CENTRAL AIRPORT THF

A visually striking, award-winning documentary set in Berlin’s once-grand Tempelhof Airport – erected under Hitler’s plans for the Third Reich – that has become a haven for asylum seekers in transit.

Berlin’s grandiloquent Tempelhof airport once stood as a symbol of Nazi plans for a Third Reich, but has since become a playground for frolicking Germans, with its skate parks and bike track. Significantly, it also serves as a shelter for refugees seeking entry into Europe.

Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz (Praia Do Futuro, MIFF 2014) takes us into the lives of these displaced people, following an 18-year-old Syrian as he adjusts to daily life in the complex. Combining the filmmaker’s intuitive eye for stunning architectural composition with a warmth and humanity that captures the hopes and fears of its subjects, Central Airport THF was awarded the Amnesty International prize at Berlinale 2018.

"Countless documentaries have attempted to put a human face to the global refugee crisis but few have felt as compassionate or engaging as Karim Aïnouz’s Central Airport THF." – Screen International