A Man Returned
Mahdi Fleifel April 27, 2020, 16:00
Film screening.
Reda is 26 years old. His dreams of escaping the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain El-Helweh ended in failure after three years trapped in Greece. He returned with a heroin addiction to life in a camp being torn apart by internal strife and the encroachment of war from Syria. Against all odds he decides to marry his childhood sweetheart; a love story, bittersweet as the camp itself. The film won the Silver Bear at Berlinale in 2016.
Born in Dubai, Mahdi Fleifel lives and works between Denmark, England and Greece. A graduate of the UK’s National Film & Television School, he studied Fiction Directing under Stephen Frears and Pawel Pawlikowski. In 2010 he founded the London based production company Nakba FilmWorks with Irish producer Patrick Campbell. Fleifel’s critically acclaimed debut feature, A WORLD NOT OURS, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received over 30 awards, including the Berlinale Peace Prize, and the Edinburgh, Yamagata and DOC: NYC Grand Jury Prizes. He was named Best New Nordic Voice at Nordisk Panorama, and received the New Talent Award at CPH: DOX in 2013. In 2016 Fleifel won a Silver Bear for A MAN RETURNED. His follow up, A DROWNING MAN, was selected in the Official Competition at Cannes, and was nominated for a BAFTA. His last film, I SIGNED THE PETITION, won Best Documentary Short at IDFA and was nominated for the 2018 European Film Awards.
Mahdi Fleifel was an artist in residence at Dar Jacir in the fall of 2019 where he was working on the script and casting for his new film.
This event was part of Dar Jacir's online program organized in response to the coronavirus emergency. Foregrounding solidarity and care our program focused on bringing together our family of artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers and dancers to lead programs and remain connected while we are physically separated.
