Tatlı Maya

The film tells the story of a lonely baker who takes in a homeless Syrian woman giving birth in his bakery, and the difficult moral stand he takes—at the risk of losing his livelihood—in the face of the town’s mounting prejudices and gossip.

Nazan, who runs the town’s small bakery, Tatlı Maya, on her own, sees her life change when Rana, a young Syrian woman, walks through her door. As Rana’s labor begins, she gives birth to her baby right there in the bakery. Nazan takes in the young woman—who has lost her husband, been evicted from her home, and has nowhere else to go—first into her home and then into her bakery. As a quiet bond forms between Rana and Nazan amid their daily lives, the rumors spreading throughout the town grow increasingly intense. Prejudices—fueled in part by Sami, who has long harbored feelings for Nazan—lead customers to stay away from the bakery and ultimately result in “Tatlı Maya” being shut down on the grounds that Rana was being employed without a permit. Nazan begins to pay a heavy price for the decision she made.