Where To? is an assured, delicate and poignant exploration of repressed and intergenerational trauma resulting from socio-political, cultural and sectarian conflict, that attempts to dismantle walls rather than erect them.
Socio-political, cultural, and sectarian conflict is not confined to a single location; its ripples spread across our world, impacting people who left their homeland for a new life, whether decades ago or recently. When that conflict turns to war, those ripples become waves that engulf people thousands of miles away from the centre of the unfolding horrors.
On October 7th 2023, following a horrific terrorist attack, a hundred years of conflict turned to war, violence and horror as the world failed in its duty to protect lives and defend peace. Israelis and Palestinians living across the world suddenly found themselves engulfed by the waves of events taking place in their homelands, as they were forced to confront the division, hate and killing that many had chosen to escape. The waves of that conflict and the effect on those who had found a new home in Berlin sit at the heart of Assaf Machnes‘ debut feature, Where To?
Hassan (Ehab Salami) left the Palestinian West Bank decades ago for a new life in Berlin. He followed his cousin to the German capital, which promised abundant work, and when he arrived, he started driving a taxi, then married, and started a family. Berlin is Hassan’s home, but Palestine remains in his heart, and always will.
Opening in early 2022, Hassan drives through the streets of Berlin, following the app that assigns him customers. Like most taxi drivers, he has seen it all during his career, from drunken passengers to fights, break-ups and tears. And also like most taxi drivers, he remains largely silent as he drives his customers to and from their destinations.
Nobody ever asks him, “How are you?” or asks about his story. If they did, Hassan probably wouldn’t share his troubles anyway, troubles that include his daughter wanting to marry her German boyfriend, having moved out of the family home due to disagreements about the relationship. He also wouldn’t share the deepest secret he has carried ever since he was a young man, and the real reason he left the West Bank for Berlin. Like many who decided to leave Palestine and Israel decades before, the conflict and trauma aren’t a distant memory; they continue to shape Hassan’s life thousands of miles away and decades later.
It’s an average Berlin night for Hassan, ferrying people to and from clubs, restaurants and parties, when a young guy gets into the back of Hassan’s car with his new German boyfriend. Hassan asks where they are heading and watches through his rear-view mirror as the boys make out, before suddenly stopping when they realise they are in the back of a taxi.
When Hassan hears the boy’s name ‘Amir’, his curiosity is piqued as he says, “Amir, that’s an Arab name, where are you from?” Amir (Ido Tako) says he is from Israel, specifically Galilee, and has only recently moved to Berlin, while Hassan says he is from Palestine. Amir smiles and says, “Neighbours.” It’s an uneasy response that Hassan can’t quite decipher. Yet there is something about Amir that sparks his curiosity, for it’s clear from this meeting that, as he did decades earlier, Amir is escaping his past and attempting to embrace something new.
Months later, Amir once again climbs into Hassan’s cab, and this time Hassan takes the opportunity to get to know the boy better. Their conversation in broken English, German and Arabic carries a nervousness on both sides as Hassan explains that his family also came from Galilee but were driven out during the forced displacements of 1948, known as the Nakba. Hassan’s family then moved to Jenin in the West Bank. It’s a direct conversation that crosses borders, not only between Israel and Palestine, but also between Berlin and the Middle East, as identity is discussed, whether that be Palestinian, Israeli, German or LGBTQ+ in the case of Amir, whose mother and friends back home are unaware of his sexuality, a sexuality he is still discovering in Berlin.
Hassan isn’t sure how to respond to Amir’s choice of partners, or his reason for escape, but he likes this boy and feels protective of him. Possibly Amir reminds him of the boy he once was, freshly arrived in Berlin, escaping his past. But Amir also stirs in Hassan a need to explore the reasons for his departure decades earlier and finally seek resolution.
As the months tick by, Amir becomes a regular fixture in Hassan’s cab, and conversations continue to explore their shared experiences in Berlin, as well as their identities and beliefs. But in the background, events in Israel and Gaza worsen, and the conflict that both men fled once more engulfs them. As Hassan meets Amir one final time, he turns to Amir and says, “I like you, and this is a problem”. Yet he continues to tell the young man the secret he has kept for decades, in a conversation full of humanity, heart, and trust despite the horrors thousands of miles away that have forever changed their bond.
Filmed in 4:3, with the majority of the story told from the cab of Hassan’s taxi, the film is split into ten episodes spanning two years, from May 2022 to May 2024, in which Hassan interacts not just with Amir but also with a variety of passengers, some nice and some less so. Each journey is beautifully written and performed, with Salami utterly captivating as he finally revisits the real reasons for his new life in Berlin decades earlier. Equally magnetic is Tako’s performance, which reflects the need of so many LGBTQ+ young people to escape the restraints of home as they explore their identity and sexuality, and the challenge of returning to that home once freedom has been tasted and enjoyed.
Assaf Machnes’ Where To? isn’t afraid to explore the complex historical, personal and cultural issues that surround the immigrant experience or the lasting feeling of home that remains core to an individual’s identity. This is a film about humanity, conversation, shared history and trauma, held together by the careful and bold direction and writing of Machnes and the delicate score of Palestinian musician Habib Hanna Shehadeh.
Where To? is an assured and poignant exploration of repressed and intergenerational trauma resulting from socio-political, cultural, and sectarian conflict, that attempts to dismantle walls rather than erect them. It leaves us at a turning point in world history, one it never attempts to navigate beyond the individual experiences of two men brought together by an app in Berlin, yet divided by horrors beyond their control.
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