Xenos (Greek: ξένος, xénos) stranger, enemy, alien
In 2010, Abu Eyad and other young Palestinian men from the Ainel-Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon traveled with smugglers through Syria and Turkey into Greece. Like so many other migrants, they came looking for a way into Europe but found themselves trapped in a country undergoing economic, political, and social collapse. Xenos is a short documentary blending footage shot on visits to Athens in 2011 with phone conversations recorded during Abu Eyad’s time there. It tells of his day-to-day struggle for survival and enduring sense of exile in a land of hope that has become a nightmare.
Mahdi Fleifel
Born in Dubai, Mahdi Fleifel lives and works between Denmark, England and Greece. A graduate of the UK’s National Film & Television School, he studied Fiction Directing under Stephen Frears and Pawel Pawlikowski. In 2010 he founded the London based production company Nakba FilmWorks with Irish producer Patrick Campbell. Fleifel’s critically acclaimed debut feature, A WORLD NOT OURS, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received over 30 awards, including the Berlinale Peace Prize, and the Edinburgh, Yamagata and DOC:NYC Grand Jury Prizes. He was named Best New Nordic Voice at Nordisk Panorama, and received the New Talent Award at CPH:DOX in 2013. In 2016, Fleifel won a Silver Bear for A MAN RE-TURNED. His follow up, A DROWNING MAN, was selected in the Official Competition at Cannes, and was nominated for a BAFTA. His last film, I SIGNED THE PETITION, won Best Documentary Short at IDFA and was nominated for the 2018 European Film Awards.