Caroline Eferamor King

INTERVIEW: Ameer Fakher Eldin on trauma of exile and meaning of home in his film Yunan

Yunan, premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale13-23 February), where it competed for and won the festival’s highest awards, the Silver Bear and the Golden Bear. Yunan is directed by Fakher Eldin, a writer and filmmaker born in Kyiv in 1991 to Syrian parents from the occupied Golan Heights and is currently based in Hamburg. The film tells the story of Munir, an Arab poet journeying to a remote island to end his life, haunted by his past and trapped within his imagination, accompanied only by an old story told by his mother. However, Munir encounters the enigmatic Valeska and her rough, loyal son Karl on the island. Their simple acts of kindness help him overcome his pains and reawaken his desire to live.