On the fringes of Athens, in a run-down neighborhood plagued by crime and poverty, Palestinian cousins Reda and Chatila struggle to survive. Having fled a camp in Lebanon, they live in an underground limbo, caught between and the hope of reaching Germany. Bound by love, friendship, and the burdens of a history that haunts them across time and place, they fight to secure a better future for themselves and the loved ones they left behind.
This month, exBlicks invites you to take a side step and explore Palestinian lives beyond the predicament of the West Bank and Gaza. Co-written with Moroccan-British filmmaker Fyzal Boulifa, Mahdi Fleifel’s fiction offers a gripping look into the fight for asylum, legal status, and everyday survival as a stateless refugee in an increasingly refugee-adverse EU society, plagued by racism and social inequalities.
“To a Land Unknown” unfolds like an edgy, stripped-back thriller — tragic, tense, and uncompromising. It provides a nuanced, compelling look at the harsh realities faced by migrants, capturing their struggles, resilience, and the haunting question: how can humanity be preserved when one is born into a life permeated by violence and poverty?
The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, won the Audience Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and was the opening film at this year’s ALFILM – Arab Film Festival Berlin.
