The anniversary – a milestone of the KINO ASYL film festival – will take place this year from December 1 to 6! For the past five years, young people with refugee backgrounds from various countries of origin have been curating a wide range of films from their homelands. In addition to presenting animated films, series, and feature films, the curators actively help shape every aspect of the festival week.
Since 2015, when the “first KINO ASYL in the world” invited audiences to discover films from across the globe, much has changed. Most of the curators have now lived in Germany for several years. They’ve formed friendships, started families, found jobs, apprenticeships, or university placements — they’ve arrived. Their refugee experience is part of their identity, but the next chapter has already begun. This sense of arrival is reflected in the festival itself.
The selected films offer insight into the personal stories, lived experiences, and individual interests of each curator. At KINO ASYL, it’s not just about screening films — it’s also about the personalities, the histories, and the present lives of the young people behind them.
The name says it all: It’s about a taxi driver, his daily life, and what he experiences every day with his passengers. A very popular series from Ghana.
The sitcom depicts a variety of everyday situations within a circle of friends, each coming from a different corner of the world. This often leads to misunderstandings.
Jarck Boy is a reggae, dancehall, and Afropop singer/songwriter from SeneGambia and a member of the KINO ASYL team.
The videos shown are contributions from the Afghan TV channel “Ariana Television.” In the first video, children are interviewed about their work on the street. The second interview shows a child talking about their family. Both videos are very moving. In the last video, people on the street are asked funny questions.
The short film depicts the daily life of five-year-old Saadat, and a lot happens… watch for yourself what he experiences besides washing himself with stones and drinking dogh.
A traditional Afghan story told as an animated film. The mother goat leaves her kids behind to get food. This, in turn, interests the wolf, who is also hungry.
In the 1970s, the Aryub Cinema was the most elegant movie theater in Kabul. Those were times of freedom and joy, which were swept away by civil war and tyranny. Only thanks to the old projectionist Naser did the Aryub survive amid the destruction. A group of young students decides to support the cinephiles and […]
A film about our festival. A kind of making-of for KINO ASYL. This film is much more than that. It primarily focuses on our curators who came to Germany through inhumane and complicated paths, carrying little more than a piece of their culture and their personal biography. Having arrived in Germany, they present films from […]
For children with heart conditions, receiving medical treatment in Afghanistan is difficult. In this family drama, Hassan runs a charitable lottery organization that helps provide treatment abroad for affected children from poor families.
The fishing village has been shrouded in a strange fog for ages. Neither sacrifices nor prayers can end this curse. Mbanick, the son of the dying Marabut, dares to challenge the spirits and returns the sun to the village. Afterwards, Mbanick can confess his love to Maxoy. His best friend and rival, Yatma, is furious […]
Probably the boldest series from Syria. We present the first episode, specially subtitled in German for this evening. The drama centers on Ward, a screenwriter living in Damascus. After a series of events, she ends up in a political detention center. Her life is completely destroyed. The film portrays the crisis in Syria and its […]
We present — also for the first time translated into German — the final episode of the very popular Syrian TV series “Four Seasons.” It was first broadcast in 2002 and has been frequently repeated since. The series focuses on the everyday life of a family from Damascus and the familial bonds among its members. […]
After the civil war, Abdullah and Selma flee from Syria to Turkey. After a short time, they decide to continue fleeing to Germany. To do so, they must make a deal with a human smuggler. The two young Syrians have to save hard to survive somehow.
Emi fled in 2001 at the age of 14 through partly dark paths from the Kurdish northern Iraq to Bavaria, where he was initially cared for in a home in Paris. The film was made 12 years later. During this time, Bavaria became his home. In the film “Back to the Beginning” by director Frank […]
Back at the scene of his childhood in Northern Mesopotamia, the author learns that the entire region will be submerged by the waters of the largest dam on the Euphrates in Syria. The filmmaker sets out on location to capture the final images of the valley and everyday life in the villages he knew and […]
The documentary is about the liberation of the Persian Gulf, the independence of Iran, and the discussion about a possible new name for the “Persian Gulf.”
Ahmet, a young single father, and his 9-year-old daughter Rozerîn have immigrated from Turkey to Germany and are building a new life here. Ahmet does his best to give Rozerîn a cheerful childhood. However, their lives are marked by the painful absence of Rozerîn’s mother. On the anniversary of her death, father and daughter want […]
Rostam is on the run. This film shows without words what it feels like to travel as an undocumented person and to leave everything behind—his family, his childhood, and his life so far. He is not sure if he will reach his destination. Although his family was against it, he decided to do it as […]
