country, year

UK, Greece, Denmark, 2014

genre

documentary

running time

13’

directed by

Mahdi Fleifel

languages

Arabic

subtitles

English subtitles

about the film

In 2010, Abu Eyad and other young Palestinian men from the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon traveled with smugglers through Syria and Turkey into Greece. Like so many other migrants, they came looking for a way into Europe but found themselves trapped in a country undergoing economic, political, and social collapse.

trailer

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1059569689/?playlistId=tt3289618&ref_=tt_ov_vi

about the author

Mahdi Fleifel was raised in the refugee camp Ein el-Helweh in Lebanon and later in a suburb of Helsingør in Denmark. In 2009, he graduated from the National Film and Television School at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. In 2010, he set up the London-based production company Nakba FilmWorks. His debut feature documentary, A World Not Ours, picked up several awards. His short film, A Man Returned, won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale and his film, A Drowning Man, was in the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival 2017. His latest film, To a Land Unknown has premiered in Cannes in spring.

festivals and awards

– Berlin Film Festival, 2014

– Cinéma du Réel, 2014

– Melbourne International Film Festival, 2014

– Stockholm Film Festival, 2014

– Sydney Film Festival, 2014

– CPH:DOX, 2014

– Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, 2015

– Sheffield Docs Documentary Film Festival, 2015

– BBC Arab Film Festival: Best Short Film, 2015

filmography

– A World Not Ours (2012)

– Xenos (2014)

– 20 Handshakes for Peace (2015)

– A Man Returned (2016)

– A Drowning Man (2017)

– I Signed the Petition (2018)

– 3 Logical Exits (2020)

– To A Land Unknown (2024)