Featuring a post-film, virtual Q&A with director director Andreas Dresen.
October 2001. Bremen, Germany. For Rabiye Kurnaz, a loving wife and mother, her close-knit Turkish-German immigrant family is the center of her world. Shortly after her oldest son Murat goes missing, the Kurnaz’ learn that he has been arrested in Pakistan, detained without trial and sent to the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp as a suspected terrorist.
Rabiye immediately springs into action, but soon finds herself alone and out of her depth. Things change when Bernhard Docke, a level-headed human rights lawyer, takes on her case. Together, the two find themselves enmeshed in global politics as they battle for the release of her son, all the way to the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
Directed by Andreas Dresen
DCP, 119 min Germany/France 2022
SELECT AWARDS:
German Film Awards 2022: Best Film (Silver), Best Lead Actress (Meltem Kaptan), Best Supporting Actor (Alexander Scheer). Berlinale 2022: Guild Film Award Best Screenpay -Silver, Best Lead Actress - Siver (Meltem Kaptan)
© Peter Hartwig
Though little known in the U.S.,
Andreas Dresen is one of the most respected filmmakers in contemporary German cinema. Born and raised in the former German Democratic Republic, Dresen frequently portrays small-town, regular life in post-unification Germany. His specific directing style is based on improvisation which results in extraordinary acting accomplishments and a feeling of almost documentary-like realism.
Dresen was born in 1963 in Gera, East Germany. In the early ’80s, he began working in theater and making short films. He studied directing at the HFF “Konrad Wolf ” Potsdam-Babelsberg. Since 1992, he has been working as a writer and director for film, TV, theater and opera.
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