The film follows the story of a Palestinian refugee living in Athens who gets ripped off by a smuggler and sets out to seek revenge.
Starring Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbagh, and Angeliki Papoulia, To a Land Unknown premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
It claimed the Fischer Audience Award at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and won the Silver Yusr prize at the Red Sea Film Festival.
The annual festival will feature eight feature films, documentaries, and 13 short films, in addition to Q&A sessions with filmmakers, workshops, and a souk.
The feature films include Passing Dreams by Rashid Masharawi and Thank You For Banking With Us by Laila Abbas.
The documentary segment presents five films: Masharawi’s Oscar-shortlisted project From Ground Zero, A State of Passion: Ghassan Abu-Sittah by Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi, Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 by Göran Olsson, Voyage à Gaza by Piero Usberti, and Life is Beautiful by Mohamed Jabaly.
The short films showcased are Palestine Islands, Mar Mara, Mashed Potatoes, Post-Trauma, An Orange from Yaffa, Blood Like Water, In The Waiting Room, A Short Film About Kids, 45th Parallel, The Deer’s Tooth, Khaled and Nema, Upshot, and The Lizard of My Dream.
This edition honours the late Palestinian filmmaker Hani Jawhareih, who is considered one of the founding fathers of Palestinian Cinema.
Reel Palestine is an annual film festival in the UAE that brings Palestinian stories in the artistic form of independent and alternative cinema.
“First held in 2015, Reel Palestine is ever growing as a result of the labour of love driven by the community for sharing stories and heritage primarily through film," the festival organizers explain on the website.
The website adds that this community-driven film festival is run by “volunteers and a passion for cinema. Reel Palestine’s 11th edition takes place in collaboration with our long term partner Cinema Akil, the GCC’s only arthouse cinema. We have been building a community in the United Arab Emirates and around the world by bringing the best of cinema from Palestine and its diaspora.”
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