Caviar's New Director Moussallem on Empowering Middle Eastern Women

When did you decide you wanted to direct?

I knew I wanted to tell stories from a very young age. I was born [in Lebanon] in 1990 during the last year of the civil war. I had lots of time to be bored so I developed a special relationship with TV and film and spent time dreaming of a different reality to the one around me. I grew up telling everyone that I wanted to make films. People laughed at me because when you come from Lebanon, such a small country, nothing feels possible. When I’d finished school, my parents signed me up to study business at university but I secretly went to the Lebanese school of art and registered in audiovisual studies. After that I started working as a stylist on commercials, but I soon became unhappy because I wasn’t creating. After starting, but not finishing, a Masters in filmmaking in Barcelona, I returned to Lebanon, shut myself in my room and wrote a fashion short film called Danse à Deux Temps, went out and found a client, co-produced and directed it. It got Vimeo Staff Pick five hours after going up and it was then that the big brands started to contact me.

How did the opportunity for Mashrou’ Leila’s music video come up and was there a brief?

It was funny. I received the track from Caviar, who rep me in London. But the boys [in the band] are my friends from Beirut so we met in a bar a week later and started brainstorming. There was no brief, the band was pretty open.

What was the inspiration behind Roman?

The thrust of the track is one word from the song’s refrain: “Aleihum!” [Charge!]. The idea came from that cry for liberation. The Middle East has been a hip backdrop for many Western music videos and films. I had the idea of the film in my head from before, but when the track came in, it all made sense. This is not a white feminist film. I didn’t want to portray Middle Eastern women as victims like Western media does. This film is an ode to the grace and strength of Arab women.

Where was the film shot and how long did production take?

It was a crazy three-day shoot. 100 women; 37°C (fucking hot); in four different corners of Lebanon. Three weeks of preparation and a 48-hour edit. 

How did you enlist the women in the promo?

I did the casting on Skype and found an Arab lady living in France. She had a strong and wild look but there was grace in her eyes. She is fire and wind. For the remaining 99, it was a mix of women from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine. They were all ages from 16 to 65.

What was it like to direct such a big cast?

It was chaotic, but that’s how I like it. The actors forgot that they were being filmed. Some of the locations were confirmed on the same day of the shoot. I didn’t follow a storyboard, I wasn’t looking into the monitor all the time. I was standing with the women acting, talking and dancing with them. It was beautiful. I had goose bumps all the time.

You use a lot of choreography in your work. Why did you think it would be fitting for this piece?

It’s happened by accident that my two films have dance in them. I’m not a dancer. I wish I was! It’s such a powerful, noble and non-violent form of expression. It goes beyond language.

How would you describe your directorial style?

50 per cent chaos; 50 per cent symphony.

“I didn’t want to portray Middle Eastern women as victims like Western media does. This film is an ode to the grace and strength of Arab women.” 

What are the challenges of being a young director in the Middle East?

There’s no real film industry in Lebanon, so when you live in a place like this and have some way of expressing yourself, you feel you owe it to your country to do so. The more I make films, the more I understand that I have a tool with which to make changes around me. It sounds naïve, but it’s true.

What are you working on at the moment?

I just finished writing a short film and a docu-fiction series [real-time documentary with fictional elements]. I can’t wait to bring them to life!