Israeli director Elite Zexer is nominated for the EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2016 – Prix FIPRESCI with her film SAND STORM. In our interview she talks about her experiences with Bedouin women in the desert.
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So many first time directors and writers choose an autobiographical subject for their debut. The story of a Bedouin woman who has to deal with the second marriage and wife of her husband couldn’t be farther from your life. Why this story? My mother is a stills photographer, and ten years ago she began photographing Bedouin women from various villages in the dessert. One day she asked me to join her. I was immediately captivated, and a day turned into weeks, then months, then years. These women became very close friends, and their stories became very close to my heart. On one of our visits, we escorted a young woman during her wedding to a strange man, a man she only married to please her family, while she secretly loved another. Minutes before she met him for the first time, she turned to me and said- “this will never happen to my daughter”. I looked at her and felt my stomach twitching. That’s the moment I knew, that I had to make this movie. |
What is SAND STORM about in your own words?
SAND STORM is a family drama that takes place in a Bedouin Village in the Israeli desert. It tells the story of two women, both dealing with life-changing events at the same time: Jalila, a 42-year-old woman whose husband has just married a second, much younger wife; and Layla, her 18-year-old daughter whose secret, strictly forbidden, love affair was just unveiled. The two women have very different views of the world, and they each try to fight individually, but they fail. Their whole family falls apart and everything they believe in shatters. Only then they are forced to understand that if they wish to survive, they will have to start seeing the world through each other’s eyes.
Can you tell us about the writing process of the script?
The writing of the script took almost five years. I was writing a script about a culture that is not my own – their traditions, beliefs, customs, language are all very different from mine. While understanding that this is something I could never bypass – and by this I mean that this film will always be of an outsider – still, I wanted to give it my best shot to make the film as authentic as possible, and to try to write the plots, characters, themes, as if it was an internal point of view. So, it took years of re-writing the script again and again, until I felt like it was accurately enough giving a voice to their ways of thinking and of seeing the world. Of course, all this re-writing did much more than portraying the culture more accurately – each version of the script added something, another layer, another message, another twist to the story. It deepened my understanding of the characters, what drives them, what makes them tick, and why. This all was incredibly helpful not only as a writer, but also as a director.
You spent multiple years interacting with Bedouin women, how did this experience help you as a filmmaker?
My film is influenced almost entirely by these interactions. The people I’ve met and stories I’ve come across are more apparent on screen than anything else. My interactions with the Bedouins shaped every frame of this film. The script is fictional, but it is based on real stories, real circumstances, and I wrote it while feeling an obligation to make it as real as possible, not only because this is the type of film I connect with most but also because I felt obligated to represent the people I’ve met in the most accurate way. This effected every other aspect of the making of this film, in the exact same manner. Art, wardrobe, make-up – nothing was invented. It’s all based on real things we saw, and decided they were right for the characters. I think the question “But why do you want it that way?”, followed by my answer “Because that’s how it is in real life” was the most common thing during pre-production. By the time we finished preparing and started shooting, there was no need to ask anymore. Everybody on set already understood how this film was being made.
SAND STORM is set in such a particular part of the world. How did you choose the locations where you shot the film, and why did you choose to film there?
My wish was to shoot on location, in the villages I knew, or villages as similar as possible to the ones I knew. I wanted to have sets with 360 degrees of freedom to shoot so that I could create a coherent world, both for the camera and for my actors – so that the world which I was filming would feel as genuine and as real as possible.
In order to find these spots we had a very extended locations tour and saw dozens of potential villages. We ended up choosing four, and divided the sets of the film between them. Each of them brought something different and unique, and together they created a world that represents very well what I wanted to show, and supports the drama of the film from every possible direction.
What were some of the challenges you encountered during production you did not expect?
We shot on location, so I was aware that anything can happen. And everything did happen. But we were mentally prepared for it, so we overcame it all. I think the hardest part for me was that a lot of the days were quite stressful time-wise. Somehow I almost always had to make four shots in the last 30 minutes of the day. We always got them. Always. But it meant a lot of stress, both on me and on the cast and crew. The funny part is that when I looked at the material later, after the shoot was over, I almost always noticed that these shots were the best ones. Sometimes an entire scene was edited from these four shots that I filmed in the last half hour of the day.
On set, you worked with people from very different backgrounds – Jewish, Muslim, Bedouin. What experiences did you make?
Our crew on set had people from all different backgrounds, religions and beliefs but none of us really paid any attention to where the others were from. We worked like one big happy and loving family, and all gave everything they had into making the best possible film. We all became very close friends, and loved being in each other’s company. It was a very special experience and I feel very lucky to have had such an amazing and supportive crew.
What advice do you have for other female directors?
Surround yourselves with people who are eager to work with you, who are as passionate about the film as you are, and about whom you know in your guts that they will be there to support you when you need them most. Once you do that, I hardly think that being a woman will be an issue on set. Once the set is run by emotions like love, devotion, friendship, support, faith, passion, being a woman can only be a huge bonus.