US-based Palestinian WAlEED ZUAITER insists he is an actor first and a film producer later, especially after he experienced the pangs of producing the much-acclaimed and award winning Omar, a brilliant film of betrayal in the conflict zone of West Asia. As an actor, however, he had a satisfying time bringing out the nuances of an Israeli agent in the film. Talking to MEENAKSHI RAO from los Angeles, he tells her how delighted he is that Omar could be shown at the Dharamshala International Film Festival, how conflict cinema has impacted him, how Meryl Streep made his Oscar night and when he will be coming to India to shoot the sequel to Olympus Has Fallen
life without a nation
You are a Palestinian who plays an Israeli spook in the film. How did it feel to be an Israeli on screenIJ
It was interesting to play an Israeli, especially when I am a Palestinian. But I approach every character with the same level of respect and care so at one level it didn’t matter. But on the other, as a Palestinian the fact that I was playing an Israeli put an added responsibility on me to portray all the shades of Rami with honesty. I had to bring out all the dimensions of his character. I don’t think you would hate him as a man because he was just a product of his system. Besides, Hany Abu-Assad (director) is a tremendous filmmaker and storyteller. He reminded me that tales which have maximum impact are ones in which the audience join in on its emotional journey. There is a saying that the stronger the villain, the stronger the hero and that is laid bare in Omar.
What was the response once you returned to screen Omar in PalestineIJ
We had an independent distribution in Palestine and even in Israel. But it was on a very small scale. In Palestinian areas, the response to the movie was tremendous. There were over 2,000 people for the screening in Ramallah which was just a make-shift arrangement with a projector and chairs put together and the movie shown through blue ray DVD. There was a universal sense of belonging and validation, pride and connection with the story of Omar. In Tel Aviv critical acclaim was robust but in the rest of Israel, the attendance couldn’t sustain. In Palestine, there are no real marketing budgets and even independent Israeli cinema suffers from the same funds constraint that we do.
Where did the idea of a romance in the middle of strife germinateIJ Omar is fiction but what really happens in such areasIJ Was the film inspired by a real storyIJ
Hany had long been wanting to make a love story within a thriller and that’s what Omar is. His inspiration came from three sources — the Middle East for ambience, French cinema for close-up shots and American cinema for action sequences. Other than that, the story was inspired by his Palestinian friend who was gay and the Israelis threatened to spill the beans on his community, thereby pressuring him to collaborate with them. Hany read a newspaper report about a collaborator who shot an Israeli agent with his gun and he decided that’s how his film would end.
The film goes through a soiree of emotions — love, anger, angst and betrayal. These are emotions similar to both the ongoing strife which is real and the romance which was fictional. How did you manage to merge the two and how did it impact youIJ
It was my first time in West Bank and it was great to be in my homeland. My father is from Nablus in north West Bank and my mother from Haifa which now falls in Israel. We were filming just 40 minutes away from Haifa so I went visiting which was good. But for the first three days that we shot on location, we stayed at a refugee camp and those were the most difficult days of my filming as they affected me tremendously. The sense of desperation and despair, the hopelessness all around impacted me. The worst thing about my homeland is that hope is dying. Even Hany, who had earlier filmed Paradise Now in the region, said the slide was vertical.
Do you think there is a future for the besieged people of your areaIJ
I don’t know but as of now, it all seems very bleak.
Tell us about your film’s commercial release in the US.
I would say, it’s a healthy release with 7,00,000 coming in. Omar is yet to break even, but the response to the film has been tremendous.
Do you think parallel cinema has a place in world cinemaIJ
Fund-raising is a serious issue. Budgets are non-existent and countries are unwilling to pay much for this cinema so to get a commercial release is difficult.
Your thoughts on Palestinian cinema....
The good thing about it is that I’ve seen it grow into being more character driven. The common thread in all of Palestine cinema has been addressing the conflict and that’s how it is going to always be. A lebanese film-maker once told me that she was torn too but we are different as we are occupied. She said lebanese filmmakers have more artistic freedom than Palestinians. For me, the most potent Palestinian cinema will come after the occupation ends.
I know this is a generic question but can’t imagine how it is to be without a homeland. Your thoughts on this and also on what a virtually permanent refugee status does to a population. I mean, anywhere in the world they will be refugees or exiledIJ
A very good question. I live in the States now. I was born here and did my schooling in Kuwait but you are right, all Palestinians are united through a deep sense of displacement. There is displacement within Palestine and Israel too. My parents chose to leave when the war broke out (1948) but with intent to return which never happened and that’s my sense of displacement. In Kuwait, I grew up as a Palestinian without a homeland and there was tension between the Kuwaitis and the Palestinians there. After the Iraq war broke out, I became a refugee of the Iraq War from Kuwait. Now I am in America, but I am still not a complete American in many ways. There is this longing for my homeland and that discomfort of not really fitting in anywhere. My grandmother was displaced thrice — from Palestine, from lebanon and from Kuwait.
Do you think feature films and documentaries on revolutions and conflict zones are history in the makingIJ
They are vehicles of bringing the real information to the world and in that context, indeed, history in the making. It’s a new era of dissemination of news and garnering world opinion against happenings around the world, like the Arab Spring. The films and documentaries on such subjects provide a different perspective and their biggest job is to uncover the truth of a revolution, war or conflict.
Can you lead us through the response you have got for your brilliant effortIJ
At the Oscar after-party, I met Meryl Streep and she held my hand and said she knew I was there for Omar and that she intended to see the film. I have worked with her in some projects in 2006 but I never got a chance to introduce my wife to her and that was a sore point. So my Oscar highlight was that I was finally able to redress her grievance at the after party and the fact that Streep talked about Omar meant my film was making the right buzz.
How difficult is it to produce such filmsIJ
Producing Omar was a challenge in terms of bringing in the money. It was a totally privately funded independent film. We got some support from the Palestinian business community. However, one firm which was to pitch in a quarter of the budget pulled out at the last minute so it was not very easy. Of course, there were no challenges from the Israeli Government and logistics of filming in the area which was great, considering that the last time Hany was there for Paradise Now, he had a nightmarish time with the authorities.
Has Omar made moneyIJ
(Silence for a few seconds). Did you hear that silenceIJ So it means, no. At the end of the day, it is just some independent Palestinian film. In public perception, Palestine cinema is dark and negative and always guided by the conflict in its land.
When are you coming to IndiaIJ
This December. I will be there to film the sequence of Olympus Has Fallen and that’s titled london Has Fallen. I will be there with Gerard Butler. It will be my first time to India and I’ve heard so much about your country. However, I am not sure which cities we will be filming in though the director has assured us that it will be at a very exotic place.