Foreign Land

Gassan Abbas and Shlomi Eldar were both at a crossroads. Abbas was once an Israeli sit-com star, while Eldar was an Arab Affairs correspondent for the national news. Things changed: Abbas, a Palestinian, is no longer getting roles, while Eldar’s reportage is ushered to the margins of the daily news. Where does life take these men now? Eldar’s first documentary was the impossibly moving Precious Life, which screened at the Festival in 2011. His follow-up is only stronger, wiser and more personal. Foreign Land tracks the mid-life detours of two extraordinary men, placing emphasis on their encounter with someone who lost everything to Israel’s ongoing conflict yet refuses to succumb to hate. This is an incisive and important film about taking distance to see things more clearly, and knowing when it’s time to start afresh. (Miami Film Festival)