If you are looking for a story in this year’s Berlinale program that is as timely as it is timeless, consider Where To?, the feature debut of Israeli writer-director Assaf Machnes (Layam, Auschwitz on My Mind). But buckle up! The ride is full of uncomfortable questions and tender moments as the film explores trauma, masculinity, queer identity, and human connection between Israelis and Palestinians.
Hassan, a 55-year-old Palestinian Uber driver portrayed by Palestinian actor Ehab Salami (Let It Be Morning), shuttles night owls through Berlin’s endless party scene. One night, 25-year-old Israeli passenger Amir, played by Israeli actor Ido Tako (The Vanishing Soldier), climbs into his car. Amir is on a path of self-discovery, including sexual exploration, far from home. Over two years, they repeatedly share rides and build a surprising bond.
Estranged from his oldest daughter, who is determined to marry her German boyfriend, Hassan listens to Amir talk about a painful breakup — only to start recognizing echoes of his own pain that he never dared to confront.
Machnes’ inspiration for Where To?, for which Lucky Number is handling world sales, came from a past personal experience in Berlin. “I had a very confusing love story,” he shares with THR. “It was winter, it was cold, I was a little bit lost and I found myself in the taxi of a Palestinian Uber driver. And I felt that we understood each other somehow, better than anyone else, without saying much. So, I was wondering, ‘What if I ended up in Berlin and kept meeting this driver?’ ”
‘Where To?’
Courtesy of Maayne Bouhnik
Machnes’ inspiration for Where To?, for which Lucky Number is handling world sales, came from a past personal experience in Berlin. “I had a very confusing love story,” he shares with THR. “It was winter, it was cold, I was a little bit lost and I found myself in the taxi of a Palestinian Uber driver. And I felt that we understood each other somehow, better than anyone else, without saying much. So, I was wondering, ‘What if I ended up in Berlin and kept meeting this driver?’ ”
As Machnes developed the idea, he shifted the focus to make the driver the protagonist. “I realized that I wanted to make the film about people who are supposedly beyond their trauma, but they never really shared their story,” he says. That also explains a dedication to his father at the end of the movie and all those other men “who simply kept driving.” Machnes adds, “It’s really a story about someone who just keeps driving instead of dealing with their story.”
Ido Tako and Ehab Salami in ‘Where To?’
Courtesy of Maayne Bouhnik
As the two protagonists start developing a father-son-type relationship, the film moves into October 2023, taking the story past Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and all the violence that has followed since. Machnes had to consider how to include it. “It wasn’t peaceful before October 7, and that encounter that I had with a Palestinian taxi driver happened before that, and it was as touching then as it would be after,” he says. That’s why the director chose to address Oct. 7, but not make it a core focus. “The problem was the same problem before, and it’s still the same problem after.”
With Machnes in the driver’s seat, Where To? brought characters and actors from both sides to the production, plus creatives behind the scenes, including first-time feature DP Maayane Bouhnik, who is from Israel, and Palestinian composer Habib Hanna Shehadeh. “This film is a collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians and Germans,” emphasizes Machnes. “And I find that to be a great value in times where the climate is all about incitement and separation.”