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When I was 12 years old my father left us to return to Palestine. His dream to build a house and pursue the fight for freedom in Palestine failed. He was expelled by the Israelis. suddenly he was back in Berlin, ringing at our front door. My mother looked at him, did not say a word and let him in. Now he spends his days sitting in the cellar of our small row house. Withdrawn in his turtle shell. My mother lives upstairs. They are not fighting anymore. They try not to cross each other´s path. Not a sound is to be heard. Only the creaking steps of my mother on the stairs. The whirr of the television. And my nagging questions to my father.

The Turtle's Rage tells the story of a mysterious man, whose life has been molded by flight, expulsion, life in exile and the failed return to Palestine. A torn biography which was affected tremendously by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The film is composed of a daughter's search for answers from her father. Answers he cannot give. 

A road movie crossing Egypt, Israel, Palestine and Jordan. Father and daughter: Fighting at the airport. Singing with the cab drivers. Lonely nights in hotels. Negotiations at abandoned gas stations. Drinking beer in the Naqab-desert. Dreaming in the divan at the Bedouin´s of an allotment. Trying to sell a house. Betrayal. A story traversed by many nuances, which makes it nearly impossible to think in categories like "good and bad","victim and offender" or "black and white".

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www.hff-muenchen.de
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Original title	SCHILDKRÖTENWUT
Subtitle