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Lead actors of Ameer Fakher Eldin’s YUNAN win awards at the 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival
24 April 2025
Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin’s YUNAN brings a story set on a lofty windswept island, to the 49th edition of Hong Kong's renowned International Film Festival, where leading actors George Khabbaz and Hanna Schygula won Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. The festival was held from April 10th to the 21st.
The festival jurist, speaking on their remarkable achievement, stated “Georges Khabbaz’s performance captures the alienation and ache of a lost soul yearning for the comfort of home. His nuanced portrayal reveals the inner turmoil of someone grappling with their identity in a foreign land, bringing emotional depth and authenticity to the character’s struggle, while Hanna Schygulla’s performance brings a warm, maternal presence to the film—offering comfort and tenderness in an otherwise harsh world. Her delightful humour adds a spark of levity, while her grounded strength asserts itself in a predominantly male environment. The result is a beautifully cohesive and emotionally resonant portrayal.”
YUNAN, the second film in Ameer Fakher Eldin’s HOME trilogy, continues his exploration of estrangement that began with his award-winning 2021 debut, THE STRANGER. The film follows a disillusioned Arab writer living in exile in Hamburg who travels to a remote North Sea island with thoughts of ending his life. There, he meets an elderly woman whose quiet humanity reawakens his will to live.
In reviews, Christoph Petersen of Filmstarts noted how actor George Khabbaz aptly conveyed a sense of sorrow, while Hauvick Habéchian, writing of Independent Arabia, highlighted Schygulla’s enduring legacy as an icon of German cinema.
Directed, written, and edited by Fakher Eldin, YUNAN is a Canadian-German-Italian co-production with additional support from Palestine, Qatar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The cast includes Lebanese star George Khabbaz of Oscar-nominated CAPERNAUM, German actress Hanna Schygulla, Palestinian actor Ali Suleiman of PARADISE NOW, and GAME OF THRONES stars Sibel Kekilli and Thomas Wlaschiha. The film features a score by Suad Bushnaq, cinematography by Ronald Plante, and production design by Marie-Luise Balzer.
Ameer Fakher Eldin is a Syrian director and writer based in Hamburg, Germany. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1991 to Syrian parents from the occupied Golan Heights.
His planned trilogy’s first film, THE STRANGER, premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Edipo Re Award.
The film then went on to screen at the Cairo International Film Festival — where it won the Shadi Abdel-Salam Award for Best Film in the Critics’ Week Competition as well as Best Arab Film — along with the Durban, Melbourne, Hamburg, Vancouver, Sydney, and Valencia film festivals. It was also selected to be Palestine’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, and won the award for Best Cinematography at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Currently, Fakher Eldin is working on the final installment, NOSTALGIA: A TALE IN ITS FIRST CHAPTERS which is a joint international production between Syria, Palestine, Germany, and Italy and was awarded the Red Sea Fund for Development.
The festival jurist, speaking on their remarkable achievement, stated “Georges Khabbaz’s performance captures the alienation and ache of a lost soul yearning for the comfort of home. His nuanced portrayal reveals the inner turmoil of someone grappling with their identity in a foreign land, bringing emotional depth and authenticity to the character’s struggle, while Hanna Schygulla’s performance brings a warm, maternal presence to the film—offering comfort and tenderness in an otherwise harsh world. Her delightful humour adds a spark of levity, while her grounded strength asserts itself in a predominantly male environment. The result is a beautifully cohesive and emotionally resonant portrayal.”
YUNAN, the second film in Ameer Fakher Eldin’s HOME trilogy, continues his exploration of estrangement that began with his award-winning 2021 debut, THE STRANGER. The film follows a disillusioned Arab writer living in exile in Hamburg who travels to a remote North Sea island with thoughts of ending his life. There, he meets an elderly woman whose quiet humanity reawakens his will to live.
In reviews, Christoph Petersen of Filmstarts noted how actor George Khabbaz aptly conveyed a sense of sorrow, while Hauvick Habéchian, writing of Independent Arabia, highlighted Schygulla’s enduring legacy as an icon of German cinema.
Directed, written, and edited by Fakher Eldin, YUNAN is a Canadian-German-Italian co-production with additional support from Palestine, Qatar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The cast includes Lebanese star George Khabbaz of Oscar-nominated CAPERNAUM, German actress Hanna Schygulla, Palestinian actor Ali Suleiman of PARADISE NOW, and GAME OF THRONES stars Sibel Kekilli and Thomas Wlaschiha. The film features a score by Suad Bushnaq, cinematography by Ronald Plante, and production design by Marie-Luise Balzer.
Ameer Fakher Eldin is a Syrian director and writer based in Hamburg, Germany. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1991 to Syrian parents from the occupied Golan Heights.
His planned trilogy’s first film, THE STRANGER, premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Edipo Re Award.
The film then went on to screen at the Cairo International Film Festival — where it won the Shadi Abdel-Salam Award for Best Film in the Critics’ Week Competition as well as Best Arab Film — along with the Durban, Melbourne, Hamburg, Vancouver, Sydney, and Valencia film festivals. It was also selected to be Palestine’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, and won the award for Best Cinematography at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Currently, Fakher Eldin is working on the final installment, NOSTALGIA: A TALE IN ITS FIRST CHAPTERS which is a joint international production between Syria, Palestine, Germany, and Italy and was awarded the Red Sea Fund for Development.
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