It’s not often that films shoot in the Occupied Golan Heights, Israel’s contested border territory with Syria and Lebanon.Characterized by sloping mountains and the ruins of more than 100 Syrian villages, destroyed (by Israel) after the Six Day War in 1967, it makes for an atmospheric filming location.
This can be seen in “The Stranger” (Al Garib), a drama making its world premiere in the Venice Critics’ Week section on Monday.The Arab and German crew shot in rough conditions, including dense fog that hugged the mountain villages that are now reduced to rubble.
Slush washed over the empty roads leading to the Syrian border, and heavy snow falls cut off Majdal Shams, the biggest town in the area, from the rest of the world, to create a shadowy darkness in this post-Christmas shoot in 2019 by first-time feature director Ameer Fakher Eldin.Eldin directed from his own script.
He
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