Celebrating Women's History Month by celebrating the GREAT Palestinian-American filmmaker Annemarie Jacir

http://www.diadiwan.com/node/1953
When did you decide you wanted to be a film director? Was it something you always had in mind?

I always wrote – poetry, stories, etc. Then I began to write and direct plays. Around the same time, I had a friend who was a film editor. I used to go to the editing room and watch her work.

I learned from her and began to play with images myself, and editing my own small projects. Eventually words, image, and poetry – everything came together for me....

I then worked in the film industry for some years, as a production assistant on sets, in a literary agency reading screenplays, and assisting documentary filmmakers as well. Eventually I decided to study film formally and went to New York to do that.

How did the idea for your first feature-long movie "The Salt of this Sea" come about?

I was inspired by an actual bank robbery which took place in Bethlehem about five years ago. So many other moments and people formed the story as well…. A friend’s father who had his bank account frozen by the Israelis in 1948, my family, my experiences and work in the refugee camps, life under military occupation, humiliation at arbitrary borders and checkpoints, separation from loved ones…

I began writing Salt of this Sea five years ago. When I first started writing this film and well into the production stage, I heard over and over again that the subject of this film (the right to return) was too controversial, too much of a red line. I was advised not to make a first feature with such a dividing subject matter, that it would be better to start my career with something more commercial, something sweeter or folkloric. And then later, once I was more established, to do this film. Well if it’s the last film I ever make, I’m ok with that.

Most filmmakers have to reckon with funding, but you also had to overcome the political difficulties of filming in Palestine. Did you ever consider filming Jordan or Lebanon instead?

On the ground, almost everything was forbidden to us. We were forbidden from filming in 80% of our locations. Our cast and crew were denied permissions to move about. We applied for permits for the West Bank crew to leave Ramallah – every single one was denied. In addition, Saleh Bakri and all the Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are forbidden by Israeli law to be in Ramallah. I was forbidden from filming an aerial shot because they told me I have a “security issue”. We were not allowed to film in the airport even though many films shoot there – so we had to build that set.

But to shoot elsewhere - it wasn’t even an option for me. Perhaps because I’ve made films in Palestine under even worse conditions, like in 2001 during the last intifada. Also, being in those specific places – being in Jaffa, being in Jerusalem, are so integral to the film – I couldn’t imagine having to recreate those places. I think it would just be a disappointment to me! Let alone the impossibility of trying to create the Apartheid Wall. In the end we had to compromise anyway - after I was denied return to Palestine by the Israelis, we had to shoot one scene in Marseille, France. We shipped Emad’s truck and most of our props from the port of Haifa to the port of Marseille. We re-created a street in Marseille to look like we were in Palestine.

How did it feel to be nominated for the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival last spring?

Sometimes I still can’t believe this film actually exists. You can imagine our reaction when we were selected to Cannes. It was such a great honor to be selected and especially at that exact moment, on the commemoration of the Nakba - which is the heart of our film. The moment was bittersweet – we were elated to be selected to the greatest film festival, and overjoyed to receive a standing ovation from the audience after the screening. I really couldn’t believe it. Suheir, Saleh and I felt proud to be there representing our country and to be able to commemorate the Nakba in this way.

It was also a bittersweet moment as the world premiere of Salt of this Sea was scheduled to take place ten days earlier in Palestine, not in Cannes. When I tried to cross the bridge from Jordan to Palestine in order to screen the film, I was prevented from entering the West Bank by the Israeli Authorities and the screening could not take place.

So even though being at Cannes was the greatest honor, the heart of the film lies with the people who made this film happen – the cast and crew and all the people across Palestine who gave their hearts, and opened their homes and themselves to our crew and to our work, who gave everything because they believe this story should be told. For me, the greatest moment of this film was to be there with them and to share the fruit of this labor, which was truly a labor of love, and for all of us to be together for the world premiere. Instead, that moment was taken away from us.

How hard was it to get funding?

It was extremely difficult to obtain funding, especially given the political nature of the film. You cannot imagine how many rejections we got, some of them overtly racist. In the end, this film was made by a somewhat ridiculous gathering and juggling of 12 co-producers, each putting in a tiny bit of money, and other small funds scraped from here and there. I think we have the longest credit sequence ever! All small, independent films are difficult to fund. It’s the same all over the world. But as Arab directors, there are very few funds available to us from our own community and we have to look to Europe. I hope this reliance on European funding will eventually end.

Do you think all your movies will inevitably be political?

Everything is political. What I strive for in my films is to reflect a kind of truth. I like to make films that reflect people’s real lives. Salt of this Sea is about a woman learning how to deal with the anger she has inside, learning how not to let it eat her up. This anger of course is personal, but it also comes from a political and historical reality.

If you could live anywhere in the Middle East, where would it be?

Palestine

Your favorite movie?

It changes all the time. I can watch three movies a day. Let’s say, for the sake of the question, today it’s Amir Naderi’s “The Runner”.

Your favorite Middle Eastern dish?

Kousa Mahshee (stuffed courgettes)

And finally, what do you carry in your handbag on an ordinary day?

A black sharpie. A pen I took from the Unifrance booth in Cannes. A lead pencil. A USB drive. A black “Moleskine” notebook. A small change purse embroidered with the flag of Palestine. MAC lipstick. Chapstick. Cash. MNG sunglasses.

Annemarie Jacir has been working in independent film since 1994 and has written, directed and produced a number of films including ‘a post oslo history’ (1998), ‘The Satellite Shooters’ (2001) and ‘like twenty impossibles’ (2003). She has taught courses at Columbia, Bethlehem, and Birzeit University. She also works as a freelance editor and cinematographer.

‘Salt of this Sea’ (2008) is her first feature film, and her second work to debut at Cannes Film Festival. Having been banned from returning to Palestine, she now lives in Amman, Jordan.

Tribeca Film Festival: Suheir Hammad & Annemarie Jacir

http://www.philistinefilms.org
Salt of This Sea (Milh Hadha al-Bahr) - ملح هذا البحر