Ameer Fakher Eldin’s YUNAN world premieres at 75th Berlin International Film Festival

release date February 20 2025

Palestinian Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin’s YUNAN, the anticipated second installment to his anthology HOMELAND, held its world premiere at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in the presence of its cast and crew on February 19th to a seven-minute ovation.

Notably, YUNAN is the only Arab entry among the festival’s Official Competition contenders.

In the lead-up to the event, Fakher El Din, as well as actors George Khabbaz, Hanna Schygulla, Sibel Kekilli, Tom Wlaschiha, and Nidal Al-Achkar walked hand in hand at the festival’s red carpet.

Also at the premiere were Qatari ambassador to Germany Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab — the executive producers of the film and co-founders of MAD Solutions, the company handling the film's distribution in the Arab World — along with film composer Suad Bushnaq, the film's producers, and the heads of international funds that supported the film.

In a preamble held prior to the screening, the director expressed his gratitude for the film’s cast and crew, as well as the festival, shouting out Bushnaq for her work on the film’s score. He also touched upon the themes present in YUNAN as well as the future of his anthology HOMELAND.

A critical success, YUNAN has been receiving all manner of glowing reviews including one from Deadline’s Jay Weissberg, who lauded the film for its cinematography and score saying that was “evocatively shot” and that the “cinematography, alongside Suad Bushnaq’s minor-key score… most effectively communicates the protagonist’s mournful state of exile,” while Lee Marshall of Screen Daily praised Eldin for his ‘cinematic painting-esque storytelling.’

Marshall also praised the film’s setting, which was shot in Italy’s Puglia region but “clearly supposed to evoke an archaic rural Palestine,” saying that “this fable is suggestive without being incisive.”

Writing for Independent Arabia, Hauvick Habéchian states “The film is thoroughly poetic, filled with calculated camera movements and breathtaking and evocative shots of nature, to the point where the cinematography itself becomes a prominent protagonist.”

YUNAN — directed, written, and edited by MAD Crew director Ameer Fakher Eldin — is a Canadian-German co-production, with France, Italy, Egypt, and Palestine 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, Tony Copti, and Jiries Copti, 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, Fresco Films, and Les Films Du Veyrier, 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.