Presented by the Goethe-Institut Toronto
with POV Magazine & Hot Docs
Outrage, hatred, excess — exit? What draws or drives people to the radical fringes of expression and action, what can get them out? In an era of global authoritarianism, with extremist movements attracting a motley crew of followers –male, female, political, religious, opportunist– what can be done to counteract the lure of the pied pipers and (re-)integrate former fanatics into civil society?
GOETHE FILMS offers a recent feature and two documentaries, with filmmaker and expert introductions, and a further watch list, to shine a light on the dangers of violent intolerance and the dangers of turning a blind eye.
4-6 March 2021 6pm-6pm streaming window
"The Renegades – A Long Way Home" (Germany, 2020, 75 min.), documentary directed by Mariam Noori & Lisa Maria Hagen, starring Meral Keskin, Oliver N., Wolfgang Blaschitz, Ismail Özen-Otto, Clemens Desero and others
Bonus material: Commentary by the filmmakers
It was what her brother wanted – a martyr’s death. Meral Keskin gets a voice message informing her that her little brother Ferhat, a fighter for ISIS, has died. Yet she is convinced that the boy from Hamburg is still alive and will come back home. The messages and pictures her brother sent home before he broke off contact assist her in her search for answers. One of them shows a group of heavily armed German ISIS fighters in front of a Jeep. Almost everyone in the picture is dead or missing. Only Oliver has returned, a war veteran at just 21 years old, with 19 shrapnel fragments in his body and blind in one eye. He also has no answers or explanations for his actions, nor Ferhat’s. Oliver seeks a pathway back into society, navigating between feelings of shame and guilt – just like thousands of other young Europeans who came back to their home countries with the last wave of returnees.
“In Renegades – A Long Way Home, Noori and Hagen succeed in balancing the complex contemporary theme and very personal stories thanks to the two thoughtful protagonists who allow a remarkably in-depth look into their feelings of shame and guilt.” -- taz.de
“The film’s footage is extremely gripping and close. The camera reveals scars from grenades, raw footage of the violence in Syria, and the tears of relatives. Renegades – A Long Way Home is just daring enough to let the viewer understand the terrifying reality of war.” – WDR COSMO
“The filmmakers followed Meral for two years in search of her brother. The documentary takes a rare perspective: that of the perpetrators and their families.” – NDR Hamburg Journal
Trailer
Festivals:
Internationale Hofer Filmtage (2020)
Nordische Filmtage (2021)
Mariam Noori was born in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan, in 1987. Growing up in Hamburg, Germany she early on found her calling by becoming a journalist. She started her career in 2016 working for the German media outlet Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Besides her current engagement as a political journalist on the editorial team of the investigative news format Panorama as well as the NDR Youtube format STRG_F, Noori’s focus is on creating documentaries based around issues such as immigration, marginalized communities, and the Middle East.
Lisa Maria Hagen is a journalist at NDR, North-German Broadcasting Corporation.
Tailored to fit the moment, GOETHE FILMS resume at the digital TIFF Bell Lightbox with exclusive online access for Canadian viewers. All tickets on sale 4 days prior to screening. Once purchased, viewers will have a 48h-watch window to hit play. After hitting play, you have 24h to watch the film once. For further questions visit digital TIFF FAQs, contact TIFF customer support at customerrelations@tiff.net, or the TIFF support chat at tiff.net/help daily from 2- 8 pm (incl. weekends and holidays).
Part of the Goethe-Institut focus on German film
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