Organised by British Film Institute (BFI)
Limbo+ Q&A with director Ben Sharrock and actor Amir El-Masry
A twice BAFTA-nominated deadpan comedy and poignant tale of a group of refugees stuck on a Hebridean outpost.
- UK 2020
- Dir Ben Sharrock
- With Amir El-Masry, Vikash Bhai, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Kenneth Collard, Ola Orebiyi, Kwabena Ansah
- 104min
- Digital
- Certificate 12A
- A MUBI Release
Ben Sharrock’s assured second feature, about a Syrian musician waiting out his asylum request on a remote Scottish island. A refreshingly different voice in UK cinema, Scottish writer-director Ben Sharrock won the Michael Powell Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival for his feature debut Pikadero, a quirky love story shot in the Basque language. Limbo has a similar singularity; a deadpan comedy and a poignant tale of a group of refugees stuck, pending asylum, on a weather-beaten Hebridean outpost. Sharrock cites Elia Suleiman as an inspiration – here, too, we see deep humanity behind Sharrock’s wry gaze and a desire to move beyond cross-cultural narratives of reconciliation. Rising UK star Amir El-Masry impresses as Omar, one of four men in this ‘limbo’ together, who bond over the shared strangeness of their situation and the distance from their homes and families.
Tricia Tuttle, Director of Festivals