Berlinale 2018

Documentary - out of competition

Production: zero one film in co-production with Thelma Film, Ormenis Film

International Sales: Films Boutique

PRESS DAYS: Thursday 22/02 & Friday 23/02

Talents available: Markus Imhoof (director)

Press Screening: Thursday Feb 22 I 09:00 I Berlinale Palast
Official Photocall: Thursday Feb 22 I 10:45 I Hyatt Hotel Photocall Room
Press Conference: Thursday Feb 22 I 11:00 I Hyatt Hotel Press Conference Room

Official Screening: Thursday Feb 22 I 15:30 I Berlinale Palast

Additional Screenings:

Saturday Feb 24 I 09:30 I Zoo Palast 1

Saturday Feb 24 I 22:30 I International

Throughout history, there have always been refugees. They used to come from places closer to home: In the lean years of WW II and its direct aftermath, the family of Swiss director Markus Imhoof took in Giovanna, an undernourished Italian girl as part of a limited-term program for children. When her stay ended, the Swiss government insisted on sending Giovanna back to Italy. She died of illness soon after being forced to return.

Imhoof takes this early experience of personal loss as a point of entry to the ongoing refugee crisis, the biggest mass displacement of people since WW II. With extraordinary access, Imhoof takes us on a journey with deep personal roots through the Italian warships of Operation Mare Nostrum, refugee camps in Southern Italy, asylum hearings with Swiss authorities, all designed to turn back refugees at all levels.

What emerges is a stark picture of an absurd and inhuman process that fails to address a human tragedy: a crisis caused by economic imbalances turning the rich countries of the North into the Eldorado that so many of the less fortunate try to reach at all cost. The “Promised Land” is based on a broken promise.