The Spotlight: Dina Amer
Dina Amer talks to FTW about going from print to screen, the importance of having fun during filming, and how ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ drove her to tears.
By Daisy Gonzalez
The Spotlight is an interview series in which we follow under-the-radar contenders as they break ground in the festival and awards space.
A feature debut is no small feat. From worrying about financing to scheduling to all the woes that come with production, it’s a process that can overwhelm even the most seasoned filmmaker. Making it to the finish line is a miracle all on its own, at least according to FREE THE WORK creator Dina Amer.
Dina Amer is an award-winning filmmaker and journalist. She produced the Oscar-nominated and Emmy award-winning documentary The Square, where the Egyptian Revolution was chronicled from the frontlines. Growing up between the US and Egypt, her work has focused on sharing nuanced, human stories with a global audience. Previously, Dina was a celebrated journalist. She was an on-air correspondent for VICE, including “The Black Market Series,” where she uncovered the human trafficking of Syrian refugees and explored the underground economy of illegal Egypt-Gaza tunnels. Her written work has been published in The New York Times, CNN, and the Huffington Post. And now the Egyptian American director is preparing for the theatrical rollout of her feature debut film, You Resemble Me.
The film follows the story of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a woman who was falsely accused of being Europe’s first female suicide bomber. Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in an intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging.
It’s almost a miracle to finish a film and even more so that you got to make it.
Daisy Gonzalez: Firstly, how are you feeling? The film has gone through quite a journey!
Dina Amer: It’s incredible because when you’re making a film, especially over the course of six years, it feels like you’re climbing a steep hill. It’s a tough journey and you’re believing in something that doesn’t quite exist yet. You’re trying to convince people that it’s worth it as well.
Filmmaking is such an act of faith. I am so grateful that I am no longer in this space and now I’m climbing a different hill. Thankfully, I delivered the project and it’s my first baby so-to-speak. I am really excited to see people experience the film.
I am also very proud of the perseverance of the group of people who came together to make this film with me. And now, it’s about the next project where now I am wondering how you make a living out of making movies. [Laughs] The first film required so much financial sacrifice and it’s not really sustainable.
DG: Right, you’re starting out and now you’re like, okay, how am I supposed to make the next one? Where is the money?
DA: [Laughs] Yeah that’s a whole other conversation. I feel like it’s one that young filmmakers need to be guided through. How do you get access to commercial work, music videos, or whatever it is that’s going to allow them to survive in between projects that might require more time to raise funding? So that’s where I am at right now. I am excited and committed to expanding as an artist and being able to take more artistic risks. That is really important to me and I am looking forward to that adventure.
DG: You are a decorated journalist and have long focused on telling personal stories. When did you know that you wanted to become a filmmaker?
AD: I grew up loving movies so much. They were such a lifeline to me and they were such an access point for my identity. I grew up in Florida. I am Egyptian and my parents immigrated here to the United States from Egypt. My parents would always be playing these black-and-white Egyptian films. I was glued to the TV screen, just devouring all of these movies that were teaching me the language and connecting me to my mother country in a way. That’s the power of storytelling. I marveled at how universal that power was in that as a little girl from Florida, how I could still care so deeply about these characters who are millions of miles away. From there, my love for cinema expanded beyond Egyptian films to other films. My parents would take me to see R-rated films too, and so I got a very mature cinematic experience from a young age. [Laughs]
There was another part of me that loved Barbara Walters and Christiane Amanpour. Women who were able to have these deeply intimate conversations with people and allow people to share such vulnerable things about their lives with the world. I was so captivated by the power of conversation and intimacy, you know? And then Christiane Amanpour would parachute into a conflict somewhere and would be on the frontlines. Her voice would be the one telling the stories of what was happening. It was just so inspiring to me from a young age.
I think my journalistic background and being able to be on the front lines of certain spaces allowed me to have that eye in my toolkit. I have an appreciation for real stories.
DG: Writing about a real-life subject can be very tricky. What was the process like for you now as a storyteller in determining the underlying theme of Hasna’s story?
AD: I originally did over 360 hours of interviews when this news broke. I had lots of stories to work with and the interviews formed the basis for the source material that I wrote the script from. My approach felt like relaying a film’s plot to a friend. The film took its time to reach its most powerful edge. Hasna was a woman struggling with her sense of self and trying to navigate different parts of who you are and seeking that harmony in the contradiction. That felt very personal and universal and it’s where, as a filmmaker, I felt I could authentically portray this story.
The essence of the story for me was about a girl trying to find peace in being a Muslim, Arab, a Western woman and trying to reconcile with this identity. I experience that every day and can understand a little bit of where those struggles come from. That’s really what drove the storytelling; just being in service of that internal fracture.
DG: What were some of the obstacles that you and your team encountered to make sure the film found the right supporters from the beginning?
AD: It really came down to me being completely committed. You can’t fake that commitment and passion for a story. I think that a filmmaker needs to have this burning desire to tell the story at any cost and that affection towards a story allows you to persuade anyone to follow you into that mission. People come together from that passion and guide you through these obstacles. For things like, not having money for the film, or walking away from huge studios because they didn’t believe in the original vision, it helps to have these guardian angels come along and carry you through the process.
It’s almost a miracle to finish a film and even more so that you got to make it.
DG: Your film asks a crucial question; how did we get here? You first met Hasna from where her story theoretically ends. With the film, you have worked your way through time back to the beginning. What do you think are the lessons imparted from Hasna’s story and to a certain extent the integrity of truth in journalism?
AD: As a former journalist, this film felt much like a redemptive act for me. The media, in its portrayal of terrorism, was really guilty of sensationalizing Hasna’s story and at times even resorting to fiction to fit a narrative. As you see in the film, they call three different women Hasna, and two of them were innocent. Their lives were affected by that mistake. So I wanted to take a news headline and invert it. What if the headline was something you arrived at so that you understood how it was formed rather than just leading with how is this individual a victim or a perpetrator? A headline makes people draw their own judgments and preconceived notions and with the film, I wanted to give the subjects the ability to exist on their own terms and give the audience space to understand them. That space allows us to see ourselves in each other and find common ground.
It was very important for me to help people understand how we’ve arrived in a world where a young person can be enchanted by a violent group. Because guess what? There are so many other versions of Hasna who feel like they don’t have a choice. As a society, it is our job to understand how we get there beyond the headline.
DG: You’ve gone through the festival circuit with much aplomb! What are some lessons you learned about navigating film festivals?
AD: This goes for the entire filmmaking process, but I think the biggest lesson I learned is to enjoy all of it as much as you can. The stakes increase and you panic about putting your idea to paper and then worrying about filming and worrying about counting every second and then the edit and oh my god a deadline and the festival premiere. It’s a lot and it’s terrifying. The very thing you’ve poured your heart and soul into is going to get ripped apart and judged, not just by critics, but by audiences and you’re like, what if people don’t like it? Oh god, now I have to do interviews, and what if I don’t speak well? That anxiety is overwhelming.
This whole journey is born out of an idea you had. That should be a great and powerful experience and hopefully fun. It should also be fun, I can’t stress that enough. That’s been the biggest takeaway for me. You arrive at the festival stage ready to share the project you worked hard on with the world. No matter what the reception is, you have a film to show for and that’s just so amazing. It’s almost a miracle to finish a film and even more so that you got to make it. You successfully navigate a festival by grounding yourself in that joy and in gratitude for all the people who came together to make that possible.
DG: You have a sizzling row of EPs including Alma Har’el, Riz Ahmed, Spike Jonze, and Spike Lee. What was it like to have such a wonderful umbrella of collaborators/mentors throughout the journey of getting the film out to audiences?
AD: I feel very blessed and lucky to have had my heroes by my side. All of these people who I respect not only artistically, but on a human level and who have been an example to me. That generosity and kindness are equally as important as talent, you know? It was also wonderful in that all of them understand what it feels like to be the “other.” They understand that sentiment deeply and what it’s like to feel like you don’t belong. Their understanding of what it’s like to navigate life feeling like that was important because it meant they understood the heartbeat of the film.
This whole journey is born out of an idea you had… it should be fun!
DG: What advice would you give to creators who are in the process of creating their own projects based on a real-life subject?
AD: First of all, ask yourself why you are doing this. Make sure you have a deeply personal connection to the project, one that makes telling that story a necessity. Make sure that you spend a great deal of time with the actual community, the family, that the story is about because these are real events affecting real people. That authenticity shows onscreen and it’s also just showing respect to the people surrounding that story. And also enjoy yourself.
DG: Yeah, I think in this day and age we have to remind ourselves to stop and enjoy the privilege of making art.
AD: Yes. Enjoy yourself and also be kind and generous to the people you work with.
DG: Lastly, I like to end these on a fun note; What is your favorite film/TV show that everyone should be talking about? No pressure.
AD: Interesting, interesting… I mean there are so many good films, but I’d say the film I saw this year that I absolutely loved was Everything Everywhere All At Once. I thought that movie was phenomenal. I love the sheer risk of it and how they combine all these genres and the freedom and fun of it you know? I just thought it was a wild ride and it dared to do something artistically, and aesthetically that was fun and brought people back to the cinema. I cried. I’ve seen it more than once and I am always moved by it.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
“You Resemble Me” opens in theaters in Los Angeles and New York on November 4. Get tickets here.
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