After fleeing a camp in Lebanon, two Palestinian cousins, are stranded in Athens, living in an underground limbo. Desperately seeking a way to reach Germany, they find themselves caught in an uncontrollable spiral. Nourished by New York cinema (notably Midnight Cowboy), To a Land Unknown races along like an edgy thriller, tragic but stripped back. A compelling, uncompromising and nuanced look at the living conditions of migrants.
World premiere at Director’s Fortnight 2024
Cannes Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection: Directors' Fortnight
Toronto International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
San Sebastián International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
AFI Fest
2024 | Official Selection
Vancouver International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Chicago International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
2024 | Official Selection
Ghent Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Melbourne International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Munich Film Festival
2024 | Winner: CineCoPro Award
Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy
2024 | Official Selection
Sarajevo Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Shanghai International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Calgary International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
New Horizons International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Galway Film Fleadh
2024 | Official Selection
New Zealand International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Hamptons International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Leiden International Film Festival
2024 | Official Selection
Quinzaine 2024 | Feature film | 105 min | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine
With
Mahmood Bakri (Chatila), Aram Sabbagh (Reda), Mohammad Alsurafa (Malik), Angeliki Papoulia (Tatiana), Mouataz Alshalton (Abu Love), Mohammad Ghassan (Yasser), Monzer Reyahnah (Marwan).
Screenplay
Mahdi Fleifel, Fyzal Boulifa, Jason McColgan
Sound
Steve Bond, Martin Hernandez
Music
Nadah El Shazly
Photography
Thodoris Mihopoulos GSC
Editing
Halim Sabbah
Production design
Ioanna Soulele
Production
Inside Out Films (Royaume-Uni)
Geoff Arbourne
Nakba Filmworks (Royaume-Uni)
Mahdi Fleifel
Coproduction
Salaud Morisset (France)
Salaud Morisset Deutschland (Allemagne)
François Morisset
Homemade Films (Grèce)
Maria Drandaki
Studio Ruba (Pays-Bas)
Layla Meijman
Maarten van der Ven
ERT (Grèce)
Metafora Production (Qatar)
The Red Sea Fund (Arabie Saoudite)
Trailer:
Mahdi Fleifel
Mahdi Fleifel is a Palestinian-Danish director who graduated from NFTS in the UK. In 2012, his first feature-length documentary A World Not Ours premiered at TIFF and gathered around thirty awards (Berlinale, CPH:DOX, Yamagata, DOC:NYC). He took part in the Cinéfondation in 2013, and subsequently directed several short films.