Film director and producer Muayad Alayan is a Palestinian based in Jerusalem whose award-winning work has been seen by audiences all over the world.
His latest film, A House In Jerusalem, will be screened at BPFF 2023. It is about a Jewish girl from the UK, played by Miley Locke, the young star of BBC series There She Goes Miley, who moves to Jerusalem with her father, played by Johnny Harris, to her grandfather’s home. Miley soon discovers the home is haunted by the ghost of a young Palestinian girl.
The film was written by Alayan and his brother Rami and produced by PalCine Productions and Wellington Films Limited. Shooting began in the summer of 2021 and faced challenges on multiple fronts. Some were related to the political tension in occupied Palestinian territories. But those typical travails were made even more difficult by COVID-19 restrictions, with the UK, Israel and Palestine on separate lists of acceptability for travel, and different levels of quarantine required. Scheduling became a nightmare.
The Boston Palestine Film Festival asked Alayan about his work in anticipation of the A House in Jerusalem screening. Here are his thoughts about his inspiration for the story, making the film, and filmmaking in Palestine generally.
What inspired you to write this particular story?
MA: Growing up as a child, I used to feel overwhelmed by the thought of how my parents and my grandmother could survive living each day with the weight of the memories of the life that they lost during the Nakba.
Life as they knew it abruptly ended and they were suddenly forced to flee with no ability to return. The life they lived after the war seemed incomplete to them, and a part of them was inexplicably left behind in the past in their old homes.
My brother Rami and I set out to make this personal film inspired by their memory and their survival. It is a film about longing. Whether we lose a home or a loved one, we feel broken, and some pieces of us seem to stay behind in the past.
When did you first want to become a filmmaker?
MA: I recall an experience from my childhood when my sister bought our family’s first camera around the time I was 5 years old. Me and my family went to a hilltop in Jerusalem to visit the ruins of our grandmother’s house that was destroyed during the Nakba. My uncle filmed us as we accompanied my late grandmother.
Back at home, for weeks and months later, this videotape was the most important thing in our lives. Our parents played it over and over again, to everyone, family, friends and all visitors. It was as if they got back a piece of the house and the land they were forced out of. That was the first time I witnessed the power of the moving images and sound.
The cast was terrific. How did it come together? Were you new to working with child actors?
MA: The cast came from Palestine and the UK. In the UK I immediately knew that Miley was going to be the one. She was amazing and she already had fantastic experience in TV drama.
In Palestine we had a public casting call and it was the amazing Sheherazade Makhoul Farrell. Sheherazade is half Palestinian and half Irish. It was her first acting experience but she was so excited and worked super hard.
I have worked with children before, but not in main roles. It was of course challenging. The emotions of trauma and grief are very heavy and we had to work very delicately during rehearsals. Also, portraying a ghost that is unseen by almost everyone around was both fun and challenging.
Has the encroachment on East Jerusalem affected your ability to film?
MA: Life in Jerusalem is filled with fear and uncertainty. There is no doubt that the occupation and its effects on the lives of Palestinians in Jerusalem has intensified over the last few years. It is more suffocating than ever. This applies to all aspects of life, including art and film.
We and other local filmmakers are used to navigating this sad reality and overcome the physical and systematic obstacles to be able to create our films. It is a challenge and often impossible to have your crew or cast members cross the checkpoints from the West Bank to be with the rest of the team in Jerusalem. It is a challenge to be present in public space as a Palestinian film crew. You have to go super minimal to be able to operate and not get in trouble, it is almost impossible to predict what kind of trouble you might face on any given shooting day.
Has it been shown in Palestine?
MA: We will be having our Arab world and our Palestinian premieres this autumn.
It is my first English language film, but it was a very natural decision given the story. Palestinian audiences are used to watching English language films, but it is interesting to see the reactions given it is a Palestinian film in English.
What is your next project?
MA: I have two fiction feature projects in development and financing at the moment. One will be set in Bethlehem and one in Jerusalem.
Interview by Christine Giraud, on behalf of the Boston Palestine Film Festival
Muayad Alayan – Filmography
Alayan’s directorial feature debut Love, Theft, And Other Entanglements premiered at the Berlinale Panorama in 2015 and went on to win two Best Arab Narrative Film Awards, as well as being nominated for several First Feature Awards at the Berlinale, Seattle International Film Festival, Taipei International Film Festival, Carthage Film Festival, and others.
His second feature film, 2018’s The Reports On Sarah And Saleem, premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won the Special Jury Prize of the Hivos Tiger Competition and the Hubert Bals Audience Award. It was also awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival and Best Feature Film at the Durban International Film Festival.
For more information: palcine.net