A Year in Exile

Director Malaz Usta offers a film that delivers on every level. Using its unique style of montage and graphic design, A Year In Exile is a breathtaking piece of poetry in motion, documenting the experience of a Syrian immigrant living in Istanbul for 12 months. The Arabic narration aches with heartbreak – for a home they cannot return to and because of the city they were banished to, that is as unwelcoming as it is a land of new opportunities. We are taken through each month, evocatively experiencing life through the eyes and ears of a refugee, with the unconventional style of editing making this work an emotional exploration of living a life of exile.