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ELKABETZ AND YOUSSEF: A DIALOGUE
08/09/2011
The 27 young Europeans’ appointments with personalities from the film industry end with a special event, entitled “Stranger in your country: the fear of the other”, which featured the two young directors Shlomi Elkabetz and Susan Youssef, respective authors of the films Edut and Habibi, both in the official selection of the Venice Days.
The exceptional nature of the occasion lies in the fact that one of the film-makers is of Israeli nationality and the other Palestinian, representing, therefore, two peoples who have been involved in a battle that has been bloodying the Gaza strip and the surrounding areas for over half a century. What was said during the meeting with the representatives from the European Parliament, regarding cinema’s potential for playing a social and active role, takes concrete shape during this meeting; the two films – different from one another but equally interesting -, have become an opportunity for confronting the fundamental subject of otherness.
With regards to her own dual nationality, Youssef says: “I was born in the US, but have been working in the Middle East for the last twenty years, especially in Palestine. I was in Gaza for three years, I’ve learnt a lot about different styles of living; it was a special experience for me”.
While Elkabetz, referring to the melting pot of the twentyseven young people, states: “you come from 27 different countries and your identity is defined by the differences between you, particularly by language”, and referring to Habibi she adds: “what is interesting in Suzan’s film is that the characters are not defined from a political standpoint; she uses the myth of the other, but with regard to the fact that the main character is a woman who is separated from her own partner and, for some decisions, even from herself. Otherness is therefore never used to make distinctions between occupants and non-occupants”. Youssef admits, in fact, to wishing she could say what she feels in an indirect way, without the sloppiness of an exact judgement: “I didn’t want to show the cruelty of Hamas in a direct way; I tried to explain what it means to live with these tensions by recounting the experience of every-day life in Gaza”.
More than a protest film, Habibi is a love story between two young people, whose projects come up against a society that imposes its own choices and sells them off as the only ones possible. While Youssef, through this first work which took her no less than seven years to complete, sees the world from the perspective of the two main characters, in Edut Elkabetz brings together Israeli and Palestinian experiences in a complex game of mirrors which mixes the identities together; in fact, the actors of her cast play out the real testimonies – moreover Palestinian – but in the language of their oppressors, Hebrew. The director tells us that the film received mixed reviews: “The Minister of Culture did not appreciate the film, deeming it full of lies and as lacking the pain of the Israeli. On the other hand, we had loads of positive reactions from people who had been waiting for a similar piece of work for years”. “I know that this film will give me some grief - Youssef also admits-, but I’m optimistic, I have faith in the better side of human nature. The people I met during the path of making Habibi all showed themselves to have little interest for politics, they were generous and very excited to be contributing to the film”.
The path of dialogue is without a doubt long and beset with obstacles; through film, however, the two young directors have managed to build a bridge of communication between each other and with the audience. By putting political questions to one side, in the background, Susan Youssef and Shlomi Elkabetz have spoken to the sensitivities of those who never wanted this war in the first place, making a dent in the wall of silence and creating the basis for a brave and productive dialogue between the new generations, of whatever nationality they may be.
Francesco Bonerba
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