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- 2025
- Watermelon Pictures
- 1 h 45 m
- 2025
- Watermelon Pictures
- 1 h 45 m
Summary Reda and Chatila are two Palestinian cousins hustling their way through the underbelly of Athens pursuing their dream of making it to Germany. But as their hardship grows, so too does their desperation. When Chatila hatches a reckless all-or-nothing plan, it strains their bond and pushes the limits of what they will do for freedom.
Directed By: Mahdi Fleifel
Written By: Mahdi Fleifel, Fyzal Boulifa, Jason McColgan
- 2025
- Watermelon Pictures
- 1 h 45 m
- 2025
- Watermelon Pictures
- 1 h 45 m
To a Land Unknown
6.2
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Summary Reda and Chatila are two Palestinian cousins hustling their way through the underbelly of Athens pursuing their dream of making it to Germany. But as their hardship grows, so too does their desperation. When Chatila hatches a reckless all-or-nothing plan, it strains their bond and pushes the limits of what they will do for freedom.
Directed By: Mahdi Fleifel
Written By: Mahdi Fleifel, Fyzal Boulifa, Jason McColgan
Where to Watch
Coming Soon
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 16 Critic Reviews
84
100% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 16 Critic Reviews
84
100% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jul 10, 2025
To a Land Unknown is unquestionably topical. It’s also rooted in a well-known movie tradition, films that are empathetic portraits of low-level urban criminals struggling for survival and dignity.
Jul 11, 2025
To a Land Unknown presents the cousins’ ordeal as something no person should have to go through, something unnatural and surreal and Kafkaesque. But there’s also a creeping devastation in how the film convinces us of their pain and of all the opportunities and chances that were stolen from them through statelessness.
Jul 11, 2025
In its quiet reflection on the limited choices of those backed into a corner, the drama elegantly conveys how a people’s continued persecution not only starves, shoots, and bombs individuals, but erodes the solidarity of their whole.
Jul 15, 2025
Stripped away off all privileges, a shell of a human remains, a carcass, and that glimmer of hope that keeps one going is the driving nucleus of the lyrical and timely To a Land Unknown.
Jul 18, 2025
Fleifel’s film favors well-paced if slightly schematic prose, though the actors are more than good enough to keep you with these people every fraught minute.
Jul 11, 2025
The sobering note on which the movie ends recalls a stone-cold classic from a sadly long-gone era of moviemaking. The homage actually functions as a token of this movie’s integrity and heartfelt sadness.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 13 User Ratings
6.2
54% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
23% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
23% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 13 User Ratings
6.2
54% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
23% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
23% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Jul 18, 2025
For those seeking sanctuary and the prospects of a better life, the hope of reaching a promised land holds an abiding attraction. That’s particularly true for those who are desperate to change their fates, and perhaps no one understands this better than refugees seeking to flee their circumstances. Unfortunately, that promise is often just that – a promise – and one that’s frequently and perpetually out of reach. Such are the conditions addressed in writer-director Mahdi Fleifel’s narrative feature debut, the story of Palestinian cousins Chatila (Mahmoud Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), who, like many Middle Eastern migrants, have left behind their lives in Lebanese refugee camps for the hope of a better future in Europe. Their goal is to relocate to Germany, but, as with many of their peers, their journey stalls in Greece, the gateway to the heart of the continent and their eventual destination. The cousins lack the funds to pay smugglers for counterfeit documents and passage, so they live on the streets of Athens, struggling to find ways to get by, including theft, hustling and taking advantage of others. Their plight is a frustrating one, a scenario made more complicated by Reda’s on-again/off-again drug use, a condition that repeatedly results in financial fits and starts and growing anxiety over the duo’s inability to move forward. This, in turn, launches them into pursuing an array of increasingly dangerous schemes to fulfill their plans, but will these questionable ploys pan out? The film thus plumbs the desperation that they, like many refugees, often repeatedly experience, especially under present-day conditions. In doing so, the film earnestly evokes a profound degree of empathy for the characters’ exasperating circumstances and generally without judgment, outcomes made possible in large part by the compelling performances of the picture’s two leads. The mood underlying this story is further enhanced by its aptly employed grainy, suitably gritty 16mm cinematography, visually reinforcing the nature of everyday living experienced by the beleaguered protagonists. What’s more, this offering draws heavily from the narratives of “Midnight Cowboy” (1969) and “Casablanca” (1942), including many plot elements that pay fitting homages to these storied Oscar winners. However, for all its strengths, this release tends to meander at times, with some sequences that go insufficiently resolved and others that feel more than a little convoluted. Moreover, on occasion it feels as if the filmmaker was ambivalent about which storyline choices he wanted to make – those of a truly original cinematic tale or those of a picture aimed at giving well-intentioned but somewhat underdeveloped nods to the screen classics from which it derived much of its influence, resulting in something of a mixed bag. Those modest shortcomings aside, however, “To a Land Unknown” effectively provides viewers with a look inside a world that most of us never see but to which we seriously need to have our eyes opened.
Report
Aug 3, 2025
Eu tô meio tolerância zero pra vagabundos, e isso reflete não o filme, mas meu estado de espírito ao assistir, então me incomodou muito ter que torcer pros trambiqueiros, só queria que eles se dessem super mal, não criei vínculo algum com essa história arrastada. Ao menos o roteiro tem a dignidade de não espetacularizar essa jornada, ganhando pontos no tom realista. Talvez numa revisão minha nota suba.
Report
Production Company
- Inside Out Films
- DKF
- Doha Film Institute
- ERT World
- Greek Film Centre (GFC)
- Homemade Films
- Metafora Production
- Nakba Filmworks
- Red Sea Film Fund
- Salaud Morisset
- Studio Ruba
- ZDF/Arte
Release Date Jul 11, 2025
Duration 1 h 45 m
Awards
International Cinephile Society Awards
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
Malaysia International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Amman International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
