Since she was a child and began to be interested in cinema, Nadine Naous’s (Beirut, 1974) obsession has always been the same: how to tell a story. She says that this comes to her because when she was little, when she lived in Lebanon, her contact with movies was not watching them, but reading them. She bought a local magazine that had transcribed parts of movies, she read them and imagined what the scenes would be like. “When I went to France to study and saw the first films in theaters, I was disappointed because I imagined totally different things,” recalls Naous. That ability to imagine and reinvent stories from words marked the beginning of a career dedicated to cinema and narrative.
For this screenwriter with a Palestinian mother and Lebanese father, “everything is politics,” even the “words we choose to use.” This philosophy permeates each of his works, the most recent example is the script for Bye Bye Tiberias, a documentary directed by the Palestinian Lina Soualem that was the candidate film to represent Palestine in the last Oscars. The work is a profound journey through time in which the director reviews the experiences that marked four generations of Palestinian women in her family.
During this interview, after a colloquium at Casa Arabe in Madrid in which he participated to present this film to the Spanish public in November, he reflected on the importance of giving identity and human context to conflicts. This is what he did when writing the script for Bye Bye Tiberias and believes that this is what should be done when addressing the current war in Gaza. “We have to know the history of the Palestinians, they are in danger of being completely eradicated, it is very important to tell intimate stories. “People react and empathize with the most personal details to understand the situation.”
The filmmaker assures that one of her main challenges is to make the world identify with the characters she creates. “When I read about the Palestinians killed by the war, they always refer to numbers, as if these 45,000 dead were not human beings and had no desires or dreams. It is like completely dehumanizing the Palestinians,” condemns Naous.
The impact of conflicts in their home region goes beyond their work. As the daughter of a Palestinian mother and born in Lebanon, the current situation in Gaza and the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon affect her deeply. This fall, after the bombing intensified in her native country, Naous made the difficult decision to move her parents to Paris, the city where she currently resides. “I had to do it when the Israeli bombings started, I was afraid that something would happen to them,” he says helplessly. Although her parents are now safe, the pain and worry remains.
I am with you now but part of my mind is in Lebanon and Gaza. You feel that the world around you is still normal, but you are not normal and what happens in the place where your family lives is not normal
Lina Soualem
— Screenwriter and filmmaker
The emotional impact of these crises is also reflected in your mental health. “At first you are in shock and you can’t do anything. It’s like your brain turns off the light and you’re dissociated. You are schizophrenic when you are away from home,” he explains. For her, the feeling of uprooting is constant. “I am with you now but part of my mind is in Lebanon and Gaza. You feel that the world around you is still normal, but you are not normal and what happens in the place where your family lives is not normal. It is a very strange and very violent sensation,” continues the screenwriter.
In the midst of this emotional and political storm, Naous finds a form of resistance in art. “For me today it is important to change the narratives. What we call war is not based only on destroying territories. It is also a cultural war. And it is war on narrative. And the dominant narrative is always that of the oppressor.” He recognizes that this fight for narrative is a titanic effort, especially when systems of power seem to perpetuate dehumanization and indifference. “How can we continue in this world when we see that international law is completely ignored? The murder is savage, it is barbarism. And there is no empathy,” he reflects.
In addition to her political activism, the Lebanese also commits to feminism as an integral part of her work. “This does not mean that I am only going to make women’s stories, but that I want to treat them from the women’s point of view, that is, see, analyze and deconstruct a story from a feminist position,” she says. This approach is also rooted in her own personal experience, in which she recognizes the challenges women face in art and culture. “When you are a woman, and not especially in the Arab world, you always have to prove more things. I have discovered that Western society is very patriarchal, we deal with an international patriarchal system,” he laments.
For me today it is important to change the narratives. What we call war is not based only on destroying territories. It is also a cultural war. And it is war on narrative. And the dominant narrative is always that of the oppressor
Lina Soualem
— Screenwriter and filmmaker
Her family, however, always supported her in her decision to study film. This support was crucial to his development as an artist. Now, with a consolidated career, Naous looks to the future with the desire to continue exploring both documentary and fiction. “The barrier between fiction and documentary is a big lie. It gives me the same pleasure to work in both genres,” she says with conviction.
When asked what is the most complicated thing for a screenwriter, Naous answers: “For me, seeing myself reflected in one of the characters.” In Bye Bye Tiberias, Hiam Abbass’s character leaves his town in Palestine to go to France pursuing his ideal of becoming an actress. “I also left my country to pursue my goal and I feel the same as her. You lose part of yourself when you travel, when you go into exile,” she concludes excitedly.
War, identity, resistance and feminism. At a time when the world seems to be in constant conflict, the lines that this screenwriter writes are a reminder of the importance of personal narratives to connect and humanize the suffering that, sometimes, seems so distant to us.
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