Off the Wall Films presents

TO A LAND UNKNOWN

Mahdi Fleifel, UK / Greece / Denmark / Netherlands / Occupied Palestinian Territory, 2024, 105m, 15, sub-titles

NB - Doors at 5:30pm for a 6:30pm start.

Athens, the present-day. Cousins Chatila and Reda are penniless refugees stranded en route from Lebanon to Germany, where they hope to open a Palestinian restaurant. Their next move requires passports - they spend their days on the streets scamming, hustling and stealing to raise the necessary funding for fakes, but this is mostly blown on Reda’s drug habit and hope is fast fading of their ever accumulating enough. Falling in with a lonely Greek woman Tatiana and a 13-yr-old Gazan Malik, Chatila contrives an ingenious plan that should get them out of their fix. What could possibly go wrong? 

This masterful first feature, combining deep empathy for its desperate protagonists with the unrelenting grip of a fast-paced thriller, is the winner of 24 international gongs, including the Audience and Best Feature Awards at the Human Rights Film Festival Lugano 2024 - “for highlighting with great sensitivity and depth the urgent and tragic plight of people in exile, immobilized at Europe's borders, where humanitarian rights and social justice are conspicuously absent. We commend the director for the film's gripping pace, paired with a deeply empathetic storytelling ability that keeps us on the edge of our seats until the very end and beyond” (from the jury statement).

'To a Land Unknown is a tour-de-force of empathic storytelling, with its genre narrative bursting with an overabundance of humanity’ – IndieWire.

'Fleifel’s artistic choices in the film, everything from cinematography, locations, sparse score, and casting, rings so true that you forget at times that you’re watching a film’ – AwardsWatch.

'…crafted with painstaking care, and features two strong lead performances that are thoughtfully translated to the screen by an empathetic lens’ – Screen International.

‘The fact that the film is so effectively moving can be credited mainly to its extremely well-crafted screenplay’ – Next Best Picture.

‘...an instantly engrossing piece of storytelling done to stylish standards’ – The Arts Desk.

‘A smart, well-made film’ – The Guardian.

Voluntary donations - Off the Wall Films is a not-for-profit enterprise. All donations - very gratefully received - will go towards improving the OtWF programme and the presentation of films at WSC.

Carers' tickets - we offer complimentary tickets to carers of people with disabilities. If you would like to attend the screening along with the person in your care please message  offthewall@gmx.co.uk  with your request for a ticket. Please note - you are eligible for this offer only if you are accompanied by a paying person with disabilities.