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Exclusive: Interview with Amin Maltaqa, Director of "Captain Abu Raed" - Traverse City Film Festival

by Jane Boursaw on August 6th, 2008

Captain Abu Raed (read my review here) screened at the Traverse City Film Festival, and I had the pleasure of talking with the director/writer, Amin Maltaqa (pictured, with Hussein Al-Sous and Mohammad Qtaishat), the night before the film screened. He called me around 11:30 p.m., just moments after arriving in Traverse City.

Jane: Hi, Amin. Thanks so much for calling. Are you in Traverse City now?

Amin: Yes, I’m at the Cherry Tree Inn. It’s awesome. The room is bigger than my apartment.

Jane: I was thinking you’re still on California time. So, really, for you, it’s like what…8:30 p.m. or so?

Amin: Yeah, I do not sleep, so it’s ok. I’m still on Japan time. I was in LA for a couple days and then here.

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Jane: So you’ve just given up on the idea of sleeping then?

Amin: Yeah, it’s a concept right now. I nap when I can. I’m not complaining. I love it like that.

Jane: That’s how I feel about the Traverse City Film Festival. I’m not getting a whole lot of sleep, but it’s all good.

Amin: Exactly, and you can rest afterwards. Did you see anything good today?

Jane: I saw Gonzo, a documentary about Hunter S. Thompson that was very well done. And CSNY Déjà Vu, an excellent documentary about Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s Freedom of Speech Tour in 2006. Much better than Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light, a doc about The Rolling Stones. I didn’t like that so much. Are you friends with Martin? Am I saying something bad here?

Amin: Oh no. I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen the trailer for it.

Jane: It’s depressing because the Stones really don’t sound that good anymore. But Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young…they sound great. They’re still at the top of their game.

Amin: That’s good. I see they’re showing Man on Wire. That’s good. I saw that in Edinburgh. (Continue reading below photo)

Jane: Right, I’m seeing that on Saturday. It looks like a great film. I watched a screener of Captain Abu Raed last night. It’s such a beautiful film, such a quiet, powerful story about the choices ordinary people can make to bring about change. Was that a central theme when you were making it?

Amin: Absolutely. I’ve always been interested in the person we pass by and ignore, and we don’t know how much is below the surface. The script I just wrote is about a man who plays the cello in the streets. People pass by and don’t even notice him, but then you find out what a rich life he had. So, I’m always interested in the unsung heroes.

Jane: It seems like the people in this film are living these quiet lives of desperation, especially Abu and Nour, but they come together to do some good for others — the children and their mother.

Amin: He’s different from the world he lives in, and she’s different from the world she lives in. So they connect, and by them connecting, they help the kids at the end of the film. Social class differences are something you see very clearly in places like Jordan and other developing countries. The rich are rich and the poor are poor and the middle class is fading. So I wanted to suggest that people can connect across these social classes.

Jane: Maybe I’m optimistic, but here in the states, it doesn’t seem as prevalent as it used to be. Maybe that’s because of films like yours that open us up to seeing what’s beneath the surface of people.

Amin: Exactly, and one of the most wonderful comments I received was an e-mail from a girl in Jordan who said how this film affected her. Now when she passes by people cleaning the streets, she wonders what their life is like. I think that’s very satisfying.

Jane: What you see on the surface may be something totally different than what’s really there.

Amin: Absolutely. Likewise, the pilot, Nour, is in this social class, and finally one day connects and sheds the wardrobe, metaphorically speaking. On the roof, neither of them is dressed as the janitor or the pilot. They’re dressed in normal clothes, and so they’re humans to each other. It’s funny how we’re all defined by what we do for a living. The first thing you ask someone is, what job do you have? You’re put in a category so quickly…janitor: nobody; pilot: somebody.

Jane: I love Abu, because he’s sort of been hiding from his own life. Then when he connects with the children, he has a purpose and doesn’t back down from what he knows is the right thing to do. When he’s in the guy’s kitchen waiting for him to come home, you know what’s going to happen, but Abu is ready for it. It’s like he’s giving himself up to save the family. Am I off base on that?

Amin: No you’re not. In my opinion, Abu is an optimist and he tells the man, let me help you.

Jane: Right. Even then, after everything that’s happened, he wasn’t going to give up on the abusive father.

Amin: So much of it is embedded in the mythology of the hero’s journey. Here is this guy who lives on his own and then has this call to adventure, which is the introduction of the kids in his life. First, he decides he doesn’t like it and denies [the violence] outside. He shuts his window, but then realizes he has to take responsibility. So he starts helping Tareq and intervening with Murad and connecting with them beyond the stories. Then there’s the sacrifice, where he puts up his life, and then transcendence. The original metaphor for that is him climbing the stairs, that long shot at the end. And then rebirth, in the form of Murad, because he passes the torch. Just as Abu put on the hat in the mirror, the identical shot is of Murad putting on the hat at the end. So the metaphor is about passing the torch. Not so much dying, but transcending.

Jane: Ok, so they’re in the kitchen, and I keep thinking, what good is it going to be if Abu dies, because the other guy is still going to be alive to go after his family, if he can find them. What happens to the abusive dad? He’s still alive somewhere, right?

Amin: Well, I tried to hint at it when we cut to Murad in the car. You hear police sirens in the background, and it suggests that by murdering Abu Raed, he’s definitely not getting away with that.

Jane: You have some aviation history in your family, right? Is that where the idea for the story came from?

Amin: My dad and brother are pilots, and I lived next to the airport in Ohio. So, definitely, that setting is in my subconscious. My dad has a cameo in the airport. When the kids go to the airport, he’s the dad that walks past.

Jane: You and your producer, David Pritchard, also have cameos, right?

Amin: Yeah, I’m the janitor — you blink and I’m gone – and David is a pilot.

Jane: Talk little bit about Nadim Sawalha, who plays Abu. It’s amazing to me that he’s been in the film business for 40-some years. He’s one of those actors who says so much without a whole lot of words.

Amin: Absolutely, he’s amazing. I talk to him every week, you know, like Tuesdays with Morrie? I need my Nadim time every week. I visited him in London after we were done filming, and he’s so full of wisdom, one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever known.

Jane: He seems like he’d be fun to hang out with. And it’s incredible to me that this was a first project for many of the actors. They all seem like seasoned performers.

Amin: We met 150, 200 kids, looking for Murad and Tareq. The intelligence in their eyes pretty much tells you these are the right boys for these roles. And we all had this really tight bond from rehearsal into production. I talk to them like adults and you suddenly realize you’re not dealing with just kids. You’re dealing with really smart people. It was a thrill to work with them.

Jane: Is that true that one of the boys said he wanted to become a pilot?

Amin: Yeah, Hussein Al-Sous, who plays Murad. This was a year before filming, and I was in Jordan for the summer doing auditions for kids. When he came up, I thought, ‘Gosh, this kid looks really interesting.’ He’s deep and there’s a lot of mystery behind his eyes. Then I asked, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ He said a pilot, and he knew nothing about the movie. I was like, ok, this is a sign from God.

Jane: That’s so cool. And this is the first independent film to come out of Jordan?

Amin: There was a Jordanian-financed movie in 1957. And in 1991, there was a French-financed film with a Syrian director. But this is really the first time we’ve had a Jordanian film — Jordanian cast and crew, Jordanian financing, Jordanian director, Jordanian stars. So, it’s not a government-funded film from France or somewhere else. It’s an independent film from Jordan.

Jane: It sounds like a really big deal. What’s the climate for filmmaking there?

Amin: In 2003, King Abdullah started the Royal Film Commission to encourage American and European films to shoot in Jordan, and also encourage local filmmakers to do short films, workshops, things like that. There’s already one film school in Jordan, and another one opening up. Last year, there were 10 movie shoots in Jordan, including ours.

Jane: How long did “Captain Abu Raed” take from start to finish?

Amin: I started writing the script in July 2005, and we finished the final cut of the film in November 2007. So two years and four months from inception to completion, but the shoot itself was only 23 days.

Jane: The entire film seems like it’s bathed in golden light. Was that deliberate?

Amin: Yeah, I wanted to make a romantic film without being romantic. There’s this Jerusalem yellow stone, and I picked the neighborhood — in a city a half-hour out of Amman — because of the architecture, the brick roads, the arched windows, and most importantly, the yellow stone.

Jane: Is a getting a good reception in Jordan and that region?

Amin: Oh, yeah. It didn’t do as well in Dubai, because they actually prefer big Hollywood movies, which they do in Jordan, too. But, obviously, as a Jordanian film, it did tremendously well in Jordan, and it’s still the talk of the country.

Jane: How does that make you feel? It must be pretty awesome.

Amin: It’s great. But it’s funny, because with that also comes the naysayers who hate you because you’re doing well. It’s easy to get caught up in the negativity, but it’s also been really satisfying.

Jane: Anything else you’d like to add?

Amin: I hope that people talk about it. It’s really important for us to get distribution in the U.S., because my biggest goal is to get the movie seen by audiences in the states. And the business is so rough on distributors for foreign films…you never see foreign films in theaters anymore. People’s attention span has become so short, and the movies that come out are those that spend $100 million on marketing, like Iron Man and Batman. If they’re not superhero movies, if they’re just regular American independent films, nobody goes to see them. And if they’re foreign films, nobody goes to see them.

Jane: We sure love them here in Traverse City. When I go to commercial movies, a lot of times I just feel like I’m watching the same movie over and over again. And then I see these amazing independent films like yours, and I’m just blown away. I really hope “Captain Abu” gets some wide distribution so people can see it. I’ll definitely spread the word about it.

Amin: Ok, awesome!

Jane: Amin, thanks so much for calling. If I see you at the film festival, I’ll come over and introduce myself.

Amin: Thanks, Jane. Take care.

Images: Captain Abu Raed, Pen & Paper Films in Association with Gigapix Studios, a David Pritchard Production

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