Heartland

Turkey in the year of 2015. Mutlu Kaya is shot in the head. Injured for life. In 2020 Dilek, her closest sister, is also shot in the head. Killed. 2021 Songul, her eldest sister, is fighting to keep the family together, as across Turkey domestic violence and femicide reach record levels. 3 women are being murdered every day. HEARTLAND is the story of Mutlu and her sisters, an inspirational story about the loss of innocence, survival and redemption.

Heartland is a documentary by Nick Read and Ayse Toprak 

Nick Read is an EMMY & BAFTA nominated filmmaker known for making acclaimed observational documentaries. He has shot & directed over 50 filmss, many of them in remote or high-risk locations (Inside Israel’s Jails; Slumdog Children of Mumbai, Return of the Lost Boys, The Condemned etc). His work has won 2 Foreign Press Association awards, the Rory Peck Impact Award and the Creative Diversity Award for best documentary. His most recent feature documentary, Bolshoi Babylon, produced by Simon Chinn, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, opened in 100 UK cinemas and was long listed for BAFTA & Academy awards.

Ayse Toprak recently relocated from Istanbul to London. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she has an MA in Media Studies at the New School. From 2011, she worked extensively for Al Jazeera in Turkey, London and Doha, producing social and political documentaries in the Middle East. In 2016 Ayse began work on her first feature documentary, Mr Gay Syria. To date the film has screened at over 70 international festivals including IDFA, Sheffield DocFest, MOMA fortnight, Chicago Film Festival etc. The film won 14 awards, most of which were granted for enlightening human rights.