Synopsis

A bombing in Munich has reverberations throughout the city, setting into motion a chain of events with far-reaching political and personal consequences. Conservative politician Mathlide (Barbara Sukowa, Lola, Rosa Luxembourg, Hannah Arendt) has been a staunch advocate for strict EU border controls to limit migrant populations. When she’s asked to hide Malik (Habib Adda), a young Moroccan who has entered the EU illegally, by close friend and artist Richard (Lambert Wilson, Of Gods and Men, The Matrix series) her ideological and private loyalties collide. When Malik is unjustly identified as a suspect in the bombing, Mathlide’s aide Amina (Banafshe Hourmazdi) begins to question her own allegiances.

Synopsis

Displaced Palestinian cousins Chatila and Reda are stuck in Athens. They live in a crowded group home with other migrants, and steal and save what they can to pay for fake passports that will take them to Germany. When Reda relapses into his addictions and spends all their savings, Chatila devises what seems like a foolproof smuggling operation to earn the money back fast. Then things go terribly awry, and the cousins must concoct an even more sinister scheme in order to save themselves and their families back home.

With an intimate and naturalistic lens on the cousins’ bond and shared dream of a better life, To a Land Unknown is a tightly drawn thriller that presents an audacious, moving testament to the dire circumstances faced by migrants in purgatory.

Synopsis

Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from a small town on the West Bank, has been fighting the forceful expulsion of his community by Israeli authorities since he was a child. For decades, he has looked on as houses have been demolished and his family has been harassed, because, as he says, “we have no other land.” When he meets Yuval, an idealistic Israeli journalist who wants to document the ongoing brutality, an unlikely alliance develops between the two.

Compelling and inspiring, the film closely chronicles the devastating and heartbreaking day-to-day assaults against the Palestinian people, as well as their attempts to rebuild. It also explores the complicated relationship between Adra and Yuval, who — despite their differences in privilege and power — share an unwavering faith in the recorded image to make a difference. Extraordinarily empathic and moving, No Other Land is a stunning and all-too-relevant testament to resistance and resilience.

Synopsis

A panoramic portrait of a patriarchal society, Happy Holidays chronicles the lives of a Palestinian family living in Israel. While studying far away from her home in Haifa, Fifi’s newfound sense of freedom is threatened when she gets into a minor car accident. Injured, but hoping to avoid confrontation with her headstrong mother, she must decide just how much to reveal to her family. Her decision creates a cascade of ripple effects, and a complex web of deceits and half-truths begins to crack the family’s foundations.

Told in four chapters, each from the perspective of a different character, the film intricately balances a bevy of narrative threads to create a swirling, kaleidoscopic drama. Featuring pitch-perfect performances and a shifting structure that subverts expectations at every turn, the film elaborates the clashing demands of tradition and progress.

Synopsis

For Hamid, the past is never far behind. A former literature professor from Aleppo now working undercover in Europe, the Syrian exile spends his days trying to track down the  guard responsible for torturing him — and countless other political prisoners — at the infamous Sednaya prison. In weekly phone calls with his mom, who’s now living in a refugee camp in Beirut, Hamid tries to pretend like everything is fine. But a promising new lead has emerged at a university in Strasbourg, and every cell in Hamid’s body is screaming that this is the man. Will he be able to keep his cool long enough to get proof?

Director Jonatham Millet displays a remarkable command of tone in Ghost Trail, which engages with recent history in a tastefully controlled manner while still giving audiences the tension they crave. Star Adam Bessa is magnetic as the haunted Hamid, and his scenes with Tawfeek Barhom — who co-stars as suspected war criminal Harfaz — crackle with suspense. But the most skillful and subtle shift here is from the excitement of a political thriller to something much sadder, as Ghost Trail mourns the losses that have brought Hamid to this point in his life.