Zentralflughafen – THF

It is one of history’s ironies that, in 2015, Berlin’s Tempelhof airport – destined by Hitler to play a crucial role in rearming the Reich – became an emergency shelter for asylum seekers, surrounded by an immense public park. And it is this historical-topographical overlay that Karim Aïnouz turns to his advantage: very wide shots capture the changing skies over this open landscape, while the voice-over of the young Syrian, Ibrahim Al Hussein, describes from the inside the restricted movement and perspectives imposed by exile. “I lived on a large farm, with a thousand trees, olive, apple and fig trees… I miss the countryside.” The doleful description of the county left behind contrasts with the promiscuity rife in the hangars, where the families’ prefabricated rooms have no doors, “because of fire risk”. The filming, which lasted over a year, portrays how a temporary place mutates into a miniature town where a whole community of medical and social workers, with its cook, German teacher and hairdresser, helps to make a constrained existence more tolerable for those awaiting a “verdict” – expulsion or refugee status. Espousing this transformation, the film slides from a general view to that of a teenager’s diary. While an experienced filmmaker, Karim Aïnouz tries his hand in direct documentary for this subject; the patience of the men and women he films serves him as a compass. (Charlotte Garson)