A meer Fakher Eldin’s Canada/Germany/Italy coproduction Yunan will world premiere in competition at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).
Yunan is among 19 features selected to compete for the festival’s coveted golden and silver bear awards, including Blue Moon from U.S. director Richard Linklater and Dreams from Mexico’s Michel Franco.
The film is produced by Dorothe Beinemeier from Germany’s Red Balloon Film, Catherine Chagnon from Sutton, Que.-based Microclimat Films, and Marco Valerio Fusco and Micaela Fusco from Italy’s Intramovies. Yunan was produced in collaboration with Palestine’s Fresco Films and Qatar’s Metafora Production, in association with Jordanian production services company Tabi360 and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund.
The Arabic- and German-language film received Telefilm funding in August 2023 and production and post-production funding from La Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles last April.
Kyiv-born and Hamburg-based Eldin wrote, directed and edited the film, with cinematography by Quebec’s Ronald Plante and an original score from Jordanian-Canadian composer Suad Bushnaq.
The 124-minute Yunan follows a man journeying to a remote island to commit suicide, only to encounter an enigmatic woman and her loyal son. The film stars Georges Khabbaz (pictured left), Hanna Schygulla (pictured right), Ali Suliman, Sibel Kekilli, Tom Wlaschiha and Nidal Al Achkar.
Filmoption International has Canadian distribution rights with a release scheduled later this year. Intramovies is handling international sales.
Other Canadian films making their world premiere at Berlinale include Denis Côté’s documentary Paul, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli’s Honey Bunch and Zacharias Kunuk’s Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband).
Berlinale runs from Feb. 13 to 23.
Image courtesy of Microclimat Films