Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #148. Exil – Visar Morina

Published on December 30, 2019

Exil

Kosovo’s Visar Morina embarks on another co-production (Kosovo/Germany/Belgium) for sophomore feature, Exil, a project produced by the high-profile trio of Janine Jackowski (we profiled her in 2018), Jonas Dornbach and Toni Erdmann helmer Maren Ade. Mišel Matičević is joined by Sandra Hüller and Rainer Bock in the cast and Morina reunites with his Bibai (2015) DP, Italy’s Matteo Cocco. Morina’s Babai competed in Karlovy Vary, winning him Best Director and the Label Europa Cinemas award. His 2013 short “Of Dogs and Wallpaper” was programmed in Locarno.

Gist: A chemical engineer who feels discriminated against and bullied at work falls into an identity crisis.

Release Date/Prediction: Morina’s Exil will compete at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in the World Dramatic competition before heading off to Berlin for a showcase in Panorama.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.