Latest news with #AmeerFakherEldin
Broadcast Pro
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Broadcast Pro
Sydney Film Festival adds MAD titles to 2025 line-up
These two additions will spotlight deeply human narratives from the Arab world and its diasporas The Sydney Film Festival, set to run from June 4 to 15, has announced the addition of two titles from MAD Solutions to its 2025 programme: Yunan and Têtes brûlées, both of which bring emotionally resonant storytelling to the international stage. Yunan, the latest work from Syrian filmmaker Ameer Fakher Eldin, is the second installment in his HOME trilogy, which delves into the emotional landscape of estrangement and exile. The film follows an Arab writer who, burdened by disillusionment, leaves his life in Hamburg and retreats to a secluded island on the North Sea, intending to end his life. His unexpected encounter with an elderly woman and her quiet acts of compassion slowly reignite his will to live. Directed, written and edited by Ameer Fakher Eldin, the film is a Canadian-German-Italian co-production, with contributions from Palestine, Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The cast includes Lebanese actor and filmmaker George Khabbaz, German actress Hanna Schygulla, Palestinian actor Ali Suleiman and Game of Thrones stars Sibel Kekilli and Thomas Wlaschiha, alongside Lebanese theatre veteran Nidal El Ashkar. Ameer Fakher Eldin, a Syrian filmmaker based in Hamburg, was born in Kyiv in 1991 to Syrian parents from the occupied Golan Heights. Joining Yunan in the festival's program is Têtes brûlées, a poignant coming-of-age story from Belgian-Tunisian-Danish director Maja Ajmia Zellama. The film centers on 12-year-old Eya as she grapples with the sudden death of her older brother Younès. Through a heartfelt exploration of grief, Eya finds solace in her imagination, her brother's close-knit circle of friends, and her own inner strength, as she begins to navigate a world without him. Produced by Komoko, with co-productions by Quetzalcoatl and 1080 Films, Têtes brûlées is a Belgian film enriched by Tunisian cultural influences. The cast features Safa Gharbaoui, Mehdi Bouziane, Mounir Amamra—known for his role in DIVINES—along with Adnane El Haruati, Saber Tabi, Nicolas Makola, Mehdi Zellama and Monia Taieb.
Egypt Today
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Egypt Today
Lead actors of Ameer Fakher Eldin's YUNAN win awards at the 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival
Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin's YUNAN brings a story set on a lofty windswept island, to the 49th edition of Hong Kong's renowned International Film Festival, where leading actors George Khabbaz and Hanna Schygula won Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. The festival was held from April 10th to the 21st. The festival jurist, speaking on their remarkable achievement, stated 'Georges Khabbaz's performance captures the alienation and ache of a lost soul yearning for the comfort of home. His nuanced portrayal reveals the inner turmoil of someone grappling with their identity in a foreign land, bringing emotional depth and authenticity to the character's struggle, while Hanna Schygulla's performance brings a warm, maternal presence to the film—offering comfort and tenderness in an otherwise harsh world. Her delightful humour adds a spark of levity, while her grounded strength asserts itself in a predominantly male environment. The result is a beautifully cohesive and emotionally resonant portrayal.' YUNAN, the second film in Ameer Fakher Eldin's HOME trilogy, continues his exploration of estrangement that began with his award-winning 2021 debut, THE STRANGER. The film follows a disillusioned Arab writer living in exile in Hamburg who travels to a remote North Sea island with thoughts of ending his life. There, he meets an elderly woman whose quiet humanity reawakens his will to live. In reviews, Christoph Petersen of Filmstarts noted how actor George Khabbaz aptly conveyed a sense of sorrow, while Hauvick Habéchian, writing of Independent Arabia, highlighted Schygulla's enduring legacy as an icon of German cinema. Directed, written, and edited by Fakher Eldin, YUNAN is a Canadian-German-Italian co-production with additional support from Palestine, Qatar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The cast includes Lebanese star George Khabbaz of Oscar-nominated CAPERNAUM, German actress Hanna Schygulla, Palestinian actor Ali Suleiman of PARADISE NOW, and GAME OF THRONES stars Sibel Kekilli and Thomas Wlaschiha. The film features a score by Suad Bushnaq, cinematography by Ronald Plante, and production design by Marie-Luise Balzer.
Arab News
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Ameer Fakher Eldin: ‘I was cut off from my culture. Now I'm making films with all the Arab world'
DUBAI: Four years ago, Syrian filmmaker Ameer Fakher Eldin set out to craft a cinematic trilogy about exile — not as an abstract theme, but as a visceral, lived reality: from being a stranger among your own people, to becoming a stranger among others, and ultimately, to imagining a life unhindered by the limitations of national borders. The first chapter, 'The Stranger,' introduced us to Adnan, an unlicensed doctor lingering in a liminal space in Syria's occupied Golan Heights. The opening lines hinted at the trilogy's ambition. Standing pensively by a window, Adnan is addressed by his off-screen wife, who lists the options before them: 'France? Paris… they have delicious bread. Germany? Anywhere far from here.' Ameer Fakher Eldin at the Amman International Film Festival in July 2022. (AFP) The film, which Fakher Eldin wrote, directed, and edited, would go on to represent Palestine at the Academy Awards — a decision he describes as an 'incredible gesture' and a 'beautiful, warm embrace' from a fellow occupied people. 'Perhaps it's a different type of occupation (to the Golan Heights). We don't have the daily clashes, but occupation still runs in the waters,' he says. Now Germany has become the setting for his trilogy's second chapter 'Yunan.' Having premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, where it competed for the highest prize, it is currently touring the festival circuit, building on the critical momentum of 'The Stranger.' A still from 'Yunan.' (Courtesy of Red Balloon Film GmBH, Productions Microclimat Inc, Intramovies Srl) 'Yunan' explores the emotional journey of Munir (played by Lebanese actor Georges Khabbaz), a Syrian writer living in exile in Germany. Burdened by the psychological toll of displacement, he travels to the Halligen, a series of low-lying islands off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, where he contemplates suicide. One of the director's early inspirations was the suicide note of Stefan Zweig, a Jewish writer who fled Austria and Nazi persecution in the 1930s. Eventually settling in Brazil, he took his own life alongside his second wife, Lotte Altmann, having been left bereft by exile, the loss of his homeland, and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. 'The character of Munir emerged from a deep exploration of the human condition,' says Fakher Eldin, who was born in Kyiv but grew up in the Golan Heights. 'I wanted to explore this quiet battle that we face within ourselves. Since I come from the occupied Golan Heights, I grew up in exile without being forced to leave. I didn't flee because of war or a national crisis — the border was displaced, leaving me displaced. I don't know Syria. I can't go to Syria. So I was left waiting for — or fantasizing about the idea of — a homeland.' A post shared by Ameer Fakher Eldin (@ As the filmmaker points out, much has been written about the odyssey of being a refugee — the danger, the despair, the journey itself. But what of being displaced? 'The time has come for us to look at what happens after,' he says. 'This is no less important. My approach was to try to anatomize the mind of the displaced person. I entered this world by connecting to the universal aspects of loss and disillusionment and the search for meaning.' It was during the initial stages of exploring these themes that he came across the Halligen and the phenomenon known as 'land unter' (land under), when the islands are submerged by the sea. Only a handful of man-made mounds topped with farmhouses remain above the water, enabling life to continue after the sea has receded. Metaphorically, land under came to reflect the structure of Yunan – that of submersion, loss, and return. 'I went to this hallig for two years while writing, getting to know the people and the culture, and I heard, of course, about the flooding,' says Fakher Eldin, who has lived in Germany for the past four years. 'I asked them: 'When does this happen? Please tell me, because I want to be here.'' He was told it could occur once a year, 20 times a year, or not at all. Most likely, however, such an event would take place between January and March. A post shared by MAD Films (@madfilmsofficial_) The team visited during those months but nothing happened. Fakher Eldin decided to use visual effects instead, working with a post-production studio in Canada to create the film's flood scenes. Then, in October, they headed back to the island for a three-week shoot. On the fourth day, a strong wind began to batter the island. 'Not every wind makes a land under. It has to be strong enough, but also blowing in a certain direction, because not every wind moves the water with the tide. But that one was just right,' he says, calling the wind's arrival 'divine intervention.' He made a quick decision: he took a small team, a camera, and Khabbaz to one of the elevated farmhouses. 'I remember standing next to the oldest man in the house, an 85-year-old, who was learning into the wind in the classic style. I said to him, 'Do you at least know from which direction the sea will come?' I didn't want to just shoot from the house, I wanted to get intimate with the water, because it's a character in the film. I wanted people to see that it was coming.' The speed of the event gave Fakher Eldin no time for preparation. 'It's not something you can think of before, because you haven't experienced such a thing,' he explains. 'We had 20 minutes because it was so fast. From the moment the water crossed the barrier of the shore until it reached four meters high, it felt like magic, but also incredibly dangerous. I had to direct in real time — that was a challenge. But everything you see in the film is real.' A post shared by Ameer Fakher Eldin (@ 'Yunan,' which received support from the Red Sea Fund and the Red Sea Souk, will have its Arab premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival in December. It will then go on general release across the Arab world. Although Fakher Eldin is currently concentrating on 'Yunan,' he has completed writing the third and final instalment, tentatively called 'Nostalgia: A Tale in First Chapters.' The film will tell the story of a renowned Arab opera singer who suddenly loses his voice and returns to the Golan Heights to convalesce. 'This has brought me a lot of joy,' says Fakher Eldin of his Red Sea funding. 'Especially with coming from the Golan Heights, where I was cut off from my culture. I can't go to Syria, I can't go to Lebanon, I can't go anywhere in the Arab world. I'm exiled in my own home. But now I'm making films with all of the Arab world. It's not only Saudi, it's Jordan, Palestine, Qatar… It's like all the Arab countries are part of my creation.' A post shared by Ameer Fakher Eldin (@ Importantly, the director has refused Israeli funding, thereby safeguarding the identity of his films. That refusal is not just political but deeply personal — rooted in a lifelong resistance to imposed narratives and erasures. 'They will never say I'm Syrian. They will only say I'm a Druze filmmaker, which is something they do to distinguish Druze from Arab, which is total nonsense. But this is what happens in Israeli media and in daily life,' he says. 'That's how they like to separate. I refuse to live under an authority that wants to erase my identity.'
Broadcast Pro
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Broadcast Pro
Hong Kong Int'l Film Festival to screen Red Sea Foundation-supported films
Red Sea Film Foundation-backed films 'Yunan', 'To a Land Unknown', 'To Kill a Mongolian Horse' and 'Yalla Parkour' are set to be showcased. The 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) has announced its 2025 lineup, featuring several films backed by the Red Sea Film Foundation, including Ameer Fakher Eldin's Yunan, Mahdi Fleifel's To a Land Unknown, Xiaoxuan Jiang's To Kill a Mongolian Horse and Areeb Zuaiter's documentary Yalla Parkour. Scheduled to take place from April 10 to 21, the festival will highlight nearly 200 films from 69 countries, including six world premieres, two international premieres and 52 Asian premieres, with over 300 screenings planned. Among the notable selections, Yunan—the second installment in Fakher Eldin's HOME trilogy—follows a disillusioned Arab writer who, contemplating suicide, retreats to a remote North Sea island, where an encounter with an elderly woman rekindles his desire to live. Fleifel's To a Land Unknown portrays the struggles of two immigrants seeking a way out of Athens, while Meryam Joobeur's Who Do I Belong To delves into themes of identity and conflict as a Tunisian mother grapples with the unexpected return of her son from Syria. Making her feature-length debut, Zuaiter directs Yalla Parkour, a documentary that intertwines her search for belonging with the story of Ahmed, a parkour athlete in Gaza. The film, an international co-production involving Sweden, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Palestine, premiered at the Berlinale's Panorama section earlier this year. Jiang's To Kill a Mongolian Horse, a drama set in Inner Mongolia, is also among the featured selections. Produced by Da Huang Pictures, the film represents a collaboration between Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the United States. HKIFF 2025 will open with the world premieres of The Brightest Sun by Japan's Tetsuya Nakashima and Pavane for an Infant by Malaysia's Chong Keat Aun. The festival will conclude with Norway's Dreams (Sex Love) by Dag Johan Haugerud, which recently won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.
Broadcast Pro
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Broadcast Pro
Ameer Fakher Eldin's ‘Yunan' to screen at 34th FESCAAAL in Itlay
The film was developed in December 2021 as a part of a trilogy of Ameer Fakher Eldin's first 2021 film, 'The Stranger' with working title as 'Nothing of Nothing Remains'. Ameer Fakher Eldin's latest film, Yunan, is set to screen twice at the 34th African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival (FESCAAL) in Milan, Italy, where it will compete in the Official Competition. One of the screenings will be followed by a Q&A session with the director. The festival runs from March 21 to 30, with Yunan scheduled for its first screening and Q&A at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, March 25, at Cineteca Milano Arlecchino. A second screening will follow on Wednesday, March 26, at 1 PM at the same venue. Yunan is the second film in Fakher Eldin's trilogy, HOME, which explores themes of estrangement. The film follows a disillusioned Arab writer who leaves his exiled life in Hamburg and travels to a remote North Sea island with thoughts of ending his life. There, he encounters an elderly woman whose quiet kindness rekindles his desire to live. Directed, written and edited by Ameer Fakher Eldin, the film is a Canadian-German-Italian co-production, with contributions from Palestine, Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The cast includes Lebanese actor and filmmaker George Khabbaz, German actress Hanna Schygulla, Palestinian actor Ali Suleiman and Game of Thrones stars Sibel Kekilli and Thomas Wlaschiha, alongside Lebanese theatre veteran Nidal El Ashkar. The film features a score by MAD Crew composer Suad Bushnaq, cinematography by Ronald Plante, production design by Marie-Luise Balzer and sound design by Kuen-Il Song. It is produced by Dorothe Beinemeier, Catherine Chagnon, Marco Valerio Fusco and Micaela Fusco, with additional collaboration from Alaa Alasad and Hind Anabtawi. Executive producers include Paola Corvino and MAD Solutions' Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab. Backed by Red Balloon Film, Microclimat Films, Intramovies, Metafora Production, Tabi360 and Fresco Films, Yunan is distributed in the Arab world by MAD Distribution. The film received support from the Red Sea Fund, the Red Sea Souk, the Jordanian Royal Film Commission, MOIN Film Fund, Eurimages, Telefilm Canada and SODEC. Ameer Fakher Eldin, a Syrian filmmaker based in Hamburg, was born in Kyiv in 1991 to Syrian parents from the occupied Golan Heights. His debut film, The Stranger, premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, winning the Edipo Re Award. Fakher Eldin is currently developing the final instalment of his trilogy, Nostalgia: A Tale in Its First Chapters, a joint production between Syria, Palestine, Germany and Italy, which has received support from the Red Sea Fund.
