Synopsis
Berlin's historic defunct Tempelhof Airport remains a place of arrivals and departures. Today its massive hangars are used as Germany's largest emergency shelter for asylum seekers, like 18-year-old Syrian refugee Ibrahim. As Ibrahim adjusts to his transitory daily life of social services interviews, German lessons and medical exams, he tries to cope with homesickness and the anxiety of whether or not he will gain residency or be deported.
Original title: Zentralflughafen THF English title: Central Airport THF Country: Germany, France, Brazil Languages: Arabic, English, German, Russian Production year: 2017 Length: 97' Sound: 5.1 Aspect ratio: Scope Frame rate: 25 fps
CREW
Director: Karim Aïnouz Producers: Felix von Boehm, Charlotte Uzu, Diane Maia Production Companies: Lupa film, Les Films d’Ici, Mar Films World sales: Luxbox DOP: Juan Sarmiento G. Editors: Felix von Boehm Music: Benedikt Schiefer Sound design: Moritz Unger Sound: Florian Beck (mixing), Moritz Springer (original sound)
FESTIVALS & AWARDS
Berlin Film Festival
Panorama selection - Amnesty International Award
CPH:DOX
Official competition
Cinéma du Réel
Official competition
Art of the Real
Official selection
Sheffield Doc/Fest
Official competition - Section Doc/Think
International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA)
Masters
Bogota International Film Festival
Films From The South - Oslo Film Festival
KARIM AÏNOUZ
Director/Visual Artist
Aïnouz latest work, the documentary Central Airport THF, will premiere at the 68th Berlinale, Panorama. His latest feature film, Praia do Futuro, had its world premiere at the 64th Berlinale Competition in 2014. Cathedrals of Culture, a 3D film project which features Aïnouz as one of the directors and Wim Wenders as executive producer, premiered at the Berlinale Special that same year. In March 2015, he presented Velázquez - Wild Realism, broadcast by french-german channel ARTE. In 2011 Aïnouz directed Sonnenallee, a visual essay comissioned by the Sharjah Biennial 10. In 2012 he was invited as a juror to the Cinéfondation and Short Film Competition at the Cannes Film Festival and has also figured as a jury member for the Heiner Carow Award at the Berlinale and the Abu Dahbi Film Festival among others. As creative advisor and lecturer Aïnouz has been invited to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, the Rawi Screenwiters Lab in Jordan, Curso de Desarrollo de Proyectos Iberoamericanos in Madrid and institutions such as Princeton University, Birkbeck College, the Wexner Center for the Arts, Massachussets Institute of Technology, EICTV - Cuba, the Department of Cinema Studies - NYU and the San Francisco Art Insitute. Aïnouz´s feature debut, Madame Satã, premiered in 2002 at the Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard. His following films, Love for Sale, and I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You (co-directed with Marcelo Gomes) premiered at the Venice Film Festival - Orizzonti, in 2006 and 2009. In 2011, The Silver Cliff was presented in Cannes at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and won Best Director at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. Aïnouz’s short films and installations have been shown at numerous venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial, the São Paulo Biennial and Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin. Aïnouz is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
FILMOGRAPHY
2018, Zentralflughafen THF (Documentary)
2015, Velázquez - Réalism Sauvage (Documentary)
2014, Cathedrals of Culture (Documentary)
2014, Praia do Futuro
2014, Domingo (Sunday) (Documentary)
2013, The Man Who Defuses Bombs - Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2011, Sonnenallee (Sunny Lane) (Short Documentary)
2011, O Abismo Prateado (The Silver Cliff)
2009, Viajo Porque Preciso, Volto Porque te Amo (I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You)
2008, Alice (TV series)
2006, O Céu de Suely (Suely in the Sky)
2003, Hic Habitat Felicitas (Short)
2002, Madame Satã (Satã)
1994, Paixão Nacional (Short)
1993, Seams (Documentary)
