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