Exil

Exile
First, there’s a dead rat hanging on the door of the house where Xhafer lives with his wife and children. Then the emails he sends are ‘accidentally’ no longer being received. The signs that this pharmaceutical engineer is being bullied and harassed in his workplace are increasing. Even if neither his wife nor his colleagues seem to believe him, this man, who is originally from Kosovo but who has been well integrated for years, feels more and more outcast from his (German) community. Or is he losing touch with reality?
In his second feature-length film, director Visar Morina dissects the psychological effects of social exclusion and presents them here as an interplay between belonging and alienation. Morina combines subtle images that gradually shift according to his protagonist’s state with meticulous performances from his ensemble, to describe the importance of personality when it comes to integrating into another society, and how quickly cracks can develop in the supposedly firm construct that is identity.
by Visar Morina
with Mišel Matičević, Sandra Hüller, Rainer Bock, Thomas Mraz 
Germany / Belgium / Kosovo 2020 German, Albanian 121’ Colour

With

  • Mišel Matičević (Xhafer)
  • Sandra Hüller (Nora)
  • Rainer Bock (Urs)
  • Thomas Mraz  (Manfred)

Crew

Written and Directed by Visar Morina
Cinematography Matteo Cocco
Editing Laura Lauzemis, Hansjörg Weißbrich, Visar Morina
Music Benedikt Schiefer
Sound Design Kai Tebbel
Sound Mixing Emmanuel de Boissieu
Sound Dirk Bombey
Production Design Christian Goldbeck
Costumes Gitti Fuchs
Make-Up Diana Dreesen
Assistant Director Robert Špika
Casting Susanne Ritter
Production Manager Peter Kreutz
Producers Janine Jackowski, Jonas Dornbach, Maren Ade
Co-Producers Jean-Yves Roubin, Cassandre Warnauts, Yll Uka, Valon Bajgora
Co-Production WDR Köln
Arte Straßburg
VOO Lüttich
BeTV Brüssel

Visar Morina

Born in 1979 in Pristina, Kosovo, in the former Yugoslavia, Visar Morina studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. His second feature film Exil was presented in the Panorama section of the Berlinale in 2020.

Filmography

2010 Der Schübling (Death by Suffocation); 30 min. 2013 Von Hunden und Tapeten (Of Dogs and Wallpaper); 29 min. 2015 Babai; 104 min. 2020 Exil (Exile); 121 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021