CHICAGO THEATRICAL PREMIERE 

After escaping a refugee camp in Lebanon, two Palestinian cousins, Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), find themselves stranded in the streets of Athens, trapped in a suffocating limbo. 

With no money, no passports, and no way forward, they cling to a desperate hope of reaching Germany. To survive, they hustle relentlessly, scraping together what little they can to buy fake passports that could facilitate their escape. But when Reda blows their hard-earned savings on heroin, their dream seems to slip beyond reach. In a moment of crushing despair, Chatila is forced to make an impossible decision, so they devise a desperate plan, one that will turn them into the very thing they despise the most: smugglers.  

Mahdi Fleifel (A World Not Ours), a Danish-Palestinian director, channels the raw energy of both documentary filmmaking and gritty 70s Hollywood cinema in his debut feature. The film is a powerful, stripped-back thriller about exile, survival, and the haunting distance between who you were and who you have become. Fleifel has made a compelling and unflinching portrayal of the migrant experience, making it an unforgettable and timely exploration of human resilience. To a Land Unknown is a gripping refugee drama that was received with a standing ovation at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.