(Exile)
Visar Morina

Germany – Belgium – Kosovo
2020, HD, col., 121’
German – Albanian o.v.

Sceneggiatura / Screenplay: Visar Morina. Fotografia / Photography: Matteo Cocco. Montaggio / Editing: Laura Lauzemis, Hansjörg Weißbrich, Visar Morina. Musica / Music: Benedikt Schiefer. Suono / Sound: Dirk Bombey. Scenografia / Art Director: Christian Goldbeck. Costumi / Costume Designer: Gitti Fuchs. Interpreti / Cast: Mišel Matičević, Sandra Hüller, Rainer Bock, Thomas Mraz, Flonja Kodheli. Produzione / Produced by: Komplizen Film. Coproduzione / Co-produced by: Frakas Productions, Ikonë Studio, WDR, ARTE, VOO, BeTV. Con il sostegno di / Supported by: Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, German Federal Film Fund, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, Casa Kafka Pictures Movie Tax Shelter Empowered by Belfius, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Eurimages, Kosovo Cinematography Center, German Federal Film Board. Distribuzione internazionale / World Sales: The Match Factory.

ITALIAN PREMIERE

Xhafer, a 45-year-old, Kosovo-born pharmaceutical engineer living in Germany suddenly feels discriminated against and bullied at work because of his ethnic background. When Xhafer finds a dead rat hanging from the gate in front of his home, it is immediately clear to him that his racist colleagues could be behind it. Every occurrence, every word, every gesture is taken as evidence. Xhafer’s uneasiness grows every day. His German wife Nora is tired of him playing the race card all the time. Do his colleagues simply dislike him? Or is there more to their hostility? Is this all in his mind or is it the actual reality?
Best Feature Film at the latest Sarajevo Film Festival.

“The conflict the film portrays is of course autobiographically driven, I came to Germany at the age of fifteen, didn’t speak the language and had to fight for my position both at school and in private … But the film isn’t per se autobiographical … I find that in the West there’s often this great arrogance towards people from economically weak countries. There’s a perceived superiority when it comes to education, freedom of thought and manners … I wrote the script in 2016, and found it to be a very special year. Sentiment towards refugees had turned … I had the feeling the country was changing, that paranoia reigned. My impression was naturally also colored by the material I was dealing with every day… I didn’t make the film with a specifically formulated concern. But I definitely tried to make tangible the structures that can lead to exclusion, and, as I say, the aspect of seeping uncertainty was very important to me.” (V. Morina)

Visar Morina
Film director and screenwriter, Visar Morina was born in Prishtina, now Kosovo, in 1979 and studied at the Cologne Academy of Media Arts. His feature debut Babai received multiple awards and was presented at the Trieste Film Festival in 2016. Exil premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and then was presented at the latest Berlinale and Sarajevo Film Festival.

filmografia scelta / selected filmography
2010 Der Schübling cm / sf 2013 Von Hunden und Tapeten cm / sf 2015 Babai; Premi / Awards: Karlovy Vary IFF: Miglior regia / Best director 2020 Exil (Exile); Premi / Awards: Sarajevo FF – Miglior film / Best Feature Film

Komplizen Film
Berlin, Germany
tel. +49 30 78893340
www.komplizenfilm.de

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Germany
tel. +49 221 5397090
info@matchfactory.de
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