Mahdi Fleifel
Lebanon, Great Britain, United Arab Emirats, Denmark, Palestine
2014 | 00:13:30

In 2010, Palestinian Abu Eyad flees with others from the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Ain el-Helweh. The destination they long to reach is Europe. Aided by smugglers, they flee across Syria and Turkey to Greece, a place of projected hopes and paradise rolled into one. But Greece is stuck in a serious economic, political and social crisis and their dreams are soon stifled by a brutal reality that only permits a hand-to-mouth existence. Having absolutely no access to a better life, the young refugees waste their days away in a parallel universe. They take drugs, to escape the boredom and the nothingness. Money for it is earned in street prostitution, where men and women are attended to in equal measure. Only they themselves are left with much too little. Director Mahdi Fleifel provides an intense insight into the realities and everyday existence of the refugees. In 2013, he presented his film A World Not Ours in the Panorama section at the Berlinale, which depicted Abu Eyad's life in a refugee camp. Now, Abu Eyad has escaped and his dreams have become nightmares.

Ridha Tlili, Ayten Mutlu Saray
Tunisia, Switzerland
2014 | 01:30:00

The Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid is famous for being the starting point of the Arab Spring. It was here that Mohamed Bouazizi inflamed himself in December 2010. The place has a long history of resistance, hijacked political ideas and counter-insurgency warfare. Controlling and Punishment is a sensitive portrait of Sidi Bouzid, drawn by its residents with a deep rooted and sharp political consciousness.