section Feature Film Competition

Running On Sand

  • Adar Shafran
  • IL
  • 2023
  • 104

Aumari, a refugee from Eritrea, takes advantage of a mix-up at the airport to avoid deportation from Israel. He takes on the identity of Maccabi Netanya's new star signing and is now tasked with leading the club away from relegation. There's just one problem: Aumari possesses no footballing talent whatsoever.

He does have a plan however: keep up the facade until his little brother reaches the city from a refugee camp and they can escape, together with his best friend, to Germany. Aumari compensates for his lack of footballing skills with an irrepressible optimism and no small amount of heart, with which he touches everyone he encounters during his game of hide-and-seek - especially Neta, the team CEO and daughter of the club's owner. A sensitively balanced combination of deeply moving drama and perceptive situational comedy that, despite the humour, succeeds in seriously engaging with the fate of the protagonist and his companions. RUNNING ON SAND broaches the issue of racism in Israeli society, with a significant proportion of the cast made up of refugees living in Israel, in turn lending even greater authenticity to the film. A tale of sorrow, loss and aspiration, the complex interplay of which comes to the surface in Aumari's very first sentence: “I've been running my whole life. There are people who were born to run – those who have no other choice.”

Text: Merlin Webers
English: Peter Rickerby


On June 22, there will be Q&As with the director Adar Shafran after the screenings at Filmkunst 66 and on the Inselbühne.


We are happy about the cooperation with the SV Babelsberg 03 for the film screening on Sat, June 22nd at the Inselbühne Potsdam. Admission free.


ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE
WED 19.06. 19:00
JÜDISCHES GEMEINDHAUS BERLIN (Fasanenstraße 79-80, 10623 Berlin)


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Credits

original title Running On Sand

international title Running On Sand

german title Running On Sand

JFBB section Feature Film Competition

  • director Adar Shafran

country/countries IL

year 2023

duration 104


Portrait of Adar Shafran

Adar Shafran