Int: Hany Abu-Assad

[Editor’s Note: We are extremely pleased to introduce our readers to the newest member of the IONCINEMA team. Coming to us from Madrid, Spain – Bárbara Celis D’amico is a New York based journalist who works as the culture and entertainment contributor in the Big Apple for EL PAIS, (the most important daily newspaper in Spain) and she is the correspondent for the Spanish monthly Cinemania film magazine. We are looking forward to her future contributions and her thoughts on the best that the world of cinema has to offer.]

The Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad cannot deny his pride nor his surprise. His movie, Paradise Now has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and such a non political event has put Palestine back into the world map. It has also brought, for the first time in history, some glamour to people that “have been continually defeated”, he says.

His country was officially erased from the Middle East after Israel was created in 1948, but last month when Paradise Now won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Movie the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, calling it “a film from Palestine”. The American Academy of Motion Picture did the same when last January announced the contenders for this year’s Oscar race. With Israelis and Palestinians locked in conflict over national claims on the same land, a rain of protests from American Israeli organizations are threatening to drown Paradise Now under the claim that it cannot be named ‘Palestinian’ since that country does not officially exist. The proper way to name it, they say, would be “a movie from Palestine Territories” so they are urging the Academy to reconsider the national label. Besides its denomination, its content has also provoked controversy among Israelis, angry by a plot in which two Palestine suicide bombers from the West Bank on their way to blow themselves up in Tel Aviv, struggle with doubt, fear and all kinds of human feelings. “Terrorists are not human beings” they claim.

Abu-Assad, in an interview during the recent Sundance Film Festival, was already prepared for the controversy, which started with complaints from the Israeli foreign minister right after the speech at the Golden Globes ceremony. “Before it was Israel was Palestine so legally I still can call it Palestine” defended Abu Assad. “If you change your name, I could still call you with your old one, couldn’t I?” he asked. Abu-Assad, 45, whose movie is the first Palestinian film ever nominated for an Oscar, talked at length with Ioncinema.com.

Bárbara Celis: What does it mean for you to be on the Oscar race (note: this was asked 2 days before the nominations were announced)?

Hany Abu-Assad: A lot, just to be nominated with all those big names around, with all these talented people it is an honor. It is great because it will bring more people to see the movie, it will help me to finance new projects but the most important thing is that it will help the case of Palestine, because there is not a Palestinian state, but there is the case of Palestine and that’s what the movie will represent.

BC: Do you think the Oscar and the awards could help to improve the conflict between Israelis and Palestines?

HA-A: No, a movie it is just a movie so it won’t change or improve the Palestinian case but getting so far with the film it will help to gain respect for the Palestinian case. When you gain respect people try to see you as an equal and then we could talk about representation and reconciliation with Israelis, so it will be really helpful to get recognize as equals.

BC: Do you think Paradise Now would have got the same attention if it were made before 9/11?

HA-A: Every conflict is different but terror is not anything new. It is been there for a long time. I don’t know how people would have react if it weren’t a today’s issue but what I meant was to do a good movie, without taking into account timing. I hope in twenty years from now, even if this issue is resolved, you could still watch it and think that is a good movie. This is what I meant to do.

BC: After you got the Golden Globe you gave a short but strong political speech during the award ceremony. It provoked an angry response from the Israel Foreign minister. Because of Paradise Now, every word that you say about Palestine is going to be analyzed to the detail. Do you feel a lot of pressure about it?

HA-A: Yes and no. I am not a politician. If a politician says something wrong it will cost them votes, I am not seeking votes, I just want to make movies. If you have stories to tell and you want to tell them through movies is not a big deal, what I am telling in my interviews won’t change the content of the movie, it won’t make it a better or worst movie out of it. The film will stay the same.

BC: What was the reaction about Paradise Now in Palestine?

HA-A: There were many different reactions in Palestine about it. It depends on the people. As an individual you have your own reading about a movie. In Palestine people love it or not love it, like everywhere else, but in general, I believe people judges films as films. There is a general understanding about what makes a good movie. No matter where you go, America, Palestine, the Arab World… if people follow the story and forget they are watching a movie, forget the time, enjoy the suspense, like the humor it means they are responding to a good movie. Then you have what I call the ‘critical watchers’. Those are people who want you to make what they can’t make and if it is not fitting their perception, they don’t like the movie. These people, like the others, are everywhere.

BC: The movie has been showed in 70 countries; did you ever expect such a success?

HA-A: I never thought it could happen. It’s a new experience. You can’t imagine how big this can be for Palestinians. We have always been defeated, defeated, defeated and that provokes feelings of anger, aggression, and extremism. What is happening with this movie is suddenly a victory because it means we are now part of the glamorous world. Our name, Palestine, glamorous? It is so unusual! So just this kind of recognition makes them so happy, less aggressive and less frustrated.

BC: I am curious about you, how did you become a filmmaker if you were an engineer?

HA-A: Love, my dear, love. Believe me, love can do everything. I was rejected once by a woman and I thought that if I would became a filmmaker she will regret it.

BC: Has she?

Well, she goes around saying that is proud to have rejected me. She is funny, she is happy with it…

BC: Do you ever miss your old job?
HA-A: No, ever.

BC: What’s your next project?

HA-A: I have two scripts that will be shot in the United States, independent projects. One is about the American dream and the other is about fear, about the insecurities of people, especially about politicians, how politicians can make you insecure.

BC: America loves to get foreign talent and bring them to do movies in Hollywood. You seem happy with it. What are you going to get from it?

HA-A: The experience of course and besides….What about a Palestinian boy working in Hollywood? It’s good! Don’t you think?

The Academy Awards is March 5th.
You can read Marcello Paolillo’s interview with Hany (Oct 05′) here.