Watch the trailer: A World Not Ours premieres Monday, August 18, 2014, at 10 PM on PBS stations. (Check local listings.)
“Passionate, ironic, bittersweet, a docu that flips storytelling and Mideast-Arab cliches on their heads, while weaving an irresistible mood of amused melancholy.” — John Anderson, Variety
“An engagingly accessible chronicle of a friendship, a family and a place.” — Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter
A World Not Ours is a passionate, bittersweet account of one family’s multi-generational experience living as permanent refugees. Now a Danish resident, director Mahdi Fleifel grew up in the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, established in 1948 as a temporary refuge for exiled Palestinians. Today, the camp houses 70,000 people and is the hometown of generations of Palestinians.
The filmmaker’s childhood memories are surprisingly warm and humorous, a testament to the resilience of the community. Yet his yearly visits reveal the increasing desperation of family and friends who remain trapped in psychological as well as political limbo.
Official Selection of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival.
After the broadcast, visit the A World Not Ours companion site to watch the film online for free for a limited time following the broadcast, learn about the making of the film in an extended video interview, view photos, get an update on what’s happened to the characters since the cameras stopped rolling, download a discussion guide and other viewing resources.
Ask the filmmaker, Mahdi Fleifel, your questions live on Tuesday, August 19, 2014, (the day after broadcast) from 1 to 2 PM ET (10-11 AM PT).
“In many ways, my film is about memory and the need to remember,” says Fleifel in a filmmaker’s statement. “Forgetting for us Palestinians would simply mean ceasing to exist. Our fight throughout history, and still today, is to remain visible. Making this film was a way of reinforcing and strengthening our collective memory. But most important, it was a way to keep a record of my own family history.”
A World Not Ours premieres Monday, August 18, 2014, at 10 PM on PBS stations. (Check local listings.)
For more updates from POV’s 2014 season, subscribe to POV’s documentary blog, like POV on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @povdocs.
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