The Berlin International Film Festival just announced that Ameer Fakher Eldin's eagerly anticipated drama YUNAN is set to hold its world premiere at the renowned German festival’s 75th edition (February 7th - 23rd), where it will be the only Arab film competing in its Main Competition lineup.
The film tells the story of Munir, an author who seeks solitude on a remote island in order to contemplate a final act, only to find solace in the quiet presence of Valeska, whose compassion reignites in him a budding will to live.
Speaking of the film, director Fakher Eldin states that it “began as a reflection on displacement, on the quiet spaces it creates within and around us… I wanted to explore what happens when the familiar falls away, when the sense of home, of belonging, is fractured, leaving us to navigate the silence that follows,” adding that the rhythm of his story is “submersion, loss, and return. What vanishes isn’t gone forever, but it doesn’t come back unchanged.”
YUNAN — directed, written, and edited by MAD Crew director Ameer Fakher Eldin — is a Canadian-German co-production, with France, Italy, Egypt, and Palestine also having a hand in its making.
It stars Lebanese actor, director, and producer George Khabbaz, who co-wrote the Oscar-nominated film CAPERNAUM, which is notably the highest-grossing Arabic film of all time.
The cast also includes German actress Hanna Schygulla, an iconic figure of New German Cinema who most recently starred in POOR THINGS; Palestinian actor Ali Suleiman, known for his leading roles in 200 METERS and the Oscar-nominated Palestinian film PARADISE NOW; as well as Lebanese actress Nidal El Ashkar; and GAME OF THRONES stars Sibel Kekilli and Thomas Wlaschiha.
In terms of behind-the-camera talents, YUNAN is scored by the multi-award-winning MAD Crew composer Suad Bushnaq, lensed by Ronald Plante, with production design by Marie-Luise Balzer, and sound design by Kuen-Il Song.
It is also produced by Dorothe Beinemeier, Catherine Chagnon, Marco Valerio Fusco, Micaela Fusco, Tony Copti, and Jiries Copti, in collaboration with Alaa Alasad Land, Hind Anabtawi, and executive produced by Paola Corvino and founders of MAD Solutions Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab.
YUNAN was brought to life through the combined efforts of Red Balloon Film, Microclimat Films, Intramovies, Metafora Production, Tabi360, Fresco Films, and Les Films Du Veyrier, with MAD Distribution overseeing its distribution in the Arab World.
It received two production grants from the Red Sea Fund and the Red Sea Souk in 2022, a co-production grant from the Jordanian Royal Film Commission in the following year, along with financing from the MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Council of Europe’s Eurimages, Telefilm Canada, and SODEC.
Ameer Fakher Eldin is a Syrian director and writer based in Hamburg, Germany. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1991 to Syrian parents from the occupied Golan Heights.
YUNAN is the second film in Fakher Eldin’s planned trilogy HOMELAND on the theme of displacement that began with his award-winning 2021 debut feature THE STRANGER, which premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Edipo Re Award.
The film then went on to screen at the Cairo International Film Festival — winning the Shadi Abdel-Salam Award for Best Film in the Critics’ Week Competition as well as Best Arab Film — along with the Durban, Melbourne, Hamburg, Vancouver, Sydney, and Valencia film festivals. It was also selected to be Palestine’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
Fakher Eldin also recently started working on the final installment, NOSTALGIA: A TALE IN ITS FIRST CHAPTERS; a joint international production between Syria, Palestine, Germany, and Italy that was recently awarded the Red Sea Fund for Development.
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