the story because I had been involved in the feminist movement since I was a teenager walking the streets of Istanbul back and forth. I knew it was a big thing because she was a finalist in this competition in Turkey, she was amazingly beautiful, she had an amazing voice, and then she became one of the many victims in the headlines in Turkey.
And when did you find each other and decide to work on the film together?
Nick: I made a film in Southeast Anatolia in 2012, but that was in the days when the BBC would pack you in and we would reach out to strangers and point the lens at the locals. It has been deeply rooted in our culture. So it was a very early decision that I didn’t want to make this movie on my own. I was trying to find someone with relevant experience and not a deep well of Turkish women who have made long docs before, but Ayesha made this wonderful film, “Mr. Jay Surya”, and the moment I saw it, I knew this was the person I wanted to work with. .
This is interesting and also related to the fact that you both mentioned having a staff of almost all women to provide a safer environment for Mutlu and her family.
ayishah: Mutlu was very excited about this movie. She made it her own. She has been trying to speak out loud about her and her sister’s situation, and she understood early on that a film like this would help her make an impact when it came to violence against women in the world. I think that was one of the strengths of the story. We became very close to the characters, and they became part of the family. We had a very small crew who loved it so much and we loved them again.
The movie is about a very emotional topic. How was it for you to deal with it so closely?
ayishah: It was very difficult to interview the characters and get to know their story and watch their grief because it was so new to me in the sense that it was the first time in my life that I actually got close to a family where two women were affected by violence against women. It’s very different from being emotionally affected by it, walking the streets for a cause, because you get the human connection. So it was hard at first but there was also this kind of weird normalization of her, “Okay, that’s what we lived through but life goes on and we’re going to keep fighting for it.” It allows for the perspective of doing something together for the better. There is sadness, of course, but how do we move forward?
It is established early in the film that Mutlu and her family live in an area rooted in tradition. Were you worried about protecting them when working together?
Nick: The experiences they have had and their passion for finding justice for Mutlu, Dilek, and other women around them, trumps all other considerations of fear. They are a very strong and powerful family, and they will not hold back. They’ve occasionally experienced hostility or alienation from their neighbors and community, and we’ve talked to them about that, both on and off camera, but I think they’re very determined to do justice, and Mutlu is very determined to express herself as the woman of modern Turkey who cares deeply about women’s rights.
Now that “My Name Is Happy” has appeared in the world, are you already thinking about what will happen next?
Nick: I’ll say something that might surprise Ace [laughs]. This was my first time, and I have a few miles under my belt in the industry, being involved with directing. I think for us as filmmakers, the spirit of collaboration has to be nurtured. I think there is a tendency in our industry to build a movie by one person and I don’t agree with that. The movie was made by a team, so I’m really interested in continuing to collaborate the way Ayse and I have done on this.
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