We spoke with Salim Abu Jabal about how he met Yousef and Amna, the endearing couple featured in his first feature-length documentary, Roshmia, and the extraordinary lengths to which he went to obtain the footage for the awardwinning 70-minute film.
BPFF: How did you first hear about Yousef and Amna?
SA: I was working as a journalist for a newspaper in Haifa, and I got to know them while writing an article about their story. After the feature article was done, I continued visiting them.
BPFF: When and why did you decide to make a full-length film about them?
SA: About a year after I first met them, they received a demolition order from the court, which was devastating to them. I wanted to help them, and contacted journalists in both Hebrew and Arabic media. Then I wanted to make a short film, in order to communicate their story better to the media. We managed to postpone the demolition, and this provided me with more time to shoot and to go deeper into their story. After a while, I realised that the story deserved to be told, and could become a full-length documentary. Filmmaking is all about storytelling. I simply had to bring their story to the world.
BPFF: Can you help us understand the historical context of the film — how and why did Yousef have to leave Wadi Salib, his original neighborhood, in the first place? How did Amna have to leave Yasour? Why did they end up living in a shack in a valley without water or electricity?
SA: Both Amna and Yousef were exiled from their villages during the Nakba in 1948. At that time, Yousef was 22 years old and was arrested by the Israelis because they suspected him of carrying a weapon. He served two years in prison, and after that he moved to Akka, where he stayed until 1956, before he finally settled in Roshmia Valley. Amna was also exiled in 1948, from her village Yasour, along with her family. She was 15 years old at that time, and the family fled to a refugee camp in Gaza. Later on she got married to a man from Jenin, and moved there. In 1977, both Amna and Yousef had lost their previous spouses, and got to know each other through friends. They married and Amna moved to Roshmia Valley to be with her new husband. The choice of living what many would call a “simple life,” without water or electricity, in Roshmia Valley was made by Yousef when he moved there in the 1950s. The government did not want to provide his shack with water and electricity, and he enjoyed his freedom in his valley.
BPFF: What inspired you to make this film? You were previously a journalist, right? So how did you make the transition to directing? Did the film take you there, or did you decide to make a film before you found the story?
SA: There is not a big gap between journalism and documentary; they both deal with reality, so I basically moved from writing stories to writing and filming. Roshmia was filmed over a period of six years. It was not at all an easy mission, given the limitations of resources and funds.
BPFF: We understand the film took a number of years to make, yet it does not feel that way watching it at all. Everything seems to happen over the course of a short time span. Can you share with us what it took to make that happen? How often did you have to go and spend time with Yousef and Amna to get the footage that you got? Please describe in as much detail as possible.
SA: After I became a part of the family, so to speak, I spent time visiting them and built up strong bonds of trust between us. I went to the valley by myself; it was only me and my camera, and Amna and Yousef. I was shooting without any difficulties; they were welcoming me into their lives. Every day I spent 10 to 14 hours in their home, simply observing and filming. I did not interview or ask them to act in any way. I wanted to document their real, genuine lives.
BPFF: What role does sound play in the film? Did you deliberately film the sound of the valley as one would hear it standing there, so we the viewer could feel as if we were there?
SA: While I was waiting for exciting moments to catch on tape, I was recording sound from the surroundings. I did not have special equipment for recording sound, so I used the microphone on the camera. In the post-production, I did not add any special effects; I wanted to use the original sound from the valley, so the film would be authentic and real.
BPFF: Do you know what ended up happened to Yousef and Amna since the film? Where are they today?
SA: Of course. I stayed in touch with them for a long time. I can’t say what happens to them, because that would ruin the experience for the audience, but I can say that the audience will find out at the end of the film.
BPFF: Do you see the story of Yousef and Amna as a microcosm of the story of Palestine? Can you elaborate on this?
SA: For me, the story of Amna and Yousef signifies and sums up the story of the refugees, and how they still are facing the colonial mindset and the brutal machines of the colonizers. Their shack was the last tent of Palestinian refugees. Yousef decided to keep it as symbol of his and his people’s exile.
Roshmia screened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as part of the ninth annual Boston Palestine Film Festival.