Berlinale 2026: Chronicles from the Siege
2026 Berlin Film Festival
What happens to human beings trapped in a siege for a prolonged period of time? This is where Chronicles from the Siege, by Palestinian-Syrian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, presented at the 76th Berlinale in the Perspectives section (where it won Best First Feature Award), starts to explore the effects of a siege on the population, delivering an impactful narrative. Despite heavily evoking the conditions of the Palestinian people in Gaza and beyond, the specific location is never identified, with no mention of any one particular conflict, rendering this at once a particular and a universal experience.
The film unfolds as a series of interconnected vignettes, introducing different characters facing multiple hardships. Viewers are immediately introduced to the desperation of a people fighting for survival in the opening scene, as people in a crowd struggle to grab whatever essential supply packages are being distributed that day, while a man films the scene. Attention then turns to the elderly and deeply unwell Arafat (a masterful Nadeem Rimawi), who is unable to obtain any supplies and returns home empty-handed to try to survive on what little is left. Meanwhile, a group of young people mistakenly break into Arafat’s empty video store in their search for wood and fuel, but end up being trapped there as a ceasefire is violated and bombing resumes. In a later section, a man goes to great lengths to spend some time alone with his girlfriend, but the couple ends up suffering a series of increasingly farcical interruptions. The levity is, however, short-lived as tragedy soon strikes again, throwing us into the finale with a deeply touching scene in an understaffed and under-resourced hospital where every patient needs urgent care.
At once harrowing and hopeful, Chronicles from the Siege is an ode to humanity, with its flaws, suffering, and moments of solidarity alike. The quiet pain that comes from ordinary moments and deep conversations hits harder than any scream would, in an intense tapestry of life lived in circumstances no human being should ever have to face.