Kodak, which had a momentous 2023 with more than 60 movies shot on film has gotten off to a promising start in 2024 with Luca Guadignino’s “Challengers” and Jane Shoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow, which A24 released wide May 17. Upcoming releases include Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” and Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu.”
Meanwhile, Kodak premiered 29 movies shot on film at Cannes. These include five features competing for the Palme d’Or: Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” Sean Baker’s “Anora,” Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” Karim Aïnouz’s “Motel Destino,” and Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour.”
Additionally, four movies are featured in Un Certain Regard, and 16 titles across Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week were captured on film. Meanwhile, 16mm film continues to prove its popularity and relevance, with 23 of the on-film titles at the festival choosing it as their capture medium.
This article was first published January 27, 2024. It has been updated.
Cannes 2024 Premieres ‘Kinds...
Meanwhile, Kodak premiered 29 movies shot on film at Cannes. These include five features competing for the Palme d’Or: Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” Sean Baker’s “Anora,” Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” Karim Aïnouz’s “Motel Destino,” and Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour.”
Additionally, four movies are featured in Un Certain Regard, and 16 titles across Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week were captured on film. Meanwhile, 16mm film continues to prove its popularity and relevance, with 23 of the on-film titles at the festival choosing it as their capture medium.
This article was first published January 27, 2024. It has been updated.
Cannes 2024 Premieres ‘Kinds...
- 5/27/2024
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
By the time we meet them, Chatila and Reda already are down in the lower depths. Cousins from Palestine, they have spent much of their lives living as refugees on the run. Having made it as far as Athens, a kind of holding zone for people from the Middle East trying to slip into Europe, they are trying to scrape together money to get to Germany.
Ferrety Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) is masterminding the cousins’ next fundraising operation in one of Athens’s pleasantly proletarian parks, directing his sweet-faced cousin Reda (Aram Sabbah) to fall over on his skateboard in front of a middle-aged woman who almost certainly will help him. Chatila’s job is to snatch her handbag and run. It’s mean, it’s shabby, and it’s miserably cheap. Their mark’s purse contains 5 euros, the price of a couple of coffees. They won’t be able to...
Ferrety Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) is masterminding the cousins’ next fundraising operation in one of Athens’s pleasantly proletarian parks, directing his sweet-faced cousin Reda (Aram Sabbah) to fall over on his skateboard in front of a middle-aged woman who almost certainly will help him. Chatila’s job is to snatch her handbag and run. It’s mean, it’s shabby, and it’s miserably cheap. Their mark’s purse contains 5 euros, the price of a couple of coffees. They won’t be able to...
- 5/24/2024
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
The story behind the making of Palestinian-Danish director Mahdi Fleifel’s second feature, To a Land Unknown, is probably as intriguing as the film itself. Shot on the fly in Greece, with production beginning exactly a month after the Hamas attacks of October 7th, the movie was somehow completed in time to premiere at Cannes just over six months later.
That may be something of a record in terms of delivering a feature, but it also speaks to the precarious and volatile situation the film is depicting: that of Palestinian refugees stuck in Athens en route to someplace else, caught in a purgatory between a home they can’t return to and a new one they don’t know.
For best friends Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), the heroes of Fleifel’s melancholic, shaggy-dog street movie, that purgatory has been going on for some time. When we first see the two 20somethings,...
That may be something of a record in terms of delivering a feature, but it also speaks to the precarious and volatile situation the film is depicting: that of Palestinian refugees stuck in Athens en route to someplace else, caught in a purgatory between a home they can’t return to and a new one they don’t know.
For best friends Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), the heroes of Fleifel’s melancholic, shaggy-dog street movie, that purgatory has been going on for some time. When we first see the two 20somethings,...
- 5/23/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The brilliant Palestinian-Danish documentarian Mahdi Fleifel (“A World Not Ours”) leaps successfully into fiction with a feature debut that borrows a narrative container from “Midnight Cowboy” and a tormented soul that is all Palestinian.
The film opens with a quote from the celebrated Palestinian scholar, Edward Said: “In a way, it’s a sort of fate of Palestinians not to end up where they started, but somewhere unexpected and far away.” These words have been cutting since the moment they were first spoken years ago, but released into the world now during the horrific genocide in Gaza, they have an extra, desperate bite, as another generation is forced to seek displacement as the only alternative to violent death. Premiering at Cannes in this climate, Fleifel’s portrait of two individual characters asks questions that cannot be confined to the screen. Where do you belong after you have been driven from your homeland?...
The film opens with a quote from the celebrated Palestinian scholar, Edward Said: “In a way, it’s a sort of fate of Palestinians not to end up where they started, but somewhere unexpected and far away.” These words have been cutting since the moment they were first spoken years ago, but released into the world now during the horrific genocide in Gaza, they have an extra, desperate bite, as another generation is forced to seek displacement as the only alternative to violent death. Premiering at Cannes in this climate, Fleifel’s portrait of two individual characters asks questions that cannot be confined to the screen. Where do you belong after you have been driven from your homeland?...
- 5/22/2024
- by Sophie Monks Kaufman
- Indiewire
Danish-Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel’s assured fiction debut opens in a typical town square in contemporary Athens. The square is leafy and shaded, with plentiful orange trees, but it’s not prettified or bourgeois. The people hanging out there are a mixture of tourists, locals and those of indeterminate status, including Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), a couple of young men seemingly watching the world go by on a nice day in the city. They observe a small boy jumping to snatch an orange from a tree, before setting their sights on an older woman relaxing on a bench. Chatila confirms her as their target and the pair set in motion a modest and well-rehearsed bag-snatching scam.
It’s the first of many attempts the pair will make to raise money. Chatila and Reda are Palestinians, stuck in Athens, hoping to reach Germany. The duo are cousins, and...
It’s the first of many attempts the pair will make to raise money. Chatila and Reda are Palestinians, stuck in Athens, hoping to reach Germany. The duo are cousins, and...
- 5/22/2024
- by Catherine Bray
- Variety Film + TV
The tragic predicament of the Palestinians and what they’re now being subjected to begs to be analyzed and dissected, with various areas of dubious historical consensus put to new scrutiny; in Mahdi Fleifel’s fiction debut To a Land Unknown, we’re solely in a disorienting present tense, where there’s seldom time to think and reflect, only to agitate for survival.
The director himself was raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, a background echoed in the film’s key characters, before he settled in Denmark and studied in the UK; thus, he’s never lived under direct contact with the Israeli occupation. Acclaimed docs followed, most notably I Signed the Petition, a 10-minute short that went semi-viral, concerning the calls to boycott Radiohead’s 2017 concert in Tel Aviv. Evidenced by To a Land Unknown, his move to fiction is quite seamless, if always abetted by the...
The director himself was raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, a background echoed in the film’s key characters, before he settled in Denmark and studied in the UK; thus, he’s never lived under direct contact with the Israeli occupation. Acclaimed docs followed, most notably I Signed the Petition, a 10-minute short that went semi-viral, concerning the calls to boycott Radiohead’s 2017 concert in Tel Aviv. Evidenced by To a Land Unknown, his move to fiction is quite seamless, if always abetted by the...
- 5/22/2024
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Danish-Spanish co-production “Only On Earth,” by award-winning Danish filmmaker Robin Petré, has picked up the top Iefta Docs-in-Progress Award at Cannes Docs, the Cannes Film Market sidebar dedicated to documentary film.
The film forms part of the Five Nordics Showcase, one of eight showcases presenting a total of 34 docs-in-progress this year. The others include Chile, Scotland, Palestine Circle Women Accelerator, Docs By The Sea, the East Doc Platform, and newcomer Switzerland.
“Only On Earth” is described as a journey deep into southern Galicia in Spain, one of Europe’s most vulnerable wildfire zones, during the hottest summer ever measured, where humans and animals alike struggle to cope as inextinguishable fires draw closer.
Composed of Pov senior producer Opal H. Bennet, head of documentary at Ims in Copenhagen, Rasmus Steen, and Ridm artistic co-director Ana Alice de Morais, handing out the award the jury stated:
“The project stood out with its exceptional combination of craft,...
The film forms part of the Five Nordics Showcase, one of eight showcases presenting a total of 34 docs-in-progress this year. The others include Chile, Scotland, Palestine Circle Women Accelerator, Docs By The Sea, the East Doc Platform, and newcomer Switzerland.
“Only On Earth” is described as a journey deep into southern Galicia in Spain, one of Europe’s most vulnerable wildfire zones, during the hottest summer ever measured, where humans and animals alike struggle to cope as inextinguishable fires draw closer.
Composed of Pov senior producer Opal H. Bennet, head of documentary at Ims in Copenhagen, Rasmus Steen, and Ridm artistic co-director Ana Alice de Morais, handing out the award the jury stated:
“The project stood out with its exceptional combination of craft,...
- 5/22/2024
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Dubai-based management and production company 75East has signed Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel, whose narrative feature debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight this year.
75East, was launched last December by former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba under the banner Untamed Talent with a focus on the Swana region (South West Asia and North Africa), and has recently rebranded.
The only Palestinian feature in Cannes this year, To A Land Unknown tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany.
Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
75East, was launched last December by former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba under the banner Untamed Talent with a focus on the Swana region (South West Asia and North Africa), and has recently rebranded.
The only Palestinian feature in Cannes this year, To A Land Unknown tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany.
Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
- 5/21/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Directors’ Fortnight is always a chance to catch films at the Cannes Film Festival off the main drag of the Croisette, out of the main competition, and with an eye toward boundary-breaking works. Mahdi Fleifel’s Directors’ Fortnight world premiere “To a Land Unknown” is the only Palestinian feature to screen at the festival, and IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer below.
The film follows Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), cousins and refugees stranded in Athens and trying to reach Germany. To escape Greece, they hatch a plan to pose as smugglers taking hostages, with dire consequences for their friendship. “It’s especially moving to me, in these incredible times, to present a Palestinian film at Cannes. As Palestinians, we challenge media stereotypes, but more importantly, we defy invisibility, a struggle we’ve faced since the beginning. Our stories are needed now more than ever,” Fleifel, born in Dubai...
The film follows Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), cousins and refugees stranded in Athens and trying to reach Germany. To escape Greece, they hatch a plan to pose as smugglers taking hostages, with dire consequences for their friendship. “It’s especially moving to me, in these incredible times, to present a Palestinian film at Cannes. As Palestinians, we challenge media stereotypes, but more importantly, we defy invisibility, a struggle we’ve faced since the beginning. Our stories are needed now more than ever,” Fleifel, born in Dubai...
- 5/18/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has selected 44 projects for its 2024 spring grants cycle, including Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, which has its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes next Wednesday, May 22.
Fleifel’s fiction feature debut is a crime thriller about a Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of Athens society, who seeks revenge on the smuggler who ripped him off.
Scroll down for the full list of grants
Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Fleifel studied at the UK’s National Film and Television School, and previously made 2012 feature-length documentary A World Not Ours, which played at the Berlinale and Cph:dox.
Fleifel’s fiction feature debut is a crime thriller about a Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of Athens society, who seeks revenge on the smuggler who ripped him off.
Scroll down for the full list of grants
Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Fleifel studied at the UK’s National Film and Television School, and previously made 2012 feature-length documentary A World Not Ours, which played at the Berlinale and Cph:dox.
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
A delegation of Palestinian filmmakers is in Cannes, seeking both international support for projects and the opportunity to alter the discourse on how Palestinians are perceived internationally.
“A lot of the time, in western media, Palestinians are just a bunch of angry Arabs,” suggested Palestine-Denmark filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel, whose debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight. He hopes his film “can contribute a level of humanity to the discourse” on Palestinians.
“People don’t see us as people with dreams, and hopes and fears. I hope that’s what will resonate with audiences.”
To A Land Unknown...
“A lot of the time, in western media, Palestinians are just a bunch of angry Arabs,” suggested Palestine-Denmark filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel, whose debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight. He hopes his film “can contribute a level of humanity to the discourse” on Palestinians.
“People don’t see us as people with dreams, and hopes and fears. I hope that’s what will resonate with audiences.”
To A Land Unknown...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Paris- and Berlin-based sales house Salaud Morisset has picked up international sales duties on Palestinian-Danish director Mahdi Fleifel’s “To a Land Unknown,” which is set to world premiere next month in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. The exclusive first-look image was released Tuesday.
Eurozoom just signed on to release the film in French theaters.
“To a Land Unknown” tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany. Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
Fleifel said, “It’s especially moving to me, in these incredible times,...
Eurozoom just signed on to release the film in French theaters.
“To a Land Unknown” tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany. Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
Fleifel said, “It’s especially moving to me, in these incredible times,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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