Concrete Land brings Bedouin family story to London after Locarno premiere
A documentary about three generations of a Palestinian Bedouin family in Jordan facing displacement will screen in London this week. Concrete Land joins the Documentary Competition at the BFI London Film Festival from 8 Oct, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It arrives fresh from a world premiere at the 79th Locarno Film Festival.
The film is the feature debut of Palestinian-Jordanian filmmaker Asmahan Bkerat, who also served as its cinematographer, the person in charge of the camera work. Ban Maraqa wrote and edited the film and co-produced it with Bkerat, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
The London slot puts the film inside one of the festival's competitive sections. The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs from Wednesday 7 October to Sunday 18 October, according to the BFI. The Documentary Competition is its dedicated strand for non-fiction features from around the world.
Concrete Land centres on an Afro-Palestinian Bedouin family, described as an intimate, multi-generational portrait in festival coverage from The Hollywood Reporter. Programme notes from VIFF say the family lives outside Amman, where expanding luxury villas threaten its way of life. The story unfolds across three generations.
Sales for the film are being handled by Odd Slice Films, The Hollywood Reporter reported. In plain terms, a sales company shops a film to distributors and buyers who can put it into cinemas or onto platforms.
What makes this stand out for festival audiences is the scale of the production team. Bkerat directed and shot the film herself on her first feature. That keeps the camera close to the family at the heart of the story.
