Best of Fest Encores
How to Watch
An African immigrant struggles to make a new life for himself in the big city in director-co-writer Burhan Qurbani’s audacious, neon-lit reinterpretation of Alfred Doblin’s 1929 novel, a modernist classic. Forget the 1980 R.W. Fassbinder version; this is a film with its finger on the pulse of our time.
After surviving his perilous journey, Francis (the charismatic Welket Bungué) vows to become a good man, but he soon realizes how difficult it is to be righteous when you are an illegal refugee in Germany – without papers, without a nationality and without a work permit. When he receives an enticing offer for easy money from the psychopathic gangster Reinhold, Francis initially resists temptation, but eventually he is sucked into Berlin's underworld and his life spirals out of control. Winner, Best Film, Best Actor, Stockholm Film Festival; Best Supporting Actor, Best Score, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, German Film Awards. (Alissa Simon)
Director Biography
Burhan Qurbani was born in Erkelenz, West Germany in 1980, after his family escaped during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. He studied at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. He is the director of the features Women Interrupted (2009), Faith (Shahada) (2010) and We Are Young, We Are Strong (Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark.) (2014).
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