To a Land Unknown tracks dilemma of stranded Palestinian refugees at Cannes
A stressful drama screening on refugees in Cannes shines light on the plight of the Palestinian people. It brings to the fore “the excruciating moral choices” migrants are forced to make, in order to help loved ones start a new life abroad.
To a Land Unknown was directed by Mahdi Fleifel and follows two Palestinian refugee cousins around Athens, as they try to save money to pay a smuggler to sneak them into Germany.
Chatila left a young family behind in Lebanon to try to keep his fragile cousin Reda sober and away from their squat’s poet drug dealer for long enough to gather the cash.
With the odds stacked against them, Chatila is forced to set aside his principles one by one, as he devises increasingly dangerous schemes to try to save himself and his cousin even at the expense of fellow migrants.
A first-time actor, Aram Sabbagh plays the Palestinian character of Reda. Reda’s family fled the creation of Israel in 1948, only to end up in a camp in Lebanon. “It’s important to come and leave a Palestinian mark” in Cannes, he said.
He described the feeling of constantly roaming in search of a land “because they stole our country”.
“The curse is that you’re pushed to want to leave but you risk dying before you arrive or even dying before you’ve left” said the 26-year-old actor, who grew up in Ramallah within the occupied West Bank.
“You tire yourself out running against the clock but in the end, you haven’t left or stayed, you’re just stuck in time.”
Thousands of miles away from Gaza City, the Israeli pavilion in Cannes is attempting to promote its filmmaking. Palestinian cinema, on the other hand, does not have its own tent at the event.
With this in mind, Algeria made space for Palestinian filmmakers, at the other end of the international market in Cannes.
“Our narrative and storytelling is more important than ever” the Norway-based Palestinian director, Mohamed Jabaly stated. He concluded filming his latest project Life is Beautiful, just before the war started.
A close friend who shot the last scene of the film did not survive the war. “He was killed while waiting for food aid,” says Jabaly.
Munir Atallah, from the US-based Watermelon Pictures, hopes to bring the quirky family portrait to North American audiences, saying Palestinians have “for too long been shut out by the gatekeepers of the industry”.
Originally published in Dawn, May 24th, 2024
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