Your Egypt

[Anissa]

ALITTLE OVER FIVE years ago, terrorists hijacked two planes and slammed them straight into two New York office buildings. The two towers — considered a feat of engineering when they were first constructed — were designed to be the tallest in the world. For close to three decades, the ‘twin towers’ stood tall, proudly jutting into the Manhattan skyline. On September 11, 2001, the whole world followed as the two landmarks came tumbling down, reduced to a pile of rubble in a matter of minutes and killing 2,749 people in the process.




From that day on, a tidal wave of curiosity concerning anything Islam- or Arab-related has been sweeping across the globe. The world is asking questions, but have the Arab media provided any answers? Hardly.

This comes across as no surprise. How can we expect to polish our image when Arab TV stations overwhelmingly broadcast in Arabic, airing hours upon hours of material largely intended for local consumption? Even English-language channels such as state-owned Nile TV rarely air documentaries about the history of Arabs and Islam.

When it comes to film production, the situation is even more pathetic. With the exception of this year’s Omaret Yacoubian (The Yacoubian Building), very few Egyptian productions make it to movie screens abroad. Seriously: Can local box office hits like Katkout (Chick, 2006) or Alaya El-Tarab Beltalata (I Swear I’ll Sing, 2006) ever compete with productions from East and West that have oriented their local cinemas to speak to an ‘international’ audience?

The world will not stop asking questions. Richard Harrison, a veteran American actor I met at this year’s Rome Film Festival, couldn’t conceal his surprise when I told him the simple fact that for one to be a good Muslim, one must also believe in Jesus and Moses as divine prophets. Like him, millions around the world need to know more about Arabs and Islam, but they will only find answers in major studio films like United 93 (2006) or World Trade Center (2006).

Independent American and European cinema have pitched in with their own angles on Islam. The following are four examples of such films. Just don’t get your hopes up: You won’t be catching them at a theater near you anytime soon.


Courtesy Zoom in Focus Productions
Sayed Badreya (left) with Tony Shalhoub on the set of AmericanEast

In the meantime, Arab and Muslim voices remain largely silent in foreign cinemas.

AMERICANEAST

For almost two decades, Egyptian-born actor Sayed Badreya was almost strictly cast as the stereotypical Arab bad guy in Hollywood. He was the hijacker in the made-for-TV The Taking of Flight 847 (1988). He was the Hezbollah gunman in the Insider (1999), where his scene was cut from the Egyptian theatrical release. He also played an Iraqi tank commander in Three Kings (1999), which didn’t make it to local theaters at all.

When asked his reasons for choosing roles which perpetuate negative Arab stereotypes, Badreya would answer: “I’m just an actor I didn’t write the story.”

Following the 9/11 attacks, Badreya felt it was time to tell a more personal story, an idea he had in common with Egyptian-born director Hesham Issawi, who had originally come to America as an anthropology student in the 1990s and later developed an interest in filmmaking.


Courtesy Zoom in Focus Productions
Sayed Badreya and Richard Chagoury of AmericanEast.

Their first collaboration was the black comedy short T for Terrorist (2003), for which they won awards at the Boston International Film Festival. Today, they have once more joined forces to create a film company to produce AmericanEast, which also stars acclaimed Lebanese-born Monk front man Tony Shalhoub alongside African-American actress Alfre Woodard and Palestinian-born Kais Nashif, best known for his role as one of the suicide bombers in Paradise Now (2005).

Shot in Los Angeles, the feature length drama revolves around an Arab family man, played by Badreya, who opens up an authentic Middle Eastern restaurant with his Jewish best friend in America. The movie is expected to premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. We caught up with Hesham Issawi and Sayed Badreya. Here are excerpts:

How was making this film important after 9/11?

Badreya: After 9/11, people forgot that we, as in Arab-Americans, were hit twice: first you feel sad, as an American, and then you feel guilty as an Arab. The guilt comes from seeing the wrong perception about Islam, and the way the people behind this incident justify their doings.

On the other hand, there were some benefits. For example, my son, who was almost 11 years old at the time of the 9/11 attacks, told me: “Dad, you know, before 9/11 when I [said I am Muslim] at school, nobody would know about it. Now, after 9/11 they know our religion, they know it is called Islam.”


Courtesy Capital City Productions


So it was an opportunity for us, Hesham and me, to tell our stories, our stories as Arab-Americans, which has never been done before. Hollywood producers have always done it. They aren’t mean; they just don’t know our story, they don’t know who we are.

How did you perceive America before actually going there?

Issawi: I grew up in Cairo watching films like Scarface (1983) and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966). This was the America we knew. I mean, for us, America was a bunch of rich white guys, blond women and MacGyver! In the 1980s, when Dallas was shown on Egyptian TV, the streets would be empty during the airing of the episodes. Everybody sat at home and watched. I remember when J.R. [John Ross Ewing Jr., played by Larry Hagman] was suddenly killed, it was a big topic of discussion across Cairo. This is how America was portrayed, so as a kid you believe in that.

What happened after 9/11?

Issawi: Americans started to ask questions. After 9/11, people became more curious about Arabs and the Middle East and especially about Islam. They now ask a lot of questions, you know: Who are Muslims? Why do Muslim women wear headscarves? How do Muslims pray?


Courtesy Capital City Productions
John Carter and Scott Schafer, the faces behind Fatwa

You’re making this movie to change the way America views Muslims. What about the way the Muslim world views America?

Issawi: It’s terrible, and the sad part is that Americans don’t realize it. I’ve been living in America for 17 years. I’m not sure Americans even care [how they are viewed]. Americans generally don’t travel [outside the US]. They need to get outside and look. If you live outside of America, you are going to see a different America. It has a dark side. Sadly, America was more beautiful in our eyes as kids. It’s so different nowadays. But there’s still a bright side to America and the proof is we were able to produce this movie.

Our goal was to show other people that we are no different from them. To do that, we focused on one normal guy, who just happens to be a Muslim, and showed the kind of pressures he faces.

FATWA

Also produced in America, the new thriller Fatwa was released straight-to-DVD last June. It is an independent film shot in digital format marking the debut of both its director, John Carter, and screenwriter Scott Schafer.


Courtesy Martinelli Film
Harvey Keitel plays the merchant in The Stone Merchant

The movie is modeled after the style of the hit TV series 24, complete with its trademark fast-paced action, real-time choreography and ‘raw’ handheld camera shooting. Taking place within a space of 36 hours, the film is a fictitious account that reveals what would be the next terrorist attack on America.

Samir Al-Faied (played by Roger G. Smith) is an Al-Qaeda operative disguised as a cab driver living outside Washington, DC. He cunningly infiltrates the life of Senator Maggie Davidson (Lauren Holly) in an effort to carry out a fatwa issued by Ossama Bin Laden in 1998 calling for the killing of Americans as the will of God. Al-Faied, still grieving over the loss of his wife and child, is only too ready to pick up fares with a bomb in his trunk.

John Carter talks to us about the backdrop of his Fatwa:

Did you study filmmaking before stepping behind the camera?

I didn’t go to film school. I was working on my master’s degree in marine biology, studying human-dolphin language capacities. The research was groundbreaking in the early 1990s; we thought for a while that we could talk to dolphins and chimps through a new language system!


Courtesy Martinelli Film
The Community of Islamic Organizations in Italy criticized director Renzo Martinelli’s film and described it as being biased.

National Geographic Explorer came to do a feature on the lab I was working at and I got to see the process of filmmaking and storytelling first hand. While science seemed slow and cumbersome, film was much more immediate. About a year later, I moved to Los Angeles and started working on non-union productions for $50 a day. I was hooked my first week

What kind of research did you require before tackling such a difficult topic?

We set out to show [everyone] that good films can be made at [a budget that is] under $1 million, films that can compete with the studios and have a strong story. This means a good cast, story, production value and score. We had to prove it.

In the end the consumer doesn’t care, all they want is an experience, right? So I got this idea of a terrorist who gets this senator in a cab and then doesn’t know what to do with her. It becomes about thinking that you know what you want and then something happens and it changes your beliefs.

When Scott Schafer wrote the first 12 pages of the outline we had agreed upon I couldn’t believe his talent. It was his first script and we agreed that we had all these constraints due to our budget and [on the other hand many] elements that we knew [we wanted and that] would make the story more exciting. Our fear was that we would have a mechanical story that had interesting scenes but not add up to tell a compelling [overarching] story. Our mantra is that, “The most important star of any film is the story.”


Courtesy Lions Gate Publicity
Laurence Fishburne and Ryan Phillipe in Five Fingers, which tries to create a balance between the Western and Islamic perspectives of terrorism.

So films are expensive and [ultimately] we have a worldwide audience to entertain. What are we trying to say and how? That is the ultimate question. Humans want a great story. It’s a need. So Scott wrote a fable, which shows that love conquers all. Without love we will ultimately fail as a species. That is the brilliance of Scott.

President [George W.] Bush invited American Muslims to an Iftar event this past Ramadan. Do you think this may help change misguided views about Islam being synonymous to terrorism?

Whenever I see a woman dressed in traditional Muslim clothing or a soldier coming back from Iraq, I try to stop and introduce myself. If I can have a moment with them it totally makes me realize how much we are removed from that experience. These are just people. They have children, they have fears, dreams and a belief system. Islam is a beautiful religion. My opinion is that we all have to have hope and purpose

Religion provides hope and if the religious leader uses that hope to a violent purpose we have terrorism, war and conflict. Christianity, Judaism, Islam — it doesn’t matter. Take a desperate person and give them hope and purpose and they will believe in any religion or belief system. This is why great leaders are so important and so rare. In the end, it’s a fight for resources; the planet is round.

Tell us about the feedback you got from audiences and film critics regarding Fatwa.

I was surprised by some of the comments and feedback. When someone really gets the story, they just want to talk for hours. Others get angry. Then you have those that just look at the story aesthetically, the pure story doesn’t get to them or [we’ve failed] to get it to them.

The thing about film is that people see through their own filter or perspective. They come back to you with all kinds of things that I never knew were in there to start with. It’s also my first film, I’m learning about reactions and feedback; I’m learning how to listen. It’s a bit spooky walking in front of an audience after a screening of Fatwa. I had one lady throw a soft drink at me once. Others have hugged me. The thing is, it’s not about John Carter. If the story is there, it’s about so much more. It’s about the people who made it with me, it’s about Scott’s script and it’s about the themes of the story. I’m just the messenger don’t shoot the messenger.

Noa Tishby plays an Arab terrorist; she is actually from Israel. Isn’t her casting a little ironic?

Yes it is. This is because we couldn’t afford to spend a lot on casting; we couldn’t search the world over for the perfect actress, right? Well, sometimes the perfect actor/actress is right under your nose. Her agent initially wanted her for another role, but I convinced him she was perfect for this.

She plays a character not loyal to anyone but herself, someone off the grid completely—a professional. I said we have to believe she can spend a month in the desert then get her hair and nails done and seduce a man. Noa got little rehearsal time; only three or four takes on any one shot. She was great and beautiful. I looked at dozens of actresses in the limited time we had in New York, Los Angeles and Washington. If I made a $50 million version of this movie I’d cast her without question. She symbolizes the melting pot and convergence of our world culture. I’m definitely working with her again at some point in time.

Any future plans for your production company, Capital City?

We have a very special script that Scott wrote called “The Way of War.” It is the best script I’ve ever read. It’s about a US special-ops soldier who finds “The Ace of Spades” [Ossama Bin Laden]. My agency, Paradigm, is packaging and selling for us so we will have a lot more support behind us this time. It’s not a studio movie, so we’re also raising the money now. It’s a $2–4 million budget depending on the cast. I expect it to be one of those films to grab a lot of attention. A Bourne Identity-type film with a shocking twist.

THE STONE MERCHANT

The Italian thriller Il Mercante Di Pietre (The Stone Merchant) was released last September in Rome: It wasn’t a great success, debuting in fourth place and making a paltry ¤1 million in its first four weeks.

Renzo Martinelli directed this film through his own production company. The Italian filmmaker established Martinelli Film in the 1970s, through which he made video clips, documentaries and TV ads. In 1993, he directed his feature film debut Sarahsarà (The Waterbaby), the true story of a handicapped black girl with an extraordinary aptitude for swimming. Martinelli then went on to direct other successful films including Porzus (1997), Vajont (2001) and the political thriller Piazza delle cinque lune (Five Moons Square. 2003), a sort of Italian version of JFK that tackles the conspiracy theories surrounding the kidnapping and assassination of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.

It was a film with a difficult subject, but not nearly as controversial as his new thriller. The filmmaker has told reporters that he moves around armed in case he is attacked by a militant.

Unlike New York, Madrid and London, Italian cities haven’t been subject to major acts of terrorism. But after watching The Stone Merchant, viewers will feel that Rome is under attack by Muslims — whether Arab immigrants or native Italians who have converted to Islam. The cast includes Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets, The Piano and Pulp Fiction) and F. Murray Abraham (Scarface, Amadeus and Mimic).

During the first Rome Film Festival this past October Martinelli was out of town, shooting his new film in Romania. We got him on the phone:

What interested you in adapting the Corrado Calabr?’s novel The Stone Merchant to the silver screen?

Martinelli: Ever since 9/11, none of Hollywood’s filmmakers tried to analyze the threats of Islamic fundamentalism. We have seen many films about Vietnam, Watergate and even tobacco companies but no one tried approaching Islamic fundamentalism accurately

Why did you cast an American actor in the leading role?

My movies are in English and there were a lot of difficulties in casting Italian actors [many] turned down the lead role also due to the difficulty of the topic. We got Harvey Keitel by chance the rest of the cast is [also] international; Jane March is from England and Jordi Mollà is from Spain.

In one scene, a professor [quoting Al-Arabiya news channel General Manager Abdel Rahman Al-Rashed] tells his students: “not all Muslims are terrorists, but almost all terrorists are Muslims.”

I didn’t actually say this sentence, but I can add to it that, ‘most victims of terrorist attacks are Muslims.’ This is something that the Muslim world should think about.

What sort of comments and feedback did the film generate?

Let’s say there were a lot of people who loved the movie. I received lots of e-mails and faxes at my office that said we should make more movies like these

Today, in the Western world, we have lost our identity; we don’t have any ideologies and most of the people don’t believe in God anymore. Still, we have some values in the West, love is sacred, love is above all, men and women are equal and we have freedom of expression.

[At a recent press conference prior to the film’s release, Martinelli said he didn’t attack Muslims but tried to understand them. Ali Shuetz, a member of Milan’s Muslim community, who was Martinelli’s consultant on Islam for the movie, said that Il Mercante Di Pietre is against Islamic terrorism and that this is positive. But the problem is that it leaves no room for moderate Islam, which belongs to the real life and to people. On the other hand, the spokesman of Italy’s largest Muslim group, Community of Islamic Organizations in Italy, Hamza Piccardo criticized the film, describing it as being biased and “full of prejudices and stereotypes — a caricature which is intolerable.”]

In the latest Ismailia Film Festival, there was a short film called La Fune (The Rope, 2004) by a young Italian filmmaker Alessandro Leone. It was centered on a rope that connected the balconies of two apartments in Rome in which lived two women, an Arab and an Italian. Obviously it is a metaphor about miscommunications between the two cultures. Do you think we must raise the dialogue between Arabs and Italians, Muslims and Christians?

I think people should talk together, especially within their families. A dialogue should exist between fathers and sons. If a Muslim cares for his children and if he has a strong belief in Allah, he wouldn’t take a plane and crash it into a tower. Through dialogue between cultures, we can establish that love and life are both sacred.

Finally, can you tell us about the latest movie you are working on?

[Laughs] It is a completely different movie about Italian heavyweight boxer Primo Carnera, who was a 2.6-meter-tall giant. He moved to America in the 1930s and won several championships there. He was a legend.

FIVE FINGERS

This American film premiered at the latest Tribeca Film Festival, then opened in a hand full of European countries including Italy, Greece and Belgium. Through Egyptian distributor Allied Film Distributor (AFD), it was submitted to the local censorship for a release certificate — but by the looks of it the film will probably be rejected.

Written and directed by Laurence Malkin, Five Fingers might have a smaller budget compared to Hollywood’s other event films, but it is a smart ensemble thriller with a few characters (only seven actors), a bound location (one warehouse) and very, very rich content. The cast includes Ryan Philippe (Igby Goes Down), Touriya Haoud and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix and Apocalypse Now).

I reached Malkin — who obviously has a better memory than mine as he remembered our previous meeting at the Cairo Film Festival a few years ago during the screening of his 2001 film Soul Assassin — and was granted the following interview:

The intriguing screenplay of this film presented a sort of psychological thriller featuring mind games between the two protagonists. Why did you choose this formula to discuss a contemporary issue?

As a filmmaker, I wanted to explore the conflicting demands of protecting innocent people from terrorism while preserving human rights. And above all, I wanted people to see the movie and formulate their own opinions about this dilemma. In my opinion the only way to effectively do this is to look at the issue from both perspectives. As a result, the script took on the format of a ‘dialectic’ — or ‘mind game,’ as you described it.

Do you expect your film to be understood and viewed positively in the Middle East?

I always have the desire to have an open and positive dialogue with my audience, whether they’re Middle Eastern or otherwise. But this film has obvious implications for Middle Easterners and I hope that they go to see it — even in places like Iraq or Afghanistan. That being said, I think the film is equally important for Americans and Europeans to see. This is because the answers to these questions must be found together. So in my ideal world, Middle Easterners, Americans, Europeans, and everyone else could sit in the same theater, watch the film, and then discuss it over a drink in the lobby. That to me would be a positive experience.

I think the movie gave a comprehensive view of who the bad guys are regardless of race and religion. Do you feel that this is a departure from the usual stereotypical depiction of Arabs and Muslims nowadays in American cinema?

I think a lot of American cinema at the moment is driven by a culture of fear. Some of that fear is well founded and some of it is not. And there lies the paradox.

The final shot in the film is of the Statue of Liberty. Is this meant to condemn the CIA or American government or their policies?

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to answer that question directly. Each viewer must decipher that shot for himself. That being said, I don’t think the film is anti-American. Liberty and freedom form the very foundation of America, but during the last five years, the question facing all Americans has been this: How do you preserve liberty and freedom while defending the nation from attack? Clearly, there are divergent views on this subject and the final shot of the movie, which is intentionally ambiguous, should serve as a springboard to discuss that.

How was it working with Laurence Fishburne [who also co-produced]?

Laurence Fishburne was the first actor to attach himself to the project and it wouldn’t have been made without his support. His agent, Sam Gores, and Sam’s colleague, Mark Ross, were instrumental in convincing Laurence to read the script and remain attached while we cobbled together the financing. Once the film got off the ground, Laurence was involved with every aspect of its production. He is an amazing actor.

Would you like to comment on any other American or European depictions of Arabs or Muslims in film?

I thought Syriana did a good job balancing the portrayal of Americans and Arabs.

I read you will be remaking the classic Sidney Lumet/Sean Connery film The Anderson Tapes. Can you tell us about it?

It’s a remake, but instead of it being about a Brit in America, it is about an American in London, the most “watched” city in the world [via closed-circuit television-]. The movie asks the basic question, “how can you pull off a heist right in front of the lens?” et

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[Anissa]

Is a bit long but is a very nice interview