release date February 27 2025
Ameer Fakher Eldin's YUNAN to world premiere at 75th Berlin International Festival
Following the remarkable success of his film THE STRANGER, Ameer Fakher Eldin is set to captivate audiences once again with his eagerly anticipated drama YUNAN, which will have its world premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, running from February 13th to 23rd.
YUNAN, which is the second film in Fakher Eldin’s planned trilogy, HOME, on the theme of estrangement that began with his award-winning 2021 debut feature THE STRANGER, follows the story of a disillusioned Arab author who travels from his exiled existence in Hamburg to a remote island in the North Sea with thoughts of suicide. There he meets an elderly woman whose quiet humanity incites a reawakening of his desires in life.
Directed, written, and edited by MAD Crew director Ameer Fakher Eldin, this life-affirming drama is a Canadian-German-Italian co-production, with Palestine, Qatar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia also having a hand in its making.
It stars Lebanese actor, director, and producer George Khabbaz, who co-wrote the Oscar-nominated film CAPERNAUM, which is notably the highest-grossing Arabic film of all time. The cast also includes German actress Hanna Schygulla, an iconic figure of New German Cinema who most recently starred in POOR THINGS; Palestinian actor Ali Suleiman, known for his leading roles in 200 METERS and the Oscar-nominated Palestinian film PARADISE NOW; as well as Lebanese actress Nidal El Ashkar; and GAME OF THRONES stars Sibel Kekilli and Thomas Wlaschiha.
The film is scored by the multi-award-winning MAD Crew composer Suad Bushnaq, lensed by Ronald Plante, with production design by Marie-Luise Balzer, and sound design by Kuen-Il Song. It is also produced by Dorothe Beinemeier, Catherine Chagnon, Marco Valerio Fusco, Micaela Fusco, in collaboration with Alaa Alasad, Hind Anabtawi, and executive produced by Paola Corvino and Founders of MAD Solutions Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab.
YUNAN was brought to life through the combined efforts of Red Balloon Film, Microclimat Films, Intramovies, Metafora Production, Tabi360, and Fresco Films, with MAD Distribution overseeing its distribution in the Arab World.
It was supported by the Red Sea Fund and the Red Sea Souk, the Jordanian Royal Film Commission, MOIN Film Fund, the Council of Europe’s Eurimages, Telefilm Canada, and SODEC.
Ameer Fakher Eldin is a Syrian director and writer based in Hamburg, Germany. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1991 to Syrian parents from the occupied Golan Heights.
His planned trilogy’s first film, THE STRANGER, premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Edipo Re Award.
The film then went on to screen at the Cairo International Film Festival — where it won the Shadi Abdel-Salam Award for Best Film in the Critics’ Week Competition as well as Best Arab Film — along with the Durban, Melbourne, Hamburg, Vancouver, Sydney, and Valencia film festivals. It was also selected to be Palestine’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, and won the award for Best Cinematography at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Currently, Fakher Eldin is working on the final installment, NOSTALGIA: A TALE IN ITS FIRST CHAPTERS which is a joint international production between Syria, Palestine, Germany, and Italy and was awarded the Red Sea Fund for Development.
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