Papers Of Dialogue 4-2014 English

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These are the rules / Conversation with the Croatian film director Ognjen Svilicic And Romeo married Juliet / Conversation with the Tunisian film director Hinde Boujemaa Mediterranean Security / Interview with the Chief of the Italian Navy, Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi

TABLE OF CONTENTS 03 Editorial Roberto Iadicicco Cinema

04 “These are the rules”

Erfan Rashid

08 “And Romeo married Juliet”

Erfan Rashid

12 My fears for my generation

Dialogue

20 Mediterranean Security Erfan Rashid

17 “Villa Touma”

Daniel Atzori

24 10 years of making dialogue work

Erfan Rashid

Marilia Cioni

28 From statistics to optimism Marilia Cioni

Cultures

32 Cairo Automobile Club Azzurra Meringolo 34 The Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival Valentina Marconi 38 “My world is made of childhood, roses, and a strong longing for my country”

Erfan Rashid

42 “The legend of the great inquisitor” is a chilling breath of fresh air Aleksandra Jeglinska

www.papersofdialogue.com

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These are the rules / Conversation with the Croatian film director Ognjen Svilicic And Romeo married Juliet / Conversation with the Tunisian film director Hinde Boujemaa Mediterranean Security / Interview with the Chief of the Italian Navy, Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi

Papers of Dialogue no 4 - 2014 Roberto Iadicicco Daniel Atzori Marina Ranieri www.arabianeye.com (10) www.corbisimages.com (27) www.pictures.reuters.com (35) AGI – Via Ostiense, 72 00154 Rome – Italy papersofdialogue@agi.it

Global Services Incorporation a.tucci@worldenvironment.tv Raidy | www.raidy.com Roma Congressi Chairman: Massimo Mondazzi CEO: Gianni Di Giovanni General Director: Alessandro Pica www.agi.it www.agi.it/english-home www.agiarab.com

Editorial

by Roberto Iadicicco EDITOR IN CHIEF

T

his edition of Papers of Dialogue is dedicated to the “seventh art”, the cinema, which is not only a dream factory but also an extraordinary bridge between cultures and peoples, a true meeting place for creativity and imagery.

We have interviewed some important film directors, such as Hinde Boujemaa from Tunisia, Suha Arraf from Palestine, Ognjen Svilicic from Croatia and Diala Kachmar from Lebanon. With different styles and histories, they represent the great diversity of a Mediterranean that, today more than ever, is a great artistic workshop. In this sense, the eleventh Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), which runs from 10 to 17 December 2014, represents a huge stage for films from all over the world, also demonstrating the exceptional vitality of contemporary Arab cinema. We are also publishing an exclusive Interview with Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi, Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, with whom we examine the main challenges affecting security in the Mediterranean Sea, together with the prospects for cooperation in this area between the

Navies of the various countries on the two shores. We also host an interview with Andreu Claret, executive director of the Anna Lindh Foundation, an organization which for ten years has worked to encourage dialogue between people from the different countries of the Mediterranean, to promote mutual respect between the different cultures and to support civil society. In this edition, Dina el-Khawaga, Professor at the University of Cairo and Program Director of the Arab Reform Initiative, analyses the results of the Anna Lindh Report 2014 on intercultural trends and social change, with particular attention to the data on Egypt. We have also published an interview with Alaa al-Aswani, the most widely read and translated contemporary Arab author in the world, who talks to us about his new, eagerly awaited book, Cairo Automobile Club. As always, we also have articles dedicated to the arts, thus creating a new and fascinating fresco to illustrate the exceptional richness and vigour of our peoples, creating ever more new bridges between our cultures.

This edition of Papers of Dialogue is dedicated to the “seventh art”, the cinema, which is not only a dream factory but also an extraordinary bridge between cultures and peoples, a true meeting place for creativity and imagery.

Papers of Dialogue | 03

Cinema

THE CROATIAN FILM DIRECTOR OGNJEN SVILICIC

“These are the rules” The Croatian director Ognjen Svilicic talks about his film: “These are the rules” “I am trying to unveil the falseness and inhumanity of some of our institutions”

Erfan Rashid

W

hat does a father do when he finds the person who has caused the death of his seventeen year old only son within arm’s reach?

This is the question emerging from the absolutely normal everyday events that befall a family living in the suburbs of a city in the Balkans.

After their son is beaten up in the street, the parents see their world of false security collapse and are forced to reexamine their own life and question everything that they believed in up till now...

The Croatian director Ognjen Svilicic has worked on a real event that happened in 2008 and shook public opinion in Croatia. It was then that he had the idea of working on themes like the intolerance and violence of the institutions, the blindness of their bureaucracy that does not know how to respond to people, always entrenched behind the phrase “These are the rules”.

The real and dramatic story told by Ognjen Svilicic touched the hearts of its audience. At the centre of the story is the violence and intolerance of the institutions.

It was one of the films in the “Horizons” section that most touched the hearts of the audience with its moving, true and dramatic storyline, with its links, poetically drawn, to the real world.

The film has been chosen as part of the Cinema of the World programme for the 11th Dubai International Film Festival.

Let us begin with the title of the film, “These are the Rules”. What rules are we talking about and who decides those rules?

I will try to make it simple, I think rules are pretty cruel, and I don’t think that’s good or bad, that’s just the way it is. Accepting that means that we can’t fight it, or we can’t do something. When I think about rules, I have a feeling that society has its institutions which are often just a façade underneath which is barbarism, because

04 | Papers of Dialogue

One night Tomica comes back home very late, and the morning after his parents realize that he has cuts on his body and head injuries. They take him to hospital where he is diagnosed with concussion and sent home.

But this marks the start of the ordeal: Tomica feels unwell; taken back to hospital as an emergency, he loses consciousness there is a blood clot pressing on his brain.

His poor parents have to battle on the one hand with the aseptic disorganization of the hospital, and on the other with the police and their indifference and cynical blindness, as they seek to discover what really happened on that night, faced with police who couldn’t care less.

Tomica does not recover and his death is followed by a tragic epilogue, as tragic as the picture of “the real world” which the film presents.

Ognjen Svilicic

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these institutions are sometimes only used to protect themselves and not to protect the people for who they are made. I think that the rule of this society is that if you are a man without connections and money you’ll not be treated nicely.

Without revealing anything about the end of the film, we see that the father and the mother are writing a new rule. He decided what he should do at the moment when he was beating.

Yes! You are absolutely right, the father and the mother especially write new rules. My idea was to show in my own way that when a society tolerates violence that leads to killing, it means that people are taking rules in their hands or they are writing new rules; they are inventing the rules because these rules are not permanent. So I think that the

I think that the rule of this society is that if you are a man without connections and money you’ll not be treated nicely.

rules for all situations became more cruel, more tough, but in a way some kind of truth comes out in the end, and this is why I chose this title.

You choose a family which lives in loneliness, they are always in the house - they are always doing daily things, which we as normal families also do.

But here, the only relationship which they have is with the institutions and their two friends that come to the house. Why this decision, why did you choose this situation to show the loneliness of this family?

It wasn’t actually my intention to show loneliness. It just happened that way in the end. It’s interesting that you’re the second journalist to ask this question and to notice how these people are actually Papers of Dialogue | 05

Cinema really lonely at the end. I haven’t seen so many films in which you see the lives of socalled ordinary people; I don’t like the term ordinary, because I think every person is extraordinary, but with ordinary I mean people with no money, no connections, so to speak. I think there are not so many movies where we see the lives of ordinary men. I thought a lot about this, how ordinary lives are made up of the little things which are kind of rituals to keep people from going crazy. So we see these two characters who are trying to hypnotize themselves into doing some kind of rituals so as not to go crazy, but this hypnotism means that they don’t see the truth. Things happen to them that make them see the truth, which is unfortunately cruel, but it is the truth about society. My idea was to present a family living inside their balloon but the balloon just falls apart and they see the truth, they see the real nature of society.

Society has its institutions that cover up the real truth about relationships. This kind of family is not very poor but also not so rich and they have their own rituals to cover up this really unpleasant truth.

I watched the mother’s concern for the small things and for her son, while the father’s concern was expressed differently, in a way stronger than the mother’s concern, which happened to be in a mean way in that case. But you guided your actors, especially the mother, not to explode. At any second I was waiting for the mother to explode, but you guided them and we didn’t see her crying other than one scene in which she was done crying and was wiping her eyes. How tough was it for you to control this situation and to guide them to act in that way?

Yes, it was extremely tough and the result was pretty uncertain, because I didn’t even know the result. It was my idea that when we see somebody crying, we stop crying ourselves. My idea was to make you feel you have something in your throat, to make a movie which stays in your throat, not in your head. I think when you are 06 | Papers of Dialogue

if you have a free will, and I have a free will not to kill somebody or do something bad, that means that we’re human beings.

really angry something stays with you and you want to show that you don’t cry, you have to suppress it. It was extremely hard because for them, especially for the actresses, so there were a few scenes when I let them cry. They were so into their roles and they had to do it, but I cut it out, you know what I mean! The purpose is to really experience this kind of thing in a truthful way; you should go all the way through. So actually they were crying but I cut that out because I said that I would like to make a movie which is more focused; if I see people crying I lose attention.

Cinema that when you are present in them you can feel they don’t really care for the people they are meant to serve!

In the last scene of Danis Tanovic’s film “No man’s land”, a man is lying on a mine and the message is that we all end up like that, but the end result of your film is going a little bit more forward saying that we can do it anyway if we stop at the right moment!

Yes, it’s true, it was my feeling about the differences between Old Testament and New Testament; it’s not because I’m so religious, but because I have a feeling the Old Testament was cruel, and God was punishing. In the New Testament, God is not punishing, God is forgiving and I think we all should find something in ourselves to be forgiving. Because if we all tried to act like God was punishing somebody, I mean this civilization will really be destroyed in the end, but I still have a little hope that we can stop this, you know, prevent this man from killing somebody. But this man’s hesitation to do it did not come from his mind or from his senses, it came from his heart or from his soul. I think that every man has bad things in his soul, but also there’s something deep inside of us that makes each man to decide not to do it. I think we can count on that, the free will; if you have a free will, and I have a free will not to kill somebody or do something bad, that means that we’re human beings.

The institutions which you presented... the university, the school, the hospital and the police station; they are extremely clean and organized, but they are also extremely old, cold and inhumane, shall we say?

I think what you mentioned is distinctive to Eastern Europe, because Eastern Europe likes to keep their institutions really tough, like from Stalin’s period – there is still a sense of that there. But also I think that world institutions everywhere are exceptionally cold and sometimes I feel

THE AUTHOR

Erfan Rashid Erfan Rashid is the Head of Agi Arab desk.

So that means you as a human being, as a Croatian citizen, are confident that coexistence could be reached?

Yes! Of course! I’m pretty sure that the only problem is, I think, people are good but society is corrupt; society is led by money or by self-interests.

People are good and it’s great... how do I say! I’m not trying to promote honor here, but I’m almost close to saying that societies sometimes kill the humanity within ourselves.

Papers of Dialogue | 07

Cinema

THE TUNISIAN FILM DIRECTOR HINDE BOUJEMAA

“And Romeo married Juliet” The Tunisian Romeo marries his Juliet. The two live under the same roof but are anything but in love.

The enemy of their love is not rivalry between their families but mutual incomprehension and the fact that they can’t stand each other. But when one of them is no longer there, the other feels their life is empty.

The Tunisian director Hinde Boujemaa: “I live very close to my characters, but I try to distance myself from them not to lose my objectivity”

Erfan Rashid

A

fter following and documenting the daily life of Homeless Aida and her son in her striking documentary “«Ya men Aache - It was better Tomorrow»’ the Tunisian director Hinde Boujemaa has returned to Dubai to try to win a repeat of the prize received at the last Dubai International Film Festival.

“I’m just sitting here thinking about her next film, the film she will be making. I have a story I must tell… very moving… I lived it over the past two years. This story must be told to the Tunisians. This is my condition… maybe the first thing… the first thing I have to do… my first question… every day… every day I wake up in the morning and I have this film”.

Is it still in your mind?

Yes, still in my mind.

But now you just completed a short story film?

Yes, The new film is “And Romeo married Juliet”. I received funding for this film

08 | Papers of Dialogue

Hinde Boujemaa

It was better Tomorrow

before the revolution and after the film I directed “It was better tomorrow”. So I left the first film aside and did not write one sentence. After “It was better tomorrow”, I wished to distance myself from it because it was a tough story and probably affected me. It affected my personality. For that reason, I took the opportunity to make “And Romeo married Juliet” in order to leave “It was better tomorrow” behind me and think of something new… something new in terms of the stories I should tell.

“You said that you wished to distance yourself from “It was better tomorrow”… its atmosphere and characters, and you returned to your previous project. But in any case the woman remained … the status and condition of a woman… this is your basic subject. Woman is the main hero in any case?”

Yes. True. As long as… there are still problems in the country. I mean in the daily life. We still face difficulties in daily life and we will keep talking about women. I mean, this is related to a strong sense that I have that we still see

Women still face hardships in realizing their rights. I will continue to talk about her… stand up for her… and tell people of the reality of her condition.

women suffering. Women still face hardships in realizing their rights. I will continue to talk about her… stand up for her… and tell people of the reality of her condition.

The other feature film that you are preparing also deals with the condition of the family, with the strong presence of women.

Tell me about this project and when you will start shooting it.

Well, everything is interlinked. When I first met Aida, the main character of “It was better tomorrow”, she introduced me to other women, those that I was to subsequently work with. I lived with and around them for three years. These women faced many difficulties in their lives. I also met families who had great hardships in their lives that I could not bear. I could not handle them. My film asserts that we have to feel for people.

We have to tell these people’s - these families’ - stories. We must convey the truth of their lives to the whole country, Papers of Dialogue | 09

Cinema their daily lives, so that everyone in every part of Tunisia comprehends the truth of their living conditions.

You lived with Aida’s character and the character of Romeo who marries Juliet.

And you lived with the family that you are speaking about, particularly the mother you portray in the long narrative. You delved deep into the characters by living with them. You were able to capture what they were all about and became a part of them. How much does this help you in reconstructing the characters? Also, how much does it hinder you since you harmonize and identify with these characters? Might you not be objective in some cases? I mean, you might be in 100% solidarity with these personalities and not realize it.

How much time do you need to analyze a personality so that you can write it and film it?

Yes, this situation is difficult. First of all, the relationship between me and the character; for me, when I filmed “It was better tomorrow” at some points I could not live with Aida because her life was too difficult. Her life was so difficult, very much difficult, do you get me?

Her life was difficult and institutions in the country were even more difficult, meaning the country’s institutions were even more difficult than Aida’s life. So the relationship between me and Aida was one that we cannot call sisterly; rather, it was a love-hate relationship, you know?

Take into consideration that it was a

When I decided to halt the narrative film I was protecting myself. I protected myself from the power and despair of their personal life.

This was difficult for me because I feel that I as a person lacked the ability to find solutions for them.

Film Festival in AbuDhabi

documentary film, meaning of her real life. In the coming film, I left myself the choice and decided to halt the narrative film until I could distance myself from the powerfulness of these characters and their impact on my own life.

When I decided to halt the narrative film I was protecting myself. I protected myself from the power and despair of their personal life. This was difficult for me because I feel that I as a person lacked the ability to find solutions for them. It is a matter of institutions, a country issue, an issue bigger than me. Then the means that I found to speak of them and protect them was the film itself. It is their story. It means conveying their problems to people. The way is to not interfere in their lives. I try to be clear and realistic about their lives, to not be deceptive about their lives. You know what I mean?

What is your relationship with these persons now that you have completed filming? Has Aida seen the film “It was better tomorrow”?

Naturally, Aida saw the film. She always has that relationship of love and hate. I follow her and she follows me. I laugh with her and she laughs with me. It is a strong relationship. I cannot forsake a person after having lived with her, like a story of love between a woman and a man. It is the same thing. We lived a powerful story after she told the story and embodied the powerful story in this film.

The perception of her was different. The perception…

People’s perception?

People’s perception of her was changed.

10 | Papers of Dialogue

WORLDENVIRONMENT .TV

MAGAZINE

Cinema

THE LEBANESE FILM DIRECTOR DIALA KACHMAR

My fears for my generation Young Lebanese film director, Diala Kachmar, at the 10th Dubai Film Festival: “In my film ‘Insomnia’ I was not looking for the bizarre. Actually, I just wanted to record my fears for my generation that is being scattered by the wayside.”

Erfan Rashid

12 | Papers of Dialogue

I

have rarely felt as concerned for a director as I felt for this young Lebanese director, Ms. Diala Kachmar, as I watched her move through her documentary film “Insomnia”, flitting like a soft-feathered sparrow among a swirling flock of hawks, discussing and recording the daily lives of the youth with only a fine line between them and anger, or even the use of weapons.

A group of youth in Hay el-Leja neighbourhood of Beirut revolve in a monotonous loop of daily routine. In comes the director who is first met with animosity for crossing the line, crossing

Diala Kachmar

their borders. They defend these borders from the strange newcomer, from the woman in a society where masculinity in all its dimensions is the meaning of existence. If not for Diala Kachmar’s firm perseverance and courage and diplomacy, this document would not have emerged or even been born.

Diala Kachmar returns to us with a very important document about the Lebanese reality that no one is aware of other than residents of Beirut, the reality of those who are called the “thugs of Hay el-Leja” in the centre of Beirut. The document does not interfere with the minute details of this reality that has entrapped a generation

Groups of youth gather everywhere in Beirut on street corners.

I have feared it since my childhood – the thought of gangs and frightening young men.

between violence and loss, between the boundaries of the neighbourhood and the corner coffee house where they gather.

Diala, how did you discover this situation and this place?

It was not a discovery, it was a misgiving because it was already there, there in my daily life in Beirut. Groups of youth gather everywhere in Beirut on street corners. I have feared it since my childhood – the thought of gangs and frightening young men. I decided to approach the group nearest to my home who happen to be quite famous in Beirut. They are the Papers of Dialogue | 13

Cinema epitome of violence and toughness; they are the youth of Hay el-Leja. I tried to penetrate this group in particular and they are not far from my home. My story with them started in 2010 when I spoke with the first one of them. When I returned one year later to look for him I found that he had been sent to prison. I met his friends instead and so began my strange journey with the camera. It was an alien tool to be using in this neighbourhood and with this group.

As soon as I went down with my camera, with that alien creature that came to penetrate their privacy, they were neither accepting nor comfortable with it. If I wanted the truth, I had to be somewhat rude. I conceded my camera and visited their hangouts without it. I tried to get to know them personally and up close. I wanted to introduce them to the idea of the film and shedding some light on their lives and marginalization.

In the first part of the film I succeeded in pulling them out of the boundaries of the neighbourhood. They were willing to show me everything and to reveal their faces, on the condition that this takes place away from the boundaries of the street because the street defines their political and sectarian affiliations. They were careful to prevent marring the image of their faction, affiliation, surroundings, or families. The first meeting with them was in an apartment. I brought them together and we filmed them. I felt that this was not enough because I was determined to get to the roots of these youth and delve deeper into the lives of the people and families in the neighbourhood, their upbringing and surroundings. I began with the older generation and started to penetrate and investigate these people’s stories and world and where they came from. I began to discover what I call the “oppression complex” that the grandparents of those youth suffered and the youth inherited today. This complex exists in all regions and among all factions and affiliations in Lebanon. Lebanese people as a whole suffer 14 | Papers of Dialogue

I stayed awake nights, suffered and cried for some of them. I shared a bond with them and they felt that this young lady did not come to ruin their image or assert her own impressions on them like many do.

this collective oppression complex. Each one has a story. The people of Hay el-Leja had their story. I started with the elderly and was able to get closer to them than the youth.

What gives strength to your work is that you do not condemn this group of youth for their past situations, ideologies, or factions. Rather, you approached them with a great deal of curiosity and desire to get to know them. You guided the scenes shrewdly and adeptly. This same curiosity helped you gain the youths’ confidence in you and opened up to you like a book.

I tried to get access to their private lives. I tried to help them. I felt like a social worker because I helped some of them become drug-free. I paid for their treatment and put them in hospital. I stayed awake nights, suffered and cried for some of them. I shared a bond with them and they felt that this young lady did not come to ruin their image or assert her own impressions on them like many do. This enabled me to eventually go to the street and sit with them on the same sidewalk, talk with them, pass my time, get to know their personal matters and stories, and above all I was careful to help them.

Actually, I felt a duty to them to not reveal their personal matters in the film, because I did not see that as part of my work. It is only up to me to describe the situation. I discovered by the end of the film that I transgressed much because I am not the Ministry of Social Affairs or the State or Mother Teresa. I am only a filmmaker and the biggest help I can give comes through what I do well, meaning cinema, and by shedding light on these youths. I think that this is the basis of the solid relationship I have with them.

To paint the world of these youths as closed and isolated lives, most meetings with them and around them took place in the evening hours or in closed places.

The few scenes that take place in the light of day are of a group of middle-aged adults gathered at another coffee shop, singing songs in memory of a Beirut that

Cinema

no longer exists, of the tough guys that used to be, as they say, men with values.

Was the night and darkness of your choosing or did it just turn out that way?

The night and darkness are simply the reality of their lives. The images I took in this film depict their real lives. But let me digress to the idea that I entered into a humanitarian domain with them. These young men are the youth of my generation.

They are my same age and their families are like my family. They are not homeless or poor in a camp or on the outskirts of Beirut.

They live in the centre of Beirut, are the sons of families, and lack nothing needed to be those sons of families and students in universities.

The streets of Beirut are very harsh and fanaticism is overpowering. The magic of the street to those youths has a stronger pull than the magic of their families and homes.

The streets of Beirut are very harsh and fanaticism is overpowering.

The magic of the street to those youths has a stronger pull than the magic of their families and homes.

This is why we see in them such a schism.

They have belief and belonging at the same time they deviate. They have upbringing and commitments but their lives are chaotic. They bear all the contradictions created by this city and this country and this war.

Returning to the subject of the middleaged and elderly; they live on the idea of the real tough guy, the chivalry that truly stood up for their rights when they were poor and displaced from the south. They worked in the municipality and in eggs [farming] and in cheap jobs. In these times they were vulnerable to oppression and the tough guy was the one who defended them and confirmed their existence.

The Lebanese war replaced the idea of the neighbourhood tough guy with a thug, whereas the tough guy joined a militia and Papers of Dialogue | 15

Cinema participated in the civil war. The third generation is the sons of those militiamen who rode on the glory of those before them, but they did not find other than the “wall” in the street to lean on. Nor did they find a front or cause to fight for or a place to impose their presence other than the “wall” in the street.

In editing this film I tried, as much as possible, to avoid clichés a viewer would expect when referring to gangs or thugs.

The work had to keep a careful balance between not exposing the youth and being truthful and not hiding anything, or to be more exact, to be mindful when I expose something and fully comprehend what I am exposing and not yield to political or sectarian clichés. But there is something much deeper. These are young people of my generation who are ruining their futures with drugs and suffer unemployment along with other social problems that we and others have caused.

It is a game of contradictions between the older generation and youth. The older people sit in coffee houses playing senet (passing game) and backgammon. They live on the glory of being tough and of the past. The next generation that stays up all night guards the street. These youths sleep during the day and you only see them at night. They are awake all night long and sleep in the daytime. They have nothing to do and don’t know the meaning of daytime. I picked them out and filmed them in their real time, showing what they actually do. I only saw them sitting against the “wall”. They go out from their homes and lean their backs against the walls. I did not want to direct a different scene or fabricate events that did not exist in their lives. I also did not want to take them and film then in any place other than their natural places. I was pursuing their real lives and moments, lock, stock, and barrel, without any digressions of my own.

We clearly see the contradictions between the older generation that sings the songs of Abdulwahhab and Abdulmuttalib and of Old Beirut, and the youths’ preference for music. The youth say that their songs are 16 | Papers of Dialogue

Between order and chaos, courage and fear, ideology and deviation, chivalry and violence, lies the street. This street has no boundaries but through them. They are the security ring around it and its time bomb at the same time. Their bodies are an extension of the street’s corners. They are a cell of marginalized youth called the “thugs of Hay el-Leja”. They draw the features of the people’s street in Beirut. They lift the veil on their obscure world that hides in its folds the private problems and complications of the socio-political reality of Lebanon.

Director: Diala Kachmar Producer: Diala Kachmar Scriptwriter: Diala Kachmar Cinematographer: Bassem Fayad, Koussay Hamzeh Editor: Carine Doumit Composer: Zeid Hamdan FILM AWARDS MUHR ARAB DOCUMENTARY 2013 SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

“enlightening”. This is the difference in the cultural gap between them and their parents and gives evidence to how far backwards we have gone, and how much musical tastes and expressions have changed. This is a very frightening situation.

Will there be a sequel to this film?

I don’t think there will be a sequel, but I will not stop searching for the causes of my concern for this country. My next film will not be a sequel about those youths, but will be a work that looks deep into the alleyways of Beirut to discover the causes of our pain. We are turning many pages and lie to ourselves. We cheat ourselves and the city we live in. I have personally decided that I will not cheat myself or this city. I am determined to investigate more deeply and delve into the real lives of the real Beirut and search for the causes of my concern and the turmoil of my city.

The youth followed along with me in the process of making the film and were always on edge. I filmed some very intimate moments which gave me some scary moments as much as they were intimate. I have been careful not to include them in the film. They were very nervous about whether I would put them in the film, but in the end they trusted me and realized that whatever would hurt them or their surroundings would not be put in the film. My film goes much beyond that and they comprehended its premise. For this reason they fully trusted me during filming.

The film was produced by Lida Sharaf and the Lebanese star Carole Abboud who starred in another youth group film called “Waynoon”. This film belongs to another Lebanese cinematic genre that has started to dig into the past and the details of the disastrous civil war in Lebanon.

Nevertheless, it confronts the recent past in terms of recognizing mistakes in order to overcome a phase. It was done in the name of Fayyad and Koussay Hamzeh, a beautiful image that gave the sense of alienation and the probability of a sudden incident occurring.

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THE PALESTINIAN FILM DIRECTOR SUHA ARRAF

“Villa Touma”

The Palestinian director Suha Arraf: “My film shows the hidden and invisible Palestine”

Erfan Rashid

A

fter working as a documentary film maker and scriptwriter for numerous Middle Eastern films, the Palestinian film director Suha Arraf has moved behind the camera to make his intense film “Villa Touma” which was presented as part of the Critic’s Week at the 71st Venice Film Festival.

The film tells the story of three unmarried sisters belonging to an aristocratic Christian family in Ramallah who have trouble accepting the reality of the situation surrounding them: the occupation of Palestinian territory and the mass flight of the local nobility. To survive they remained locked inside their villa, clinging desperately to memories of past glories. One day Badia comes into their life, a niece who has been orphaned, and tears their world apart. To preserve the good name of the family, the three sisters try to find her a good match in an aristocratic Christian family. But will dragging Badia to every funeral, wedding and religious ceremony be enough to find her a good husband?

You introduced your first work as a director after having participated in writing the screenplay of two important films and you hinted at, may I say, other international films. Why did you go behind the camera after having been involved in writing?

I have also directed some documentaries.

This is not my first experience with directing feature film. I was the screenwriter of three documentaries in the past, the last one being “Women of Hamas” in 2010, which won about thirteen international awards. My dream was always to create a film of my own but I did not feel I was emotionally ready for it. I think filmmaking requires mature writing skills. Life experiences and age play an important role in maturity.

The second point: I fought for many years to make this film; I had very serious funding problems. I had first turned to

I think filmmaking requires mature writing skills.

Life experiences and age play an important role in maturity.

Suha Arraf

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Cinema

Europe but was severely rejected by producers who had no interest in the film‌ in the scenario. They said the story had no drama, was superficial, the characters do not develop, were repeated or had nothing to do with Palestinian Christians, or that the story did not handle the conflict even though we are the most concerned with the conflict. I tried for three years in Europe and after that in the Arab World, but was unable to mobilize enough funds. In the end, I had to settle with making a low budget film which requires five to six years to implement.

Did you base the story on an actual event?

Before I moved into writing and cinematography, I was a journalist. During the time of the Oslo Accords that we Palestinians signed with the Israelis, there 18 | Papers of Dialogue

In the end, I had to settle with making a low budget film which requires five to six years to implement.

was a widespread feeling of elation and optimism and the city of Ramallah witnessed a revival. Construction, new buildings, new streets, restaurants, and hotels. As a journalist, I went to Ramallah to cover the events in Ramallah with all its nightlife, music, and incoming foreign performers and Arab groups participating in the Ramallah Music Festival and all those other celebrations. I went to the past mayor, may God rest his soul, who recommended I go to visit the Ramallah Hotel. I had lived in Ramallah all my life but had never heard of it.

It is located on a street behind the minaret that is at the centre of the city, but it is surrounded by a high wall and tall cypress trees that hide it from the world; it is in the centre of the city but far removed. When the gate opens for you to enter, you feel

Cinema

you are going to a hotel of times past, sixty or seventy years before. There I met Aida Awda, the hotel owner, who recently passed away. She was a beautiful woman, unmarried, with green eyes. She lived in the two-storey hotel which had a large, well-lit outdoor space for music concerts.

She lived there alone but had a gardener who would care for the grounds and purchase her needs. She never went outside of her home.

The hotel was closed after the ’67 war and the occupation of the West Bank. It was called Little Paris because Omar Sharif and Fatin Hamama made films and stayed there. The hotel owner had pictures of them at the hotel. King Hussein would spend his weekends there. It was the honeymoon destination of many Palestinians within the territories. She

The image of this person whose time had frozen at a particular moment and lived isolated from the outside world and the new reality of the occupation stuck in my imagination.

showed me many photographs, you may imagine the number of famous people that frequented the hotel. At times she would host Spanish or Italian groups that came on the weekends for the dancing; all the pictures were in black and white. In my film, I reproduced the entrance exactly, all its images, the old buffet, pictures of people long gone, incense and candles. I was inspired by all these images in the hotel. When she spoke of the past, life returned to her anew. I saw a sparkle in her eyes. The image of this person whose time had frozen at a particular moment and lived isolated from the outside world and the new reality of the occupation stuck in my imagination. At the time I was only a journalist and had no experience with the cinema. But that image attracted me so much and led up to the idea for the film.

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THE CHIEF OF THE ITALIAN NAVY, ADMIRAL GIUSEPPE DE GIORGI

Mediterranean Security New and complex challenges are facing the countries surrounding the Mediterranean basin. The Italian Navy contributes to the defence of the country’s vital interests, but also carries out activities and operations in the social, humanitarian, environmental and scientific spheres, promoting projects which involve working together with countries on the two shores of the Mediterranean and beyond.

Daniel Atzori Twitter: @DanielAtzori

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he transformation that is taking place in the Mediterranean basin is having profound consequences for all the populations and countries on its shores. In this exclusive interview with Papers of Dialogue, Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi, Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, helps us to understand the main challenges of this complex historical phase. Born in Naples in 1953, he was made a midshipman after finishing at the Naval Academy in 1975. He attended the US Navy flying schools at the Pensacola (Florida) and Corpus Christi (Texas) bases, where he gained his naval pilot’s license in 1976. He was made Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy on 28 January 2013.

Italy has strong historical, cultural, political and economic links with the Mediterranean countries. What are the main initiatives set up by the Navy to encourage dialogue and cooperation between Mediterranean peoples?

We have long running cooperation within the framework of the 5 + 5 international agreement, a treaty which provides for interaction and cooperation between the northern side of the Mediterranean and the countries of the South, i.e. of North Africa.

As part of this we carry out joint exercises and are putting together an increasing number of cooperation agreements, also exploring the possibility of mutual support in the case of natural disasters, pollution and in general as regards maritime security.

The stability of this region is a priority, also in terms of protecting Italy’s national interests. What are the main challenges as regards security in the Mediterranean basin, understood in a broad sense?

We are seeing the effects of globalization, not just in economic or cultural terms, because the vast majority of migrants crossing the Mediterranean are coming from Syria or Eritrea. The problem of destabilization in parts of Africa is thus finding its outlet; the problem is generating this great mass of migrants, of desperate people fleeing from their country of origin,

We have long running cooperation within the framework of the 5 + 5 international agreement, a treaty which provides for interaction and cooperation between the northern side of the Mediterranean and the countries of the South, i.e. of North Africa.

Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi

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from poverty and war. The absence of a proper state in Libya then provides them with a free area where people who want to take advantage of this phenomenon can do so, encouraging the refugees to embark on dangerous craft which, as we often see, then sink with many dead. An immense flow has opened up towards Italy and Europe. Naturally given the almost total lack of control over the situation, it’s impossible not to think of other consequences, like those for health, the spread of disease, and also the security aspect, such as trafficking in arms. By that I mean the lack of control within Libya, the low or nonexistent level of maritime control in the Libyan area.

What impact has the political ferment affecting some countries in North Africa had in this area?

The political ferment, in Libya’s case in particular, has led on the one hand to the removal of a dictator and on the other hand, unfortunately, to the failure to replace him

with a government capable of controlling Libya. At the moment there are tribal groups contending for power.

From a military viewpoint, we have seized and captured the so-called “mother ships” which we were rarely able to capture before.

Could you explain to us the objectives and results of the military and humanitarian operation in the Mediterranean known as “Mare Nostrum”? What is the role of the Italy Navy with regard to this operation?

From a military viewpoint, we have seized and captured the so-called “mother ships” which we were rarely able to capture before.

This is because we have pushed a long way towards the Eastern Mediterranean to intercept these craft as soon as they have left a ship full of migrants destined to sink or be lost. We have therefore intercepted efficient ships with highly trained crews, thus removing them from the reach of the criminal gangs. This makes it much more costly and complicated for the criminal gangs to support this type of activity. This is Papers of Dialogue | 21

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the military aspect. The number of people smugglers arrested is well over 300, this is also a record, never achieved before. The humanitarian aspect speaks for itself because we are talking about more than 150,000 people rescued, interrupting the chain of death which was previously an ever present feature of the situation in the central Mediterranean.

We had continuous, huge shipwrecks, not least the one that occurred just a few miles from Lampedusa (in October 2013) that acted as a catalyst for this operation.

Is the Italian Navy involved in cooperation projects with other forces operating in the Mediterranean Sea? What are the future prospects in this area?

We take part in joint operations in the Mediterranean with the Navies of all the NATO countries, with which we are used to working. Clearly we will continue to carry out joint operations to maintain operational links and we are also expanding our collaboration with countries such as Egypt 22 | Papers of Dialogue

We take part in joint operations in the Mediterranean with the Navies of all the NATO countries, with which we are used to working.

and Algeria. With Algeria, for example, we have a solid and well established record of cooperation; Algeria has bought some Italian ships, built in Italy, and their crews are trained by us. We are also opening up our Naval Academy, extending acceptance into the Academy to officer cadets from African and North African countries. As with Algeria, we are opening up to the countries of the extended Mediterranean, which for us means moving towards Mozambique and Angola on the other side. These are the entrance points to the Mediterranean and the areas on which Italian prosperity depends heavily, owing to the amount of trade with the African countries on these two coasts, the Atlantic coast and the coast of the Indian Ocean. There is a very important cooperation agreement in place between eni and the government of Mozambique for the extraction of natural gas.

We have done this to give a strong signal of Italy’s interest in these countries. We have carried out a five month operation with the 30th naval group, made up of the aircraft carrier Cavour, the supply ship Etna, the frigate

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Bergamini and the deep-sea patroller Borsini, circumnavigating the whole of Africa and stopping in almost all the African countries, developing joint training and land based humanitarian operations, as part of which our marines have rebuilt and maintained orphanages and other structures which needed to be sorted out. In addition, we had two non governmental organizations on board: The Francesca Rava Foundation and “Operation Smile”, with whose help we performed maxillo-facial operations on one hundred and ten children to repair cleft palates and other facial deformities. All hundred and ten were operated on successfully and we accommodated their families on board the Cavour until the children were completely fit and ready to go home. We also undertook some industrial promotion, bringing on board a wide range of Italian businesses representing Italian areas of excellence. The results were excellent and have given rise to further opportunities for development and cooperation.

THE AUTHOR

Daniel Atzori Daniel Atzori, PhD, is the Editorial Team Coordinator of Papers of Dialogue.

What in your opinion are the main challenges for the future in the Mediterranean area?

I believe that the main challenges for the Mediterranean area relate to finding a way of ensuring effective health control to contain the infectious diseases which are a general threat to public health. The other key aspect is stopping the spread of illegal use of the sea. The strategic aspect which I believe is most important of all is the war on poverty. Naturally this is not something the Navy can deal with, but if there is one strategic problem that we have to face, it is combating poverty in the countries that are afflicted by this problem.

Many situations arise from these dramas including shortages and famine, a system of interlinked problems that then generate this violent push to alter society, changing internal equilibriums in Africa, encouraging organized crime and also contributing to the production of “failed states”; the example of Somalia is there for us to see. What we must avoid at all costs, in my opinion, is Libya becoming the Somalia of the Mediterranean.

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ANDREU CLARET, OUTGOING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE ANNA LINDH FOUNDATION

10 years of making dialogue work Peace, prosperity and stability the aims of the Barcelona Process, the European strategy for the Mediterranean region launched in 1993 - now seem to be further away than ever. There are conflicts on the southern shore, crises on the northern shore and an endless number of victims in the sea. But the Mediterranean is still a meeting place between cultures and, if the Anna Lindh Foundation gets its way, a space for dialogue and sharing. Let’s take stock of the first 10 years of the Foundation with Andreu Claret, the outgoing Executive Director.

Marilia Cioni

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hat is the Anna Lindh Foundation and what are its aims?

The Anna Lindh Foundation is an institution founded 10 years ago to promote dialogue between people living on the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, so that they can get to know each other better, to help them work together to change their societies and lives, and to create a common area based on shared values, an area of peace and not of conflict as it is now.

How has the Mediterranean changed over the past 10 years?

It has changed for better and for worse.

The Mediterranean that now appears on our screens every day is one of conflict, of Syria and Gaza, and of people dying not far from here trying to cross it to get into Europe. But there is also another Mediterranean, made up of men and women who want to live together, who want peace, who want to work and exchange experiences, meet and get to know each other; this is the Mediterranean that the Foundation wants to support. The Mediterranean now seen in the media is backward looking and full of tension, but the Mediterranean of society and dialogue exists, and from there we can start to build a common area.

Twenty years have passed since the launch of the Barcelona Process, but peace, stability and prosperity seem to be even further away. Do we have more reasons for concern or for hope?

The Barcelona Process is a great idea, based on the concept of pooling resources and making countries and societies converge in order to create an area of cooperation and collaboration, a common economic, political, social and cultural area. Unfortunately this process has not moved forwards at the pace originally hoped for. But when we take a closer look at society, if we go into the cities of the Mediterranean, when we

Andreu Claret

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meet the women and men of the Mediterranean – and particularly the young people – that’s where we find a reason for hope: we meet people who want to change for the better, work together, live together and who are absolutely against the Mediterranean of horror, backwardness and war now at the heart of the agenda. The women and men of the Mediterranean have many more things in common than those that distance them.

They have shared values and ideas in common. People want democracy, they want work, they want the same thing in the southern and northern Mediterranean,

The Mediterranean that now appears on our screens every day is one of conflict, of Syria and Gaza, and of people dying not far from here trying to cross it to get into Europe.

and it is with such people that we will one day be able to construct a common Mediterranean.

What are these shared values?

The existence of common values is extraordinarily important. Normally in Europe we think that Arabs have different values from ours and vice-versa, but that’s not the case. The Anna Lindh Foundation has conducted an investigation on this subject, together with Gallup, and we have discovered that many values are similar.

Values such as hospitality, peace and family are perceived as Mediterranean Papers of Dialogue | 25

Dialogue profound change which will attain its goal in the medium term. Societies have changed, people want change, particularly young people, because they have tasted freedom and, as you know, once you’ve tasted freedom you never let it go. I am sure that there won’t be definitive steps backwards, perhaps difficult times like now, but I’m convinced that this spring has brought the prospect of profound change, of democratization, in which the terms freedom and dignity – the words of the young people in the squares of Cairo and Tunis – will be terms shared by most of the young people in the Mediterranean.

The Anna Lindh Foundation “Civil society building open and pluralistic societies” conference, 1st to 2nd December , Alexandria, Egypt

values and are shared from south to north.

The problem isn’t the values themselves but the perception we have of other people’s values. There’s a distortion, which is partly the product of the media and partly of inadequate education, but also a question of negative politics. Therefore, let’s say that there isn’t actually a clash of values or civilisations, rather a clash of ignorance, which is the reason why the Anna Lindh Foundation was founded. We must work to reduce this lack of knowledge and promote mutual awareness.

The Arab Spring seems to bear bitter fruits. What impact has it had on intercultural dialogue? Has it promoted it or made it more difficult?

The Arab Spring now seems a bitter spring, and it is clear that there has been a backward step in the field of rights, but this often happens in democratic transitions; in the long term I am absolutely sure – and I say this having lived in Egypt for 6 years – that this spring provoked a process of 26 | Papers of Dialogue

This year marks a decade of activity. What is the future of the Anna Lindh Foundation?

I think that in the future the Foundation will have to focus on longer term initiatives.

Obviously, sometimes the need emerges to respond quickly to crisis situations, as we did during the Gaza War, and we need to do so now in order to face the dramatic crisis in Syria, but strategically, work needs to be done on long term projects which are the ones that bring about a real social transformation process. We must commit to projects related to education, culture, media and everything connected with exchanges between the civil societies in the south and the north, so as to make civil society into an agent of change and an agent of peace in the region.

Talking about dialogue can seem futile when many in the region are being bombed or fear the approach of ISIS. Is dialogue really relevant?

“Dialogue” and “peace” are belittled words right now as we are faced with a dramatic situation, to say the least, but we must start from these concepts, involving civil society.

I would like to appeal to the international community, because what is happening in Syria is a real catastrophe of civilisation, and it is happening now because we didn’t act sooner. We let the conflict run deeper for 3 years, with uncoordinated and insufficient external interventions, and now it has become a disease that could infect the

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whole of the Middle East. Action needed to be taken at the start, when there was a democratic movement in Syria fighting to obtain more freedom. We didn’t take this action back then and we’re paying the price for it now. Having said that, we at the Anna Lindh Foundation are working with many young Syrians, who live in Syria or in Diaspora countries, Turkey, Jordan, and we want to start preparing the Syria of the future now, a country of dialogue where Muslims – whether they are Sunnis or Alawites – can live alongside Christians of different denominations and can live in peace. These young people can transform the country, following a logic that is neither that of the regime nor obviously Jihad logic, which does huge damage to humanity and huge damage to Islam.

So is it actually at the worst times of crisis that resources must be found to invest in dialogue?

If the Foundation didn’t exist, it would need

“Dialogue” and “peace” are belittled words right now as we are faced with a dramatic situation, to say the least, but we must start from these concepts, involving civil society.

to be invented right now. The issue of dialogue is essential and everyone now understands this, both institutions and civil society. A coordination among all the activities is necessary, so as not to waste resources, which are limited. One of the defining elements of the Anna Lindh Foundation is that we work with everyone; we have worked with the Arab League, the Council of Europe, UNESCO, associations and networks of associations in each of the 42 countries that form the basis of the Foundation. These resources must be pooled: this is a critical and decisive time - the Mediterranean is going through a historical change - and dialogue, adapted to the new situation, has become an essential strategic tool.

There will never be a real and practical outcome for the Union of the Mediterranean, for the Barcelona Process, if there isn’t a great effort to make the societies of the Mediterranean work together.

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From statistics to optimism Dina el-Khawaga, Professor at the University of Cairo and Program Director of the Arab Reform Initiative, analyses the results of the Anna Lindh Report 2014 on intercultural trends and social change, with a special focus on the data related to Egypt.

“I Marilia Cioni

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f we analyse the values of the population, there are many points in common between the inhabitants of the southern and northern shores of the Mediterranean, and this number is increasing. For both populations there is a growing interest in societies on the other side, and the desire for participation is on the rise�.

These were the comments of Dina elKhawaga, Professor of Political Science at Cairo University, on the Anna Lindh Report 2014 on intercultural trends and social change in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Report, commissioned by the Anna Lindh Foundation and conducted with the Gallup Institute for social research, was worked on by institutions and universities in 13 member states of the Union for the Mediterranean: Albania, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Poland, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.

Dina el-Khawaga

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This edition of the Report, the first following the Arab Spring, clearly shows how societies are constantly evolving.

“Compared to the previous Report, performed in 2009 – explains el-Khawaga – the perception of youth in Egypt has changed greatly. Whereas before they were considered an economic burden, which prevented the State from providing adequate social services for the population, there is now renewed faith in young people, in their ability to judge and open up to new horizons. Young people have become a resource. Change can even be measured within family relations: among the values considered important in educating children, obedience has lost ground – a sign that society has understood the positive aspect of the desire for transformation – whereas emphasis on the ability to respect different cultures has increased”.

This change in the perception of youth and its prerogatives is even more significant

Dina el-Khawaga Professor, with graduate degrees from Cairo University and the Institute of Political Studies in Paris. She spent almost a decade working in international cooperation organisations, including the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundation, and directed the unit of political sciences at CSELD. She joined the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI), a research center based in Paris where she now runs two programmes: the Social Movements Working Groupand the Arab Research Support Program (ARSP).

due to a demographic statistic: “Arab countries have a Muslim majority, but above all they are countries of young people - 60% of Egyptians are less than 40, have grown up with the Internet, with cable TV, so in their daily lives they have a lot in common with a young Italian, French or Dutch person”. This shared experience overlaps with of values perceived as connected with the Mediterranean: hospitality, a certain lifestyle and diet, civil participation and a common historical and cultural heritage that Egyptians want to get to know better. “For Egyptians, the EuroMediterranean area is very important; they consider it to be an area of openness, common interests and economic exchange. They want to get to know the European countries but, despite the security alerts at the borders, they don’t want to leave their country to move to Europe.

The EuroMediterranean area is mainly an area of Papers of Dialogue | 29

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The Anna Lindh Foundation in figures From facilitating the translation of books into the various languages of the Mediterranean to promoting exchanges between professionals; from capacity building initiatives to festivals - the initiatives supported by the Anna Lindh Foundation during its 10 year lifetime are as numerous as they are diverse. The numbers speak loud and clear: a strong network of 4009 associates in 43 national networks, that has succeeded in involving 143,000 civil society leaders and practitioners; more than 400.000 people attending cultural events and public debates; 34.430 young people participated in Young Arab Voices programme, with more than 1000 debates held. 21M Euros spent on grass-root activities; 218 Euro-Med projects funded with ALF grants. 1310 applications approved in 7 calls for project proposals. Over 1000 partnerships established through granted activities with 186.000 beneficiaries. 8.250.000 euros invested in grants for civil society projects. 117 common actions and network activities and over 300 network meetings and capacity building trainings developed by the ALF Network. Over 500 international partnerships established through network support. Check on www.annalindhfoundation.org to know more.

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economic exchange where you can learn new important skills for your future”, which is imagined in Egypt “or if anything in other countries in the Middle East, as the natural area for cultural, economic and professional opportunity”.

However, since the 2010-2011 revolts the situation has changed greatly, and anyone who saw the Arab Spring as a positive turning point is not so optimistic any more. And yet, according to el-Khawaga, it depends on your point of view: “The 2014 report is based on questionnaires performed the year before; the answers provided a much

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more positive perception compared to the same survey done in 2009. We can say that after the Arab revolts, people were more confident and had more faith in the future. At the beginning everyone was full of hope and no-one imagined the economic crisis or the chaos of ISIS. The first truly free parliamentary elections had just been held, plus there had been the great experience of Presidential elections. If the same survey were done again today, perhaps the results would not show the optimism and openness of two years ago. But when we talk about the Arab Spring, we need to try and have the same faith we had with the Eastern European spring. In the 1990s there were obstacles to democratization in countries such as Albania and Romania, but we didn’t lose faith in the possibility of their democratic development. So, why are

THE AUTHOR

Marilia Cioni A communication and foreign affairs expert, Marilia Cioni manages Agi’s international activities from Rome’s headquarters.

people only looking at Daesh [Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant/Syria], as if ready to fall at the first hurdle? Why aren’t we concentrating on the fact that in Tunisia a party like Nidaa Tounes won in totally democratic elections? In Arab societies there are factors encouraging democratization and social justice, as well as other elements that want to hinder this movement of change, which I think is universal. Other areas of the world, from Latin America to Eastern Europe, have been through this process so there’s no need to jump to conclusions straight away. Current affairs give us cause for concern but also reason to hope; it’s up to us to try and promote the positive elements of mutual trust, availability for discussion and willingness to share. Statistics show that it is possible”.

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Cairo Automobile Club Alaa al-Aswani is the most widely read and translated contemporary Arab author in the world. His new novel revolves around a legendary place founded by westerners and Turks in 1924 and home to an important piece of Egyptian history, spanning from the era of the British monarchy to the advent of president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Azzurra Meringolo

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trip back in Egyptian history that delves into the memories of people with firsthand experience of the revolution of the Free Officers in 1952. The author is the most well-known among those who fought in 2011 in the other revolution, that in Tahrir Square. Creating a bridge between these two dates is the Cairo Automobile Club, a legendary place founded by westerners and Turks in 1924 and home to an important piece of Egyptian history, spanning from the era of the British monarchy to the advent of president Gamal Abdel Nasser. “In 2010, on the eve of the outbreak of the revolution, I had already written two thirds of the novel. Then I went down onto the street to join the protest against the corrupt regime of the dictator Hosni Mubarek. That’s why my novel was left in the drawer for months. I had no other choice. But that time away from writing was not in vain. The part I still had to write was precisely about the revolution in the 50s. Taking part in this new Egyptian revolution made it easier for me to understand the feelings and emotions that inspired the protagonists of my novel over 50 years earlier�. The author Alaa alAswani, is talking to Papers of Dialogue. He is in Italy to present his new novel Cairo Automobile Club, published by Feltrinelli.

Taking part in this new Egyptian revolution made it easier for me to understand the feelings and emotions that inspired the protagonists of my novel over 50 years earlier 32 | Papers of Dialogue

Cultures Besides being the most widely read and translated contemporary Arab author in the world, Aswani is also a dentist and an activist who has always criticized the old “Pharaoh” and has been actively involved in the turbulent transition phase of the last few years. After his first short stories were banned by the censors of the old regime then published in 2009 by Feltrinelli in Se Non fossi egiziano (If I were not Egyptian) his first novel, The Yacoubian Building (Feltrinelli, 2006), caused an outcry over the issues it addressed. Since then, the novel has been the most popular on the shelves of book stores in the Arab world, written by an intellectual who has helped forge the Egyptian transition, supporting the military intervention in 2013. As we speak at the Salone Off 365 event of the International Book Fair in Turin, where Aswani presented his book on 12th October, the author remembers his childhood spent at the Cairo Automobile Club where his father was a lawyer. “It was the 60s, the revolution was over and I was but a young child. Yet I clearly remember the stories told by the club members. They would tell me about the king, who would occasionally honour the members of the exclusive club with his presence, and of the liveried servants, always saidi, (originally from Upper Egypt and Nubia, Ed.) who were tyrannized by the Kao - the dreaded chamberlain of the sovereign who oversaw all servants of the royal palaces. What a special figure he was: servant and master at the same time”. The Automobile Club isn’t just a place where Aswani collects memories of the protagonists of the battle for Egyptian independence but also a microcosm that embraces “two societies, two worlds: the foreigners and the Egyptian servants”. It offers a glimpse of Egyptian society that is so dear to the author, who over the years has shown great sensitivity towards the issue of Egyptian multiculturalism and the role of Egyptian expats in the development of Egyptian society.

As soon as we remind him that the exclusive Automobile Club - which can still be seen

Book cover of "Cairo Automobile club"

Alaa al-Aswani THE AUTHOR

Azzurra Meringolo After years of research between Europe, South America and the Middle East, Azzurra Meringolo became an enthusiast of the Arab world. Working as a freelance reporter for Italian newspapers and magazines since 2008 and after having lived in Jerusalem and traveled through the Middle East, she obtained a Ph.D. with a doctoral thesis on contemporary antiAmericanism in Egypt from the University Roma 3. Straddling between research and reporting, in the summer of 2010 she arrived in Cairo where she witnessed the revolution of the 25th of January to which she devoted a book entitled I ragazzi di Piazza Tahrir, published by Clueb.

along the main route through central Cairo, on Qasr Al-Aini - was actually designed by an Italian architect, Aswani starts talking about the extensive connections and close relationship between Italy and Egypt. “When I come to Italy I feel at home. Your culture is very similar to ours. When I walk along the streets and down the little alleys in Naples and I see the old ladies sitting outside their homes chatting, it’s just like been in Garden City, the neighbourhood I lived in for a long time in Cairo. The similarity is historical, nothing new. So it’s no surprise that your cars appeared on our streets much earlier than elsewhere. Even our vocabulary includes words inherited from your language like pagliaccio (clown, fool) or roba vecchia (old things). Our ancestors heard these words from your fellow countrymen who lived in Egypt.

Alexandria for example has long been home to a large Italian community (it was here that the exiled king of Italy, Victor Emanuel III, died and was buried in Saint Catherine’s church). It was also one of your compatriots who built the first Egyptian cinema in our country”. That was at the end of the 19th century, but even during the First World War it was the Italians who launched the first film productions along the Nile. “It was an incredible artistic revolution, very similar to what is happening in my country now.

And it’s far from over. If all goals are to be achieved, the revolution will take time and patience”, explains Aswani.

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A

The Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival During the sixties and seventies, Essaouira was one of the top hippie travel destinations. Artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley are believed to have made a pit-stop there. Nowadays, the city hosts the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival, turning each year into a Moroccan Woodstock for about a week.

Valentina Marconi

bout the Festival The Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival boasts 17 years of existence and aims at safeguarding the Gnaoua culture and promoting the unknown African heritage at the roots of Moroccan history. Since its start, Moroccan youth immediately related to it and the Festival soon became very popular not just inside Morocco but all over the Middle East. Nowadays, it has an international dimension with artists from all over the world coming to perform: indeed not only the greatest Gnaoua maalems (masters) are on stage but also worldwide-known musicians such as Marcus Miller, Bassékou Kouyaté, Nneka and Ayo. The event has a true multimedia voice with an active presence all over the year on the major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.

According to Festival Director Neila Tazi, the idea behind it was shaped by a bunch of people who shared a real passion for the city of Essaouira and Gnaoua music.

In organizing the event, they were moved by a sense of urgency as they wanted to preserve an endangered cultural heritage.

Although the Festival usually took place in June, next edition (the eighteenth) will be held from 14th to 17th May. Once again, there will be concerts on large stages, intimate exhibitions by maalems performing traditional repertoire and forums aimed at opening a discussion about different topics such as intercultural dialogue and the future of African culture. “It represents a brilliant opportunity to reflect on the history of our African belonging and our deep-seated links with our neighbors on the other side of the Sahara. […] Because we are convinced that music and arts will play a fundamental part in the future of the African continent and therefore in the future of Morocco”, as the staff of the Festival puts it.

Inside Gnaoua music and culture According to Dr Chouki El Amel, the word Gnaoua derives from the Berber term

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The Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival boasts 17 years of existence and aims at safeguarding the Gnaoua culture and promoting the unknown African heritage at the roots of Moroccan history.

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Aguinaw which means Black man and could also represent the etymological origin of the word Guinea. Its meaning has three dimensions, referring to a population, a spiritual/ religious sphere and a type of music. Gnaoua were the “black people” enslaved in West Africa (from Senegal to Chad, through northern Mali and southern Sudan) and brought to the Maghreb by a steady flow of human trafficking from the 10th to the 19th centuries. Almoravids and Sa’dis were the ruling dynasties in Morocco that used black slaves the most in fields such as the army, domestic labor (especially women), mines, ports and oases. Under different historical circumstances, slaves gradually

The Essaouira Festival Gnaoua and World Music grows out of a strong commitment to the preservation of Gnaoua culture and the importance of raising awareness on the African roots of Morocco.

conquered their freedom and started to form their own families and communities.

They created a mystic order combining Islamic traditions with pre-Islamic African rituals and made their own kind of music that, still nowadays, brings to life their histories and memories and represents an open door to the spiritual realm.

As Deborah Kapchan explains, Gnaoua people are practicing Muslims as also shown by the fact that their songs praise God, as well as the Prophet Muhammad.

However, during their traditional ceremonies, maalems use their music in order to invoke and placate the genies (in Papers of Dialogue | 35

Cultures Their music has been also interpreted as an attempt to re-construct “a unitary identity by a diasporic community”, immersed in the permanent effort of negotiating their place within Moroccan society. So far its cradles are represented by the cities of Marrakesh and Essaouira where Gnaoua artists can often be seen performing in public places, wearing traditional clothes and playing peculiar instruments such as metallic castanets and a three-strings bass lute called guembrì (characterized by a distinctive and hypnotic sound). Since the ‘70s, Gnaoua music’s popularity grew greatly and it even started influencing Moroccan pop music, such as exemplified by groups like Nass al-Ghiwan which had their songs strongly affected by it. Nowadays, collaborations between traditional maalems and Western jazz artists are becoming very common as well.

Arabic jnun) that are often naughty and can possess humans, causing affliction and pain. Therefore, Gnaoua music is meant to“cure insanity and free people from malign influences”.

According to her, Gnaoua in Morocco are perceived as a sect (in Arabic taifa), and historically have been subjected to marginalization and sometimes strong condemnation within mainstream Islam. Since the 1960s, however, the Gnaoua have come to play the role both of traditional spiritual healers and professional musicians, becoming icons of Moroccan popular culture.

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THE AUTHOR

Valentina Marconi Valentina Marconi is a freelance journalist and prospective PhD student, also involved in social work with refugees in Italy. She obtained an MSc in Arab World Studies from Durham University with a dissertation on parliamentary gender quotas in Tunisia and Iraq.

A Gnaoua Anthology The Essaouira Festival Gnaoua and World Music grows out of a strong commitment to the preservation of Gnaoua culture and the importance of raising awareness on the African roots of Morocco. To this end, the organization of music performances is accompanied by other kind of initiatives such as the creation in 2009 of the Yerma Gnaoua Association, which aims at spreading information about Gnaoua culture throughout the world, in addition to respecting its traditions and promoting traditional artists’ residencies and partnerships with foreign festivals such as the World Traditions Festival in Sherbrooke, Canada or the World Nomads Festival in New York.

Currently, it consists of about 70 artists and it has several goals such as the transcription of the lyrics of Gnaoui musical repertoire, the classification of Gnaoua traditions with UNESCO as “oral and intangible heritage of humanity” and a campaign for increasing Moroccan Gnaoua maalems‘ social rights, for example by obtaining their artists’ cards from the Ministry of Culture and

Cultures extending health insurance to every maalem with the Moroccan Artists’ Mutual Fund.

Among the main achievements of this young association, the production of an anthology dedicated to Gnaoua heritage is worth mentioning. This great work consists of fourteen hours of music performances on 9 Cds and a collection of all of the sung texts, that have been transcribed in Arabic and translated into French.

The political side of the game: the African identity The Forum “Africa to come” is yet another ambitious initiative that has taken place within the Festival since three years and it is organized in partnership with the National Council on Human Rights. It represents a great opportunity to reflect on the long joint history which connects the two sides of the Sahara while analyzing what shapes Africa today in terms of weaknesses and potentialities, its role in the globalized world and what could be the future of the continent.

Its importance lies in the awareness of how much Maghreb and West Africa have been interconnected during history, for example for commercial purposes by several caravan routes.

As the staff of the Festival explains, “Djenné, Ghana, Awdaghost, Gao, Agadès, Touat, Tamedoult, Noul, Ghadames,

The Forum “Africa to come” is yet another ambitious initiative that has taken place within the Festival since three years and it is organized in partnership with the National Council on Human Rights.

Zawila, Marrakech, Sijilmassa, Sabta, … constitute just so many crossroads, stopovers and relays between the Mediterranean Basin and Soudan, crossed over for centuries by Muslim and Jewish enterprising traders from Fez or Marrakech. Mogador/Essaouira [...], bears witness to this memory and its intense spiritual dimension”.

Although the slave trade and afterwards the colonization by Western States greatly divided African societies, since the inter war period, the struggles for independence connected them back once again. Hence, panAfricanism spread and strengthened and in the early 1960s, Nelson Mandela visited the city of Oujda where he met Moroccan and Algerian nationalists.

However, the second half of the 20th century was very tragic because of the multiple civil wars, humanitarian crises and violations of human rights that swept the African continent.

Nonetheless, in several countries civil society came to play an important role and, to some extent, some form of economic development took off.

With the Gnaoua and World Music Festival, over the past seventeen years Essaouira has come to celebrate the Moroccan legacy to Africa and its cultures through a music and a spiritual tradition that preserves the memory of a common history.

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THE KURDISH IRAQI ARTIST FUAD ALI

“My world is made of childhood, roses, and a strong longing for my country”

Fuad Ali, Kurdish artist born in Irbil, Iraq.

Erfan Rashid

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N

ow at some sixty years old, he had lived abroad for more than four decades, but if you close your eyes and ignore the smell of the Tuscany cigar, you may hear the sound of a young man who never left the season of youth. But he does not look down on adulthood or pretend to be young in a silly way. The years have carved fissures in his face and his hands are hardened by the bronze he has been sculpting since he embarked on his journey in art.

Fuad Ali graduated from the Fine Arts Institute of Baghdad in the 1970’s and felt compelled, as did many other intellectuals and artists in Iraq, to flee the oppression of Saddam Hussein’s regime which singled out the Kurdish people with unprecedented suppression and destruction. He settled in the Italian city of Florence and continued his studies of sculpture at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in the Italian capital of the Renaissance.

Fuad Ali is one of the most energetic and prolific Iraqi artists. Many of his works have been installed in important public squares in Florence and other Italian cities.

He works non-stop and always has a new project up his sleeve – from painting and sculpture to illustrating children’s stories.

He also teaches and rehabilitates young people of special needs groups by using art as a treatment.

What is Fuad Ali busy with at the moment?

What is truly occupying me at the moment is the continuing upheaval in my country and other countries in the region. This situation has a great impact on me. I’m also busy with my art. These days I am preparing to set up a large exhibition in Florence that will include all of the sculpture works. It will be held at the La Galleria Pananti in Florence which holds an important place in history.

In addition, I continue to illustrate for two children’s books, one which I wrote myself, and the other by another writer.

I’m also preparing a set of graphic works to be exhibited at the end of the year in the gallery of the Florence Printing Press. This

Fuad Ali is one of the most energetic and prolific Iraqi artists. Many of his works have been installed in important public squares in Florence and other Italian cities.

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Cultures exhibition requires much time and preparation, especially because it has been a long time since I last set up an exhibit in Florence.

Will your exhibit include a full anthology of all your sculptures? Will we be able to witness all phases in the development of your work and experience over the past thirty years?

Yes, like I said, I have spent much time in preparing for this exhibition. The gallery has willingly agreed to set it up as I have proposed.

Fuad, you originally started out in sculpture. You were born a sculptor, but drawing has played a role in your ongoing achievements. Every morning you surprise us with a new drawing on your Facebook page, a picture that

I work in the field of art therapy, meaning treatment by using art. This enables those children to discover their innermost potentials and bring them to the surface.

you gift to your friends. They are usually of a heroine, a woman accompanied by either music, a bird, or a flower. Your works instill a great sense of hope. As a sculptor, where does drawing fit in for you?

As you have kindly pointed out, I was born a sculptor, and I add that I will die as a sculptor. I love sculpting; I focus on it in all my efforts because I feel it. But there is no place for a sculptor who cannot draw. Drawing is the basis of sculpting. Furthermore, since I thrive through art, it is difficult for me to make a living through sculpture. This is why you see me holding graphics and drawing exhibits to help me and give me more opportunities and resources to implement my major sculpting works.

Such works, especially the bronze works, are exorbitantly expensive so drawing helps me support myself, whether for living expenses or funding major projects.

For this reason, in addition to being an artist, you work as a teacher in school for disabled children.

Yes, I work in the field of art therapy, meaning treatment by using art. This enables those children to discover their innermost potentials and bring them to the surface. They express their feelings through sculpture, drawing, and ceramics. I also learned so much from them, most importantly, innocence, to be yourself, to be truthful to yourself, and to have courage. My bond with those children has taught me to be brave, that one should bring out all that is within one’s depths without considering this inhibition or that desire. This is selfexpression.

How do your students address you: Mr. Fuad or just Fuad?

No, no, they call me by first name, Fuad, which is how I wish it to be.

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“The legend of the great inquisitor” is a chilling breath of fresh air Compagnia Orsini returns to Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” with a contemporary re-imagining of The legend of the Great Inquisitor. Showing at Florence’s celebrated Teatro della Pergola, this is an utterly modern play, striving to appeal to mature and young audiences alike.

Aleksandra Jeglinska

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he curtain opens to reveal a chilling set reminiscent of an abandoned factory or a post-Soviet asylum, the stage illuminated by an ice-blue neon reading “FEDE” (faith). The walls are askew, meeting at unnatural angles.

Accompanied by sound design - brilliant in its simplicity - which is reduced to mechanical screeches and rattles of longbroken machines, the scenography electrifies spectators into a state of wary vigilance before the actors have even entered the stage. This feeling escalates during the opening passage consisting of a long, silent struggle between the two characters. The audience is then unhurriedly made privy of the characters’ thoughts and relationship, only to be mercilessly pulled out of it again and, in the words of director Peter Babina, “catapulting us into the contemporary, proposing to the spectator another convention”, that of a TED talk.

Excellently paced and superbly performed, this play is classical both in direction and in its topic matter, all the while being thoroughly contemporary. Polyphonic character of Dostoevsky’s novel, masterfully crafted to convey the complexity of its main themes of truth, freedom and morality, is transposed to the

Excellently paced and superbly performed, this play is classical both in direction and in its topic matter, all the while being thoroughly contemporary.

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stage through a combination of spoken word and physical acting in a set that becomes a character in its own right. The actors’ restless struggle takes on new meanings as different key words frame the stage. Orsini flawlessly delivers the monologues, leaving the spectator profoundly disturbed.

By his own admission, Orsini - excellent as the ageing Ivan Karamazov - was longing to return to and explore anew the timeless themes of Dostoevsky’s work. Ivan’s internal struggle will undoubtedly resonate well with more mature members of the audience, as the protagonist ponders the threat religion and politics pose to freedom. As he is haunted by ghosts from

Orsini flawlessly delivers the monologues, leaving the spectator profoundly disturbed.

the past, by guilt and shame, our own ghosts begin to stir. However, it is the play’s potential to appeal to new audiences that must have compelled Orsini to complete this project. This ambition is seen in the unorthodox solution to deliver the crucial monologue in disguise of a TED talk - the irony of which would be lost on those who haven’t seen a real-life version of the famous idea-spreading conference format. The director summarises this choice: “the discourse and the rhetoric are closely related, and the meanings are often mystified by aesthetics… Thoughts of the Great Inquisitor, expressed from a pulpit of democracy, are more mundane, less Papers of Dialogue | 43

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aggressive, almost obvious and because of this more dangerous, because they appear tolerable.” This is a poignant lesson for the young, so why were there so few young people in the audience?

Teatro della Pergola, as one of Florence’s oldest cultural institutions, is mostly associated with classical productions in theatre and music. This season offers more of a break with tradition, with the Pergola Foundation - now in its fourth year of activity - striving to give new energy to the famous institution. With a great mix of classical and modern plays (during the winter season we will be able to watch both The merchant of Venice and 44 | Papers of Dialogue

THE AUTHOR

Aleksandra Jeglinska Aleksandra Jeglinska was born in Poland in 1985.

After graduating from the University of York, UK, with a degree in Politics (BA) and Applied Human Rights (MA), she has worked in a variety of fields, including film and academia. She is currently based in Florence, Italy, where she works in film production.

Cat on a hot tin roof, amongst others), this is certainly an admirable plan. However, with student reduction ticket at a prohibitive €20 - as opposed to €7 for a multiplex blockbuster - the attempt to open the theatre to new audiences is doomed to fail. Passionate theatre goers and long-time supporters of the Pergola will certainly have purchased their season passes, the way they do every season, regardless of the Theatre’s strategies. What the Foundation has failed to include is a plan to attract new audiences, for whom plays such as The legend of the Great Inquisitor offer a piercing, current and poignantly relevant take on reality.