INTERNATIONALES KURZFILMFESTIVAL

15. – 20. OKTOBER 2024

ONLINE UND IM KINO

Opening Film Festival

06th of October 21.00 Uhr

Muhi - Generally, Temporary

Director: Rina Castelnuovo, Tamir Elterman 

Dokumentary | Israel, Germany 2017 | 

85 Minuten | Distribution: Neue Celluloid Fabrik  

Live Screening at

Puschkino

Kardinal Albrecht Strasse 6 | 06108 Halle

Online availability

not available

Synopsis:

Muhi, the son of a Hamas activist, is transferred as an infant from the Gaza Strip to an Israeli hospital for treatment of a life-threatening illness in order to save his life. Only his grandfather Abu Naim is allowed to accompany him. At the age of two, his condition worsens dramatically and the doctors are forced to amputate his limbs. Muhi settles in: with artificial arms and legs, in the circle of his loving carers, between his home and his homeland. His return to Gaza would be a certain death sentence due to the desolate health care, but he and his grandfather are forbidden to enter Israeli soil by Israeli security regulations. Months turn into years and Muhi, now seven years old, spends his entire life so far in this hospital. Lovingly cared for by Abu Naim, his grandfather, and Buma Inbar, an Israeli war veteran who lost his own son in the war.

Muhi is growing up under paradoxical circumstances - rescued, treated and raised by the "enemy" of his people, while his real family lives in Gaza. He will have to leave the hospital for good in the summer to go to school. A dilemma for all involved that demands a difficult decision: will Muhi grow up in Israel without his family or, at the risk of his life, return to Gaza?

In the tug-of-war over Muhi's future, various sides exert pressure: the Israeli hospital, his family in Gaza, his two "surrogate fathers" and the politics that inevitably surround the child. From the inside and from a very personal narrative perspective, the documentary depicts how complex the situation is, how much it determines people's lives and even influences those who, like Muhi, are involuntarily drawn into it. But also how it keeps going despite seemingly unsolvable situations. We follow Muhi's path, how his life develops and what future opens up.