Palestinian movie “To a Land Unknown” is showing out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
It is the only Palestinian film at the festival, and Cannes was always the aim for director Mahdi Fleifel.
“It’s a big deal for us, really,” he said.
“When we started the film, the events in Palestine had just kicked off again. And it affected everyone, but it brought camaraderie and solidarity to the cast and crew, and I think once we realized that there was nothing to hide either, we could just, like, feel paralysed and watch the news, or we could put our hearts and soul into making this film.”
“To a Land Unknown” follows two Palestinian brothers trying to leave Athens and head to Germany. They are desperately trying to gather the money that they need for immigration papers and passports.
Mahdi Fleifel says he doesn’t consider it to be a refugee story as much as a modern day adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men.”
“I’d like to think that we also made a thriller and something that, for me at least, is a homage to ’70s Hollywood cinema, which is is my favorite cinema,” he smiled.
The Cannes Film Festival runs until 25 May.
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