In our Monthly Film Series, we will show a variety of GERMAN or GERMAN language films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On the 2nd Wednesday of each month, audiences will now have a chance to see these films on a regular basis at the CLINTON STREET THEATER. (Children movies will be playing on Sunday afternoons – please check our website.) All films are with English subtitles.

Exil (Exile)

WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2022 – 7:00 PM

Germany / Belgium / Republic Kosovo – 2020 – 121 minutes

Director: Visar Morina

Cast: Mišel Matičević, Sandra Hüller, Rainer Bock, Thomas Mraz 

First, there’s a dead rat hanging on the door of the house where Xhafer lives with his wife and children. Then the emails he sends are ‘accidentally’ no longer being received. The signs that this pharmaceutical engineer is being bullied and harassed in his workplace are increasing. Even if neither his wife nor his colleagues seem to believe him, this man, who is originally from Kosovo but who has been well integrated for years, feels more and more outcast from his (German) community. Or is he losing touch with reality?
In his second feature-length film, director Visar Morina dissects the psychological effects of social exclusion and presents them here as an interplay between belonging and alienation. Morina combines subtle images that gradually shift according to his protagonist’s state with meticulous performances from his ensemble, to describe the importance of personality when it comes to integrating into another society, and how quickly cracks can develop in the supposedly firm construct that is identity.

Visar Morina

Born in 1979 in Pristina, Kosovo, in the former Yugoslavia, Visar Morina studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. His second feature film Exil was presented in the Panorama section of the Berlinale in 2020.

Filmography

2010 Der Schübling (Death by Suffocation); 30 min. 2013 Von Hunden und Tapeten (Of Dogs and Wallpaper); 29 min. 2015 Babai; 104 min. 2020 Exil (Exile); 121 min.

© Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021

Auteur Film Festival, Serbia 2020

Winner
Best Screenplay
Visar Morina

Durban International Film Festival 2020

Nominee
Best Film
International Competition
Visar Morina

German Film Critics Association Awards 2021

Winner
German Film Critics Award
Best Actor (Bester Darsteller)
Misel Maticevic
Nominee
German Film Critics Award
Best Film (Bester Spielfilm)
Visar Morina
Best Screenplay (Bestes Drehbuch)
Visar Morina
Best Film Score (Beste Musik)
Benedikt Schiefer

German Screenplay Award 2018

Winner
Screenplay Award
German Screenplay Award
Visar Morina (writer)
Komplizen Film

Guenter Rohrbach Filmpreis 2020

Winner
Günter Rohrbach Filmpreis
Best Film
Visar Morina
Best Male Actor
Misel Maticevic

Haifa International Film Festival 2020

Nominee
Carmel Award
Best International Film
Visar Morina

Hong Kong International Film Festival 2020

Nominee
Golden Firebird Award
Young Cinema
Visar Morina

Istanbul International Film Festival 2020

Nominee
Golden Tulip
International Competition
Visar Morina

Prague International Film Festival 2021

Nominee
Amnesty International Febio Fest Award
Best Film
Visar Morina

Sarajevo Film Festival 2020

Winner
Cineuropa Award
Visar Morina
Winner
Heart of Sarajevo
Best Film
Visar Morina

 

Seville European Film Festival 2020

Nominee
New Waves Award
Best Film
Visar Morina

Sundance Film Festival 2020

Nominee
Grand Jury Prize
World Cinema – Dramatic
Visar Morina

São Paulo International Film Festival 2020

Nominee
New Directors Competition
Best Fiction
Visar Morina

Taipei Film Festival 2020

Winner
Taiwan Film Critics Society Award
Visar Morina
Nominee
International New Talent Competition – Grand Prize
Visar Morina

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2020

Nominee
Meet the Neighbors Competition
Visar Morina

Trieste Film Festival 2021

Winner
Special Mention
Best Film
Visar Morina
Nominee
Prize Trieste
Best Film
Visar Morina

Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD) Awards 2020

Nominee
SIYAD Award
Best Foreign Film

16th Place

Zurich Film Festival 2020

Nominee
Golden Eye
Best Film in Focus Switzerland, Germany, Austria
Visar Morina