The idea for Out of Place, by Gazan filmmaker Mohammed Fares Al Majdalawi, came to him many years before the horrendous events of 2023. As a cameraman, fixer and translator for international journalists, he wanted to talk about parkour, dabka dance, music and ordinary life, while the foreign press just wanted to know about “jihadists, politicians, devastated families and bombed-out buildings.“
“That was when I understood that I had to tell another story of Gaza, a story about people who love life, who dance, create and endure despite decades of violence, a story about resilience,” he says.
After 10 years in exile in Sweden, Mohammed back came to Gaza in 2023 in search of comfort after his mother died. But then came the wholesale destruction of Gaza after the attacks of October 7.
“I was forced to leave suddenly,” he says. “I did not only leave a place, I left the people I love. More than eighty members of my family, along with neighbours and friends, were killed. Many of them I had sat with only days before. Others survived but lost their homes and their livelihoods.”
“The people in this film are not distant subjects. They are my family, my childhood friends, my closest companions. Their pain is inseparable from my own,” he adds.
But his feature documentary, selected for as a work-in-progress at Nordisk Panorama, is not a film about destruction, rather about friendship, resilience, and the power of art to endure even under siege. “Each dance step, each burst of laughter, is an act of resistance. As Gaza’s cultural centres lie in ruins, I want this film to remind the world of the joy, creativity, and humanity that refuse to disappear.”
Out of Place is produced by Manolo Diaz Rämö and Mónica Hernández Rejón of Swedish outfit Filmilia, and co-produced by Norwegian Thorvald Nilsen of Indie Film Bergen.
“The film stands out through its intimate approach to Palestinian exile and culture, combining a deeply personal story with broader contemporary questions of identity, belonging, and displacement,” comments Hernández Rejón. “It does not deny the violence, loss, or trauma that shape the protagonists’ lives, but refuses to let these become the only lens through which their experiences are understood.”
In the film, we see the deep friendship between Mohammed, Adham, Mustafa, and Shahd, four Palestinians living in exile, and the film opens up broader questions about displacement, belonging, identity, and the meaning of home.
“Out of Place moves between the present and the past of its four characters…taking us from Gaza to Sheffield, Sweden, Norway, and Belgium. It draws on many hours of footage Mohammed has filmed throughout these years. The personal tone of the film, together with the way the characters evolve and their lives intertwine, brings their shared childhood and intimate experiences back to life. Their stories inevitably lead us back to their roots in Gaza while also extending into the European contexts where they now live,” says Hernández Rejón.
“Each character functions like a distinct instrument in an orchestra. Each brings different emotions, concerns, questions, and reflections, allowing us to explore not only different sides of their shared past, but also the wide range of emotional experiences that come with growing up, changing, and being shaped by change,” she adds.
The tone of the film is often playful, with much humour and moments of joy, but there are shifts in tone that reveal the hidden scars and pain carried by each character. “Pauses, silences, and moments of hesitation are equally important. They offer glimpses into the characters’ inner worlds and often reveal something that words alone cannot express,” the producer tells BDE.
Out of Place will be ready for release in early 2027, and in Malmö the producers are hoping to secure partners, broadcasters, distribution and a sales agent.
Support has already been secured from the Swedish Film Institute, Film i Skåne, and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, among other financiers, and the team is currently awaiting confirmation of financing from Norway and further afield in the coming months.
Hernández Rejón tells BDE that her and Diaz Rämö’s distribution plan is built around a combination of a strong international festival strategy, international sales, broadcast partnerships, theatrical distribution in Europe and the MENA region, and an educational and community-focused strategy. Al Jazeera Arabic is already on board as a broadcast partner, which provides an important platform for the film both in the MENA region and internationally.
“The urgency of the project comes from both its subject and the moment in which it is being released,” she adds to BDE. “Migration, exile, identity, and the ongoing genocide in Palestine are among the most pressing questions of our time. [But] at a time when Palestinian stories are often reduced to images of violence and death, Out of Place offers another way of seeing and understanding Palestine. By placing life, culture, and hope at its centre, the film becomes a record of people and a place.”
