To a Land Unknown

Followed by a talk with Angeliki Papoulia, moderated by Joachim Kühn (23.11.)

A run-down neighborhood on the fringes of Athens plagued by crime and poverty. Reda (Aram Sabbah) and Chatila (Mahmoud Bakri) are cousins struggling daily with the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians: the life of refugees. Bound by ties of love and friendship, but also by the burden of despair that haunts them across time and place, they fight to escape their misery and secure a better future for themselves and those they left behind. Is there a way out for the doomed? How can humanity be preserved when one is born into a life permeated by incessant cruelty? An insightful, moving, and gripping exploration of the Palestinian condition, but also of what it means to be a stateless refugee in a world shaped by racial prejudice and social inequality. Prominent Danish-Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel co-wrote his latest film with Moroccan-British writer and filmmaker Fyzal Boulifa. It premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. (ALFILM)

Angeliki Papoulia is an actress known for her roles in Oscar-nominated films like Dogtooth and The Lobster and an established theater director.

Joachim Kühn is the Managing Director of REAL FICTION FILMVERLEIH and, since 2003, co-owner of the FILMPALETTE arthouse cinema in Cologne.