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THE FRIEND

by Elmar Fischer

synopsis

He doesn't mention that he's leaving, says no good-byes. He parties one last time as if there was no tomorrow and the next day simply disappears: Yunes, 22 years old, a process engineering student in Berlin, born in Yemen. Chris, his German roommate, begins to worry. He remembers their friendship: how they first met in a Turkish grocery shop, the careful approach of two foreign cultures, the discussions about women, the great times with Julia and Nora. In cases when it really mattered, Chris and Yunes were always there for each other. But there are also things Chris never understood, moments in which pride and anger flared up in Yunes and frightened everybody around him. Times when his thoughts seemed to be infinitely far away. And the changes in his beliefs and his behavior for which there were never any explanations. Chris starts looking for him. Yunes' parents in Yemen don't know anything. Neither does his ex-girlfriend. He broke off contact with his friends, his Islamic group has disbanded. He remains untraceable. And then it's September 11, 2001.

international title: The Friend
original title: Fremder Freund
country: Germany
sales agent: Naked Eye Fllmproduction (DE)
year: 2003
genre: fiction
directed by: Elmar Fischer
film run: 105'
screenplay: Elmar Fischer, Tobias Kniebe
cast: Antonio Wannek, Navid Akhavan, Mina Tander, Mavie Hoerbiger, Fatih Alas
cinematography by: Florian Emmerich
film editing: Antje Zynga
art director: Doerte Schreiterer
music: Matthias Beine
producer: Sabine Lamby, Giulio Ricciarelli, Michael Amtmann
production: Naked Eye Filmproduction, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)
backing: Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Kulturelle Filmfoerderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmförderungsanstalt FFA
distributor: Stardust Filmverleih Gmbh

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