Neighbours
In a Syrian border village in the early 1980s, little Sero experiences his first year at school. He plays naughty pranks with his classmates, dreams of having a television so he can finally watch cartoons, and at the same time has to witness how the adults around him are increasingly crushed by nationalist despotism and violence.
A new teacher arrives to turn the Kurdish children into upstanding pan-Arab comrades. He bans the Kurdish language mercilessly, orders the worship of Assad, and preaches hatred of the Jews, the Zionist arch-enemies. The lessons confuse Sero because his longtime neighbors are an endearing Jewish family.
The film is inspired by the director’s personal childhood experiences and spans the touching narrative to the Syrian tragedy of the present.
Cast
- Sero
- Serhed Khalil
- Nahum
- Jay Abdo
- Lehrer
- Jalal Altawil
- Hamo
- Zirek Zirek
- Rosa
- Tuna Dwek
- Aram
- Ismail Zagros
- Salim
- Heval Naif
- Djasim
- Mazen Alnatour
- Shamsa
- Nasimeh Aldaher
- Ali
- Bangen Ali
- Raoshan
- Jiyan Armanc
- Hannah
- Derya Uygurlar
Neighbours
Mano Khalil
- Fiction
- Production Country / Year
- Switzerland 2021
- Language
- ku., ar., he. OF m. engl., dt. UT
- Format
- Digital file, Color, 124min
1.85:1, Discrete 5.1
- Original Title
- Nachbarn
Director & Crew
Mano Khalil
Born in 1964 in Syrian Kurdistan. Studied Law and History in Damaskus and Film in Czechoslovakia. Freelance work for Czechoslovakian and Slovakian television. Active in Switzerland as producer and director.
Filmography
| 1990 | My god | Kurzfilm | |
| 1992 | Wo got schläft | Kurzfilm | |
| 1995 | Kino eye | Kurzfilm | |
| 1999 | Triumph of iron | Kurzfilm | |
| 2003 | Bunte träume | Spielfilm | |
| 2005 | Al-Anfal – „Im Namen von Allah, Baath und Saddam“ | Dokumentarfilm | |
| 2006 | David der Tolhildan | Fernsehfilm | |
| 2009 | Mein Kerker, mein Haus | Kurzdokumentarfilm | |
| 2011 | Unser Garten Eden „Geschichten aus dem Schrebergarten | Dokumentarfilm | |
| 2013 | Der Imker | Kinodokumentarfilm | |
| 2016 | Die Schwalbe | Spielfilm | 2016 |
| 2018 | Hafis & Mara | Fernsehdokumentarfilm | |
| 2021 | Nachbarn | Spielfilm | 2021 |
“I worked on the film for more than 25 years. I wrote the script a long time ago when I was still studying film directing in Czechoslovakia. I updated the script every few years, like a computer program. I never lost hope that I would be able to make this film someday. It was not easy for me as a filmmaker, as a Kurd who had to leave his homeland, to make films here in Switzerland again, but I think it worked out. If you don’t give up, if you believe in something and go for it with love and passion, you can do it.”
- Writer
- Mano Khalil
- Director of Photography
- Stéphane Kuthy
- Editor
- Thomas Bachmann
- Production Designer
- Fränze Aerni
- Set Designer
- Sara B. Weingart
- Costume Designer
- Linda Harper
- Gulsan Ozer
- Sound
- Mourad Keller
- Sound Designer
- Thomas Bachmann
- Make-up
- Julia Nietlispach
- Producer
- Mano Khalil