Festivals - You Resemble Me – Let’s talk with the director Dina Amer

By Mulder, Santa Barbara, 10 march 2022

You Resemble Me is a 2021 internationally co-produced drama film, directed by Dina Amer in her directorial debut, from a screenplay by Amer and Omar Mullick. It stars Lorenza Grimaudo, Ilonna Grimaudo, Mouna Soualem, Sabrina Ouazani, Dina Amer, Alexandre Gonin, Grégoire Colin and Zinedine Soualem. Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Riz Ahmed and Alma Har'el serve as executive producers on the film. It had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival in the Venice Days section on September 8, 2021.

Q : The trans-generational trauma is quite a universal subject. Were you able to find anything in your own upbringing that you felt was passed from generations almost subconsciously? and if so was there a message through your film on how as a society can we work on breaking this vicious cycle ?

Dina Amer : I think artist can only make art that reflects a deeper question that they need to work through to evolve as a human being . In that sense the expression of the film becomes a conduit to healing for the artist and the audience . I could only delve into Hasna’s story because I see myself in her fragility and struggle to reconcile her identity as a woman and descendent of Middle Eastern immigrants to the West.  I believe as an artist and as a human being our deepest purpose is to have the courage and commitment to break the family cycles of trauma that we have inherited.  Our responsibility is to transmute the most painful wounds and to achieve what our parents or grandparents were unable to. 

Q : How do the multi-dimensional faces of Hasna resonate with the paradox of how a woman is supposed to behave or be seen in society ?

Dina Amer : Hasna’s shape shifting in the film reinforces how we as women are expected to sacrifice please and pretend to be ok when we aren’t. We learn as women and really as human beings to wear a mask in order to get what we want at times or to gain human connection. The price of shape shifting and code switching as a woman and especially a woman of color is that your sense of self becomes fractured and there is a deep pain that stems from denying who really are to receive love. This increases one’s self loathing, disassociation and makes them susceptible to manipulation and cycles of violence. 

Q : One one hand there is the motherly figure, a saint, a protector, almost submissive, and being free, or strong  or different, can be seen as a threat. pn my Beyond Hasna’s personal struggle to find her place in this society, was there an intention to also portray the struggle of being a woman in such different cultures ?

Dina Amer : I think that when you come from a multicultural background it can lead to an identity crisis when you can find harmony between the different parts of who you are. In Hasna’s case, I think the world reflects back to her that there are too many contradictions within being Muslim and French. She is made to feel she cant co-exist in those worlds and celebrate the richness of her multifaceted identity on her own terms. I think the reality is no one is one person. We all wear many masks. We have different faces and sometimes cultures that we are juggling. The beauty is to find celebration and harmony in the complexity, which isn’t always easy. Shame gets in the way of integrating all the parts of who we are.

Q : Did you always intend to switch from a narrative treatment to documentary at the end of your film? Why was it important to you to include the real protagonists to your story ?

Dina Amer : It was important for me to end the film with nonfiction because I wanted the audience to be left with the raw gritty reality that this is a true story and that we have we have a collective responsibility to examine our role in creating these headlines. 

Q : What do you think your journalistic background is bringing to your approach as a filmmaker ? 

Dina Amer : As a recovering journalist as I’m still drawn to telling real stories. I also believe you don’t know until you go. You must go to the scene and plunge into the world of your story to really be able to share anything authentic. This film was born out of 6 years of research and over 360 hours of interviews. 

Q : Hasna’s sister Mariam, mentions that she had to alter the appearance of her face, it really resonates with the title of your film, “You resemble me”. Could you explain the choice for your title and how it appeared to be central in telling Hasna’s story ?

Dina Amer : The purpose of the title was to get an audience to see themselves in a woman we dismiss as a monster and deprive of any humanity . The reality is we are all capable of violence and carry both dark and light. I want this film to be a mirror between a woman called a monster and ourselves. Mariam bears a physical resemblance to her sister, even if she tried to alter her appearance, she like us I think can not escape that at a core level we are all humans and we share more things in common especially with those who we thing are to blame for our problems in life. 

Q : How could you relate to Hasna’s story growing up from two different cultural background ?

Dina Amer : This is a deeply personal project as an Egyptian American Muslim woman I feel a kindred spirit to Hasna in her struggle to make sense out of an identity that the world has preconceived ideas over and a desire to control the narrative on.  We need to tell our own stories with all our own specific contradictions and nuances. 

Q : The way managed to transcend such a specific and complex event into more universal feelings like the need to belong and to find purpose is truly remarkable. Is it ultimately the filmmaker’s purpose to find to the commom denominator that will hihlight commonalities between people ?

Dina Amer : I think when we get to the essence of most stories there is a simplicity and a shared common humanity. There is space for kindness compassion and healing. I believe that is the purpose of great art to deconstruct things that feel foreign or scary into the relatable and universal.  

Q : How was the process of filming and directing actors with a different language? Could you feel some cultural barriers? How different was your approach working and directing children ?

Dina Amer : I believe truth transcends language. Truth vibrates and you can feel it in your body on a level of sensation. One of my  favorite films Battle of Algiers was made by an Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecervo who flew into Algeria and made a controversial masterpiece about the Algerian fight for independence from French colonisation . I took Gillo as a role model and dived into the deep end. In many ways, I feel my characters are the descendants of his, they were fighting for dignity and freedom and using armed resistance.  The same struggle mutated into the modern day fight in West—however that rage is now cloaked in the name of Islam as a political statement. For me it’s not about Islam at all it’s about dignity and belonging and that’s what I think the film expresses.  I was grateful to have an incredible team that made this film with me family style and supported me in creating this film in the most authentic way possible so that language never felt like a barrier. 

Q : You mentioned some difficulties and apprehensions with French producers when it came to portray Hasna’s story, how it still is such a delicate subject. How was the movie received in France ?

Dina Amer : Our French premiere was hugely emotional. We had a standing ovation with a long applause. I cried because it meant so much to show the film on French soil and to feel the effort of making the film come full circle. Overwhelmingly, the reaction was positive people thanked me and our team for telling this story. They felt a sense of catharsis. People of color felt seen in their struggles and the tendency to code switch and shapeshift in find belonging and opportunity in French society.  My location managers Dez Epane, Baffy ans Ba Moussa who live in the hood that we filmed in came to see the film for the first time. They loved the film and found it authentic powerful and raw which meant everything to me because they are my ultimate barometer if we achieved a film that young people of color can actually see themselves in and champion.  I cried when I saw them walk into the theater because they were the first ones I had approached 6 years ago with burning passionate crazy desire to make this film. I was so happy they were on stage with the team and the packed theater applauded all their hard work.  Sadly, less than a week later I got news that Baffy was shot in the head and killed. He was making a living through cinema to support his wife and child and yet he was caught in a cruel act of violence and killed.  I’m so happy he got to see the film and that he was recognized for his work.  His death to me is indicative of the systemic trappings for Muslim youth in France.  Because his name postcode and the color of his skin he wasn’t afforded the same opportunities and even if he tried to pave a peaceful path for himself the environment was rigged against him. Ultimately it was his fate, but I do think such loss begs us to reflect on our societies. Between Hasna and Baffy and the countless other stories of young people trying to exist outside of systemic racism we deserve to do better and offer more opportunities to communities of color. 

Q : Could you talk about the next projects you might be working on ?

Dina Amer : Many things ! I know I’m just getting started and there are many urgent purposeful and even joyous stories for me to tell.

Dina Amer worked as a reporter for Vice News, and reported on the 2015 Saint-Denis raid, reporting Hasna Aït Boulahcen, as a suicide bomber, which was previously confirmed by police, ending up being false. Boulachen's family was contacted by multiple journalists, but they chose to speak with Amer, who over the course of several years conducting 360 hours of interviews, with family and friends, to write the screenplay and make it as accurate as possible. Amer wanted the film not to excuse Boulahcen's choice, but to explore radicalization and how she got there and prevent others from falling into the same traps. Amer walked away from a major studio deal in order to maintain her vision, as financiers preferred for the film to be a documentary.

Synopsis : 
Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the elder of the two struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in an intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging.

You Resemble Me
Directed by Dina Amer
Written by Dina Amer, Omar Mullick
Produced by Elizabeth Woodward, Dina Amer, Karim Amer
Executive Producers Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Riz Ahmed, Alma Har’el
Starring  Lorenza Grimaudo, Ilonna Grimaudo, Mouna Soualem, Sabrina Ouazani, Dina Amer, Alexandre Gonin, Grégoire Colin, Zinedine Soualem
Cinematography : Omar Mullick
Edited by Keiko Deguchi, Jake Roberts
Music by Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
Production companies : The Othrs, Vice Studios, RYOT, D'Artaganan, Level Forward, Quiet, Hameda's Stories, Artemis Rising
Release date : September 8, 2021 (Venice)
Running time : 90 minutes

Photos: Floriane Andersen