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29 Jan – 8 Feb 2026

Mahdi Fleifel

Mahdi FLEIFEL (1979, United Arab Emirates) is a Danish-Palestinian filmmaker and visual artist who was born in Dubai, grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon and moved to Denmark in 1988. Fuelled by his own experience, his films frequently deal with refugees. His debut feature, A World Not Ours (2012), received over 30 awards from different festivals and in 2016 he received a Silver Bear Jury Prize for his short, A Man Returned.

Filmography

Shadi in the Beautiful Well (2003, short), Hamoudi & Emil (2004, short), The Writer (2007, short), Arafat & I (2008, short), Four Weeks (2009, short), Alam laysa lana/A World Not Ours (2012, doc), Visit Palestine (2012, instal), Xenos (2013, short doc), 20 Handshakes for Peace (2013, short), A Man Returned (2016, short doc), A Drowning Man (2017, short), I Signed the Petition (2018, short doc), 3 Logical Exits (2020, short doc)

More info: Wikipedia, Mahdi Fleifel

Mahdi Fleifel op IFFR

  • 3 Logical Exits

    Mahdi Fleifel | 15' | Denmark | World premiere

    A claustrophobic sociological contemplation of the escape routes open to young Palestinians from their dead-end lives in refugee camps.
  • 20 Handshakes for Peace

    Mahdi Fleifel | 3' | Germany | None

    The Oslo Accords handshake between Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton repeated 20 times; tainted by countless shattered hopes.
  • A Man Returned

    Mahdi Fleifel | 30' | Lebanon | World premiere

    In a Palestinian refugee camp, Reda’s parents have found a bride who is to calm his life. A bittersweet love story.
  • Xenos

    Mahdi Fleifel | 12' | Greece | -

    Intimate amalgam of phone calls, photographs and video footage provides a glimpse of the daily harsh reality of a group of Palestinian refugees in Athens.…
  • A Drowning Man

    Mahdi Fleifel | 15' | Denmark | None

    Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel is back with a short fiction film in which a young man does his utmost to survive in a foreign country.