Following on the heels of his Oscar-shortlisted “Refugee,” veteran U.S. producer Brandt Andersen (“Everest,” “Lone Survivor”) makes his feature directorial debut with “The Strangers’ Case,” a kaleidoscopic and deeply felt portrait of the refugee crisis that world premieres Feb. 23 as a Berlinale Special Gala.
“The Strangers’ Case” begins when tragedy strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo, setting off a chain of events that will affect five different families in four countries. Told from the shifting perspectives of a range of characters, the film boasts an international cast that includes French star Omar Sy (“Lupin”), Yasmine Al Massri (“Quantico”), Yahya Mahayni (“The Man Who Sold His Skin”), Ziad Bakri (“The Weekend Away”), Constantine Markoulakis and Jason Beghe (“Chicago P.D.”).
Pic is produced by Andersen, Ossama Bawardi (“Wajib”), Ryan Busse (“Journey to Bethlehem”) and Charlie Endean (“Jurassic World Dominion”). Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales, with WME Independent repping North America.
Raised by American missionaries, Andersen grew up in France but had a peripatetic childhood, living in Germany, Switzerland and across Latin America. Throughout, he found inspiration in his parents’ outreach, something that became a driving force behind the director’s own humanitarian work.
After being drawn to the Middle East during the Arab Spring one decade ago, he became more active in the region during the refugee crisis, which saw millions of people — primarily from the Middle East and Africa — fleeing war, famine, climate emergencies and other natural and man-made disasters in search of a better life in Europe.
Working with humanitarian agencies, Andersen began documenting the living conditions in refugee camps in Turkey and Greece. “The bulk of my time was really spent trying to find ways that I could help, but also tell the stories of the people who were taking these extraordinary efforts to save their families,” the director tells PvNew.
“The Strangers’ Case” grew out of Andersen’s directorial debut, “Refugee,” which was inspired by his experiences in the camps and shortlisted for an Academy Award for live action short in 2020. The feature gave him the opportunity to work on a bigger canvas, telling a story that begins with a Syrian doctor (Al Massri) fleeing the civil war in Aleppo, then broadening to include the perspectives of a soldier in the Syrian Army faced with a crisis of conscience (Mahayni), a human trafficker (Sy), a member of the Greek coast guard (Markoulakis) and others whose lives are affected by a perilous sea crossing from Turkey to Greece.
The film’s structure, says Andersen, underscores how even a seemingly far-off tragedy can impact countless lives in unexpected — even unseen — ways. “I wanted to tell all these different stories, but I wanted to show that there is a connective thread that runs through all of our lives. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world,” he says. “We are all connected in some way.”
Filming “The Strangers’ Case” has not slowed his humanitarian work: When the war in Gaza began, Andersen joined the Royal Jordanian Air Force on aid drops over the Palestinian enclave. Having borne witness to so much suffering, he has few illusions about the scale of the work required to address the crises in the Middle East and elsewhere around the globe.
He hopes, however, that “The Strangers’ Case” will help reframe the way in which audiences see those conflicts, and perhaps be inspired to change the way they engage with the world around them. “Those changes, I hope, will generate more love, more compassion,” he says. “To me, that is what the world needs so much of.”
