Political films dominate at Munich Film Festival
A multinational production detailing the journey of two Palestinian cousins fleeing their homeland for Germany received the coproduction award at the Munich Film Festival on Saturday. Danish-palestinian director Mahi Fleifel’s “To a Land Unknown” takes his audience into a world in which the protagonists cannot avoid doing the wrong thing, the jury said.
The story tells of two stranded young men forced to cross every border in order to achieve their dream of a secure life in Europe — without papers and with no money.
France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom were all involved in the production. A number of other prizes were awarded on Saturday, the festival’s penultimate day, with Best International Film going to a Slovakian-hungarian production “An Explanation for Everything” in which a young man fails his finals after falling in love, possibly on account of his politics.
Among the German contributions, the German-slovakian production “Führer und Verführer” by Joachim A Lang with Robert Stadlober, Fritzkarl and Franziska Weisz won the audience prize. It centres on Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, who committed suicide in 1945.
“Samia” by German director Yasemin Samdereli, which tells of a female Somali sprinter dreaming of participating in the Olympic Games, was a winner in the international section. Other winners included “Simón de la Montaña” by Argentinian director Federico Luis; “Lars er LOL” by Eirik Saeter Stordahl from Norway; ”Viet and Nam,” by Vietnamese director Minh Quy Truong; “Sad Jokes” by Fabian Stumm of Germany and “Petra Kelly - Act now!” by German director Doris Metz.