Ameer Fakher Eldin’s YUNAN embarks on a journey to Italy, Milan!

The 34th edition of the festival will run from March 21st to the 30th.

The screening and Q&A is set to screen at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, March 25th at the Cineteca Milano Arlecchino, while the second screening will be held at 1 pm on the following day at the same venue.

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 GAME OF THRONES stars Sibel Kekilli and Thomas Wlaschiha, with Lebanese theatre thespian Nidal El Ashkar.

The film is scored by the multiple 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.

In reviews, Deadline’s Jay Weissberg lauded the expertise of both cinematographer Ronald Plante and MAD Crew composer Suad Bushnaq, while Guy Lodge of Variety aptly described it as “a plangent yearning for home, or at least belonging, from foreign shores.”

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.”