Arab film on Bedouin brotherhood set for Oscar 2016

Why filmmaker Naji Abu Nowar's Oscar-nominated film Theeb is already a winner.

STORYTELLING IN ITS simplest function entertains us. Folklore and fairytales were orally passed down from one generation to the next to teach and help guide future generations. And in a place where time may have had no direct consequence, Jordanian filmmaker Naji Abu Nowar saw a story in a Bedouin tribe that could speak to the whole world. His film, Theeb (meaning 'wolf') has the lure of a folklore, the entertainment quality of real movies and a poignant element that leaves a mark when you watch any great film.

With this year's Academy Awards shrouded in diversity controversy, the Arab world can't help but rejoice at what feels like a win for the regional film industry. Palestinian American director Basil Khalil's short Ave Maria has been nominated in the Short Film category along with Naji's Theeb, the first Arab Film ever to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and most recently a BAFTA Award winner.
"We consider ourselves to have won already," says Naji, who took the time to credit his team and other Arab directors who have been recognised by the Oscars before him.
Theeb is a coming-of-age adventure film set in 1916 about a 11-year-old Bedouin boy named Theeb, played enigmatically by the young actor Jacir Eid. Living in the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, Theeb and his elder brother Hussien are recently orphaned. One night a British soldier (Jack Fox) and his Arab escort approach the Bedouin tribe asking to be guided to a location near the Ottoman train tracks. Hussein agrees to guide them and Theeb, who is told he can't join the journey, follows anyway, where he embarks on a dangerous desert journey.
Theeb is storytelling at its finest. It is, for lack of a better word, like a tale told around a camp fire, spellbinding from start to finish. Cinematically stunning, the desert is beautifully captured, effortlessly depicting man's relationship with the land. Beyond the visually striking, the story is epic and told with great and masterful suspense. Though it is set in a time and location much different than any of us could recognise today, Naji manages to make this specific story universal.

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- Rania Al Abdullah (@QueenRania) January 14, 2016

Theeb has been viewed in numerous international film festivals, including the 2014 edition of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival where it won two awards, one for best film from the Arab World and the FIPRESCI Prize for best narrative feature.
From creating a space of understanding between cultures, to raising a platform for stories or to simply display the unique nuances of the human experience, films are one of the most powerful art forms available today. And with the international success of Theeb we are hoping that more of what the Arab film industry can produce will be equally recognised.
City Times spoke to Naji about what it took to make this film, what he learnt from observing the Bedouins and the future of the Arab film industry.
You lived for a year observing the customs of the last nomadic Bedouin tribe in Jordan. How was that experience? How much of what we see in the film is true to reality and how much had to be changed for fiction?
Well, obviously, they aren't living in the same conditions as they were in 1916. They were no longer nomadic, they were settled. But we chose that tribe because they were among the last people to be settled, so a lot of the adult males had experienced nomadic life before. So obviously I wasn't living as a nomad, that's not what you see in the film. But their culture, their experiences as nomads, how you live as a nomad are in the film. From spending a year with them and learning from them and really developing the entire story with them, in particular their poetry, their oral storytelling history, their version of history, the film is told through their eyes. It's not about politics and intellectual endeavours, it's about their experience of what happened. So for example, they wouldn't have known what year it was, they wouldn't have known that there was a First World War going on. They don't care about time. They don't know it's 1916, they don't know what date it is, that's not important in their lifestyle. Obviously the clothes they wear, the way they ride their camels, all that stuff is from them. The actual plot of the story is obviously fictional. It's invented but it's within the framework of their culture, their story telling and their history.
What were some of the films you loved growing up? Who were some of the directors you have been a fan of?
I always loved the kind of films I would watch with my father that were kind of the Westerns on TV. John Ford films and all that sort of stuff. That's how I kind of grew to love Westerns. Obviously I love Kurosawa and all his films.
What effect do you think Theeb winning the Academy Award for best foreign film will have on the Arab film industry?
I think it will have a huge effect. The change will be felt in the local Jordanian industry and I think the Arab industry as a whole. Obviously there are wonderful directors who have come before us. Hani Abu Assad and Rachid Bouchareb are the other two Arab directors who have been nominated in the past. But it's been fantastic and I really hope that it helps other filmmakers and industries as a whole. It's great that other countries like Palestine, Algeria and now Jordan... it's good to have diverse Arab countries (nominated for the Oscars) and I hope this encourages other Arab countries to get more nominations around and obviously a win would be amazing. It's going to be great for the country, it's going to be great for the Arab world and as a filmmaker, it's a wonderful time to be in the Arab world, it's very exciting.
In what sense is it exciting?
There's lots of great talents around in the UAE, in Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco. So there are exciting times. You know, I'm seeing a lot of talent that I admire. For instance Basil Khalil, the short filmmaker who is also nominated - I would love to see him make a feature film. I'm excited to see what's coming out. I feel like there is a new generation of filmmakers that are really doing exciting things. So hopefully an Oscar win will add to that confidence of the film industry in these young talents.

You seem to have a positive outlook. Have you found it hard to get films made?
Look, I have a positive outlook because I'm a filmmaker. If you're going to cry every time you get rejected or you find life hard, you should not try and be a filmmaker what so ever. It's too difficult. I've been trying to make films for 10 years. I failed to make four or five, I think it's five feature films, up until I made Theeb. I've been rejected from every filmmaking country's fund on earth, probably two or three times. So if you're going to sit and cry or if you're going to have a negative attitude or if you're going to blame the fact that 'oh I'm in the Arab world, there isn't a big industry in the Arab world', just go home. Quit. I do this because I love it, I don't need the money to do it. I would do it on a cell phone if I could do it on cell phones. And you know what? Hey, I'm an example of someone that just did it anyway. The team and I, we did it anyway, so you can't really say that it's "impossible" to make films. There are millions of people around you that are going to international film festivals and making films. You can't complain. You always have to be positive. You always have to be constructive. You always have to find a way to solve your problems.
Do you see yourself as a director or an Arab director? Do these labels mean anything?
I'm a filmmaker. I happen to be an Arab and I love making films in that region, that's what I'm drawn to, that's what excites me. I don't think in racial terms. I feel that film and storytelling is universal. But certainly, what draws me is the story telling that you find in Jordan and quite possibly in the rest of the Arab world.
You managed to make a story, which is of a very specific place and time, very universal. Was it your aim to appeal to a mass audience?
Obviously I really wanted audiences to love this film and I think it's essential. I'm not one of those people that says, 'oh I just make a film and I don't care what the audience think'. I absolutely want to share it with the audience, but when you're making it, you're really thinking about what you want to see up on screen. One of the things I really enjoyed when I was making it was - I'm a big fan of folklores and fairy tales and I noticed how the Bedouin storytelling traditions were very similar, well identical to that. Because essentially their storytelling is ancient, it's oral, handed down through the generation. So their storytelling is identical to these kind of great, international, universal, human traditions of folklore that you find all over the world. And so I like the fact that those two ran in the same river. There are private elements to the story that were in our consciousness . . . there were some cinematic traditions involved there and they all end up blending together.
Speaking about cinematography, the film is shot beautifully. What were you trying to achieve from a technical point of view? And do all aspects of the technical relate into the emotional part of the story?
Everything is fed into the storytelling. There isn't a millimeter on screen on any of the aspects of the filmmaking process whether it be the locations, the characters, the sound, the editing, the music, everything is very carefully thought out or thought of in terms of how we can use that to best serve the story. It's all a huge collaboration with the wonderful team I have. Everyone is very focused on what we are doing and everything goes into that. Everything is to do with the telling of the story... there is nothing by - if it is by accident and we love it, we embrace it, because it's good for the story. If it happens by accident and it's not good for the story, it's not in the film - you know what I mean? So even if it's fate and it's chaos that occurs, it's only used and put into the scene if it works.
Do you think the fact that you've lived in Jordan and in the UK for most of your life has given you an advantage as a director?
I don't know... I think probably because I moved back and fourth constantly my whole life, I'm used to being someone who is considered another. In England I was always the Arab kid, in Jordan I was always the English type kid. I was always never fully quite one or the other. So I'm used to having to blend into environments where people, may not necessarily consider me, where people might think I'm a foreigner or people might see me as something different. And I think that helps to take a step back and observe different people. I come from two very different cultures. I'm very proud of both cultures but I'm different in that sense that I've come from two different worlds. So yeah, I think it helps to give you perhaps an objective or observational view. I tend to watch the world. It also helps coming into a new culture because I came into a new Bedouin culture. I'm from Jordan, I live in Jordan. But I'm a townie, I don't live in the desert. I'm always respectful of different cultures. I understand what it's like to move to a new place, to meet different people, in a different language in a different culture and I'm respectful of people. So, I think that helped me kind of get to know the Bedouin. I was aware that I had to be respectful of their culture and never do anything to insult them.
maan@khaleejtimes.com