Actor Dhafer L’Abidine talks to Fest Track about journey, psychology,family and collaboration in regards to his new film: “To My Son”, playing in the Special Screenings section of the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 This is Tim Walsh from Fast Track OnStreet TV.
00:28 I'm here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the Red Sea International Film Festival.
00:32 [MUSIC]
00:42 You see into his soul, into his heart, even though he's battling something horrible.
00:47 >> Yeah, yeah.
00:48 >> Can you talk about finding humanity in these kinds of characters and
00:51 why you're drawn to them?
00:52 >> I think I'm drawn to understand why people do things.
00:57 I'm trying to understand what people feel in certain situations that we take for
01:01 granted.
01:02 And for me, that was the journey of the main character,
01:04 that he knows something that no one is around him, knows about.
01:08 And he sees the world from a point of view that is kind of,
01:13 there's a lot of loneliness in it.
01:14 And there's a lot of struggle, but he actually tried to show something
01:17 completely different and tried to get on with it and
01:20 actually do what he has to do before whatever happens.
01:23 And for me, that's so interesting.
01:26 And I met a lot of people, I know a lot of people and close,
01:29 close family that maybe went through stuff like that.
01:32 And it's so important for me to tell those stories.
01:35 [MUSIC]
01:45 >> The direct, the characters, every single actor that you interact with,
01:49 whether it be your son, whether it be your sister, whether it be your father,
01:52 they all have different energy.
01:54 And it all means something different in the notion of family,
01:57 especially here.
01:58 >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> Can you talk about that?
01:59 >> Yeah, yeah, I think for me it was so
02:03 important that the family feels like a real family,
02:07 that everyone's got his own mind.
02:09 That they're all under this roof, that everyone in a way has to behave a certain
02:12 way because that's who we are in the Arab world.
02:15 In a way, when we enter the house, you become a unit.
02:18 When you go out of the house,
02:19 sometimes you're very different than what you see in front of you.
02:22 And I wanted to see that also.
02:25 And to see the change happening, because the father is so conservative.
02:29 He's got a different mentality than his kids, but now things are changing.
02:33 And he has to deal with this son who comes to Abha after 12 years being away,
02:39 with a completely different background,
02:41 with a conflict that exists already between the two.
02:43 And then how can we adapt to this?
02:46 Is the family gonna break?
02:48 Are they gonna find a solution?
02:50 Are they gonna understand each other?
02:52 Are they gonna forgive each other?
02:53 Because forgiveness and tolerance and understanding for me are so
02:56 important for us to be able to live with each other.
02:58 And for me, that is so important in the film.
03:00 [MUSIC]
03:04 >> I love you.
03:05 [FOREIGN]
03:10 [FOREIGN]
03:14 >> But there's such a, and I've used this in certain things with both writer,
03:17 directors, and with actors, is that there's such a brutality in the intimacy
03:22 in between characters, because you hurt those you're closest to.
03:25 >> Yes, yes.
03:26 >> And that's why it's really great to see these moments of quietness between that.
03:30 You noticed when you hugged your father?
03:32 >> Yeah. >> How big a reaction that got.
03:34 But even just kissing.
03:35 >> When I received the phone call, I think for me that's so brutal in a way.
03:38 >> Yeah.
03:39 >> And it's hard, but also life is like that in a way.
03:44 And I feel we can say a lot with dialogue.
03:46 We can say a lot of things.
03:48 But sometimes a little touch, a little look, a glimpse of an eye or
03:51 someone looking, it tell you another story.
03:53 And that is for me, that is so important.
03:55 Because that is the real thing.
03:56 And for cinema also, that's what's amazing about cinema, that you need to go,
04:01 as an audience, I think we want to go through people's minds and
04:04 try to understand them rather being told or
04:06 rather being spoon fed exactly what's happening.
04:10 And I think that's what's beautiful about cinema in general, yeah.
04:13 [FOREIGN]
04:23 >> Well, can you talk about cinema as a community here,
04:28 having in just the three years that I've been coming here.
04:31 >> Yeah. >> The change.
04:32 >> Yeah.
04:33 >> In the community is insane.
04:34 >> Yeah. >> Talk about having been in
04:36 the middle of it and seeing it grow.
04:37 >> It's amazing for me to be Tunisian, to be able to do a film, a Saudi film,
04:41 in Abha, already like six, seven years ago,
04:43 maybe it was impossible to do the film.
04:45 >> Yeah. >> In general,
04:45 whether Saudi or not.
04:47 But now how we work together, there were people in the film from Jordan,
04:51 Lebanon, England, Tunisian, Saudi of course.
04:57 There's so many nationalities all working together to tell the Saudi story,
05:01 the specific Saudi story, which is I think is beautiful.
05:03 And I think this is what's happening now, this is the change.
05:07 And it's not only, it's reflecting on all other countries and Arab countries,
05:12 because this is like there's a foundation of really strong cinema industry.
05:17 And I think it's helping all the other Arab countries around here.
05:21 [FOREIGN]
05:32 [FOREIGN]
05:38 >> But it has to be authentic to your story.
05:40 >> It has to be, yes.
05:41 >> Because Baz, Lerman and I just talked to him, and
05:43 it's about telling the stories that will relate to the people.
05:47 >> Yes, it has to be their story.
05:49 If their story is authentic, if their story is true,
05:52 then people will understand it, will feel it.
05:54 Because if you start putting little things from different places,
05:57 it doesn't fit, it looks fake, it doesn't look balanced.
06:00 And I think the most thing, I think for me, was so
06:03 important to focus on exactly on these people, who they are,
06:07 how they do things, and be authentic as much as I can.
06:11 And once that is authentic, it doesn't matter the language.
06:13 It doesn't matter if they are in South Saudi, if they're in Abha or not.
06:16 Then it's a universal story, it's a human story, and I think people will feel that.
06:21 [MUSIC]
06:28 >> What does it mean to have for it to feel true to you?
06:30 Obviously you wrote it.
06:31 >> Yeah. >> But the idea of home,
06:33 of identity, all these things, these are all tackled in this film.
06:37 But what was most important to you to find?
06:41 >> I think to find what drives people.
06:43 What's their motto?
06:43 What's their issues?
06:45 What's the things they think about when they wake up in the morning?
06:50 What's their preoccupation?
06:52 What's the main thing?
06:52 Once you understand that, and understand the surrounding, the culture,
06:56 the relationship, it was very, for me, I had to work hard to understand this.
07:02 In a way, because there are certain codes.
07:03 >> Basically emotions.
07:04 >> No, emotions, you have to understand how people sit.
07:06 Why do they sit this way?
07:08 Why do they sit next to each other this way, or facing each other?
07:10 There's so many codes that you don't know if you're not from that area.
07:14 But if you are there, and you start to understand, then you understand.
07:17 Because when you make a choice, sit here or there or next to me or whatever,
07:20 then you have an idea behind it.
07:21 You have a force to communicate something or make you feel something.
07:26 And a home environment, it's very precious little details.
07:30 And once you understand that, then you understand the dynamic,
07:33 understand the culture, and then it becomes easier.
07:35 It was very important to go through those codes.
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