The first trailer for Karim Aïnouz’s new documentary Central Airport THF, which premieres at the Berlin Film Festival next week, has been released.
The film debuts in the Panorama Documentary section on the first Saturday of the festival and was produced by Felix von Boehm, with support from medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. Worldwide sales are handled by LUXBOX.
Set in Berlin around the city’s defunct Tempelhof Airport, the film follows Ibrahim and Qutaiba, two of the thousands of people who have fled their homes and are now refugees living in the building that was once used to house prisoners in World War II.
Aïnouz centres on the daily business of these men - German lessons, medical exams - as they attempt to build a life on the unstable foundations experienced by refugees.
Aïnouz returns to the Berlinale after screening his last film, Futuro Beach, in Competition in 2014. He was also one of the directors on Cathedrals Of Culture, a 3D film about the soul of buildings executive produced by Wim Wenders, which premiered in the Berlinale Special that year.
With this film he was keen to change the narrative on portrayals of Arabic men. “I wanted to portray [them] differently from how the mainstream media usually portrays them…they’re people trying to rebuild their lives.” The airport was the ideal site to tell this story as it “reflects very well the various layers of Germany’s historical contradictions.”
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