Musical Chairs

At the end of the tunnel, the masquerade of the oppressed begins.

Team

Azza El Hassan

JordanScriptwriter Film Director

synopsis

Abu Dahab is a cautious man. He always manages to survive, keeping his secrets close to his heart. This is why he is reluctant, when little Ali asks him to smuggle Karam out of the camp. Karam dreams of going to the States and start a life there; she will finally reunite with her little son, Sanad. Yet, she doesn’t know, that her last day as a TV journalist will end with her being stuck in an Israeli siege, unable to fulfill her dream. The Israeli closure has been imposed ahead of time due to fears of possible attacks during the Purim festivities in which Israelis celebrate the day Jews won over oppression in ancient Persia. As Karam watches the Purim festivities on TV, she wonders: “They celebrate in happiness while my life stops”. For the past 10 years, Abu Dahab, an infamous thief has dug tunnels from his house, into Israeli cities, where he would go looting. When Abu Dahab reveals his tunnels to Karam, she immediately rushes through the Tel-Aviv tunnel, where the airport is. Yet, to her disappointment, the tunnel is not completed. “Don’t worry. Tel Aviv is only a few digs away. If we dig all night and day, you will be out in time for your flight” he reassures her. As they dig, Karam and Abu Dahab bond by revealing the turning points in their lives to each other. Abu Dahab recalls the first tunnel he dug and Karam remembers her husband who left her and immigrated while she took care of her sick father, who died recently. As for Ali, he paints their dreams and his own on the tunnel’s grey walls. When it is ready, Abu Dahab, Karam and Ali disguise themselves to blend in among the Israelis and emerge into a masquerade street parade. Among the cross-dressed crowd and clown-like kids, Abu Dahab is now a Hasidic Jew, Karam a Native American - and Ali, he returns to the refugee camp; it is not his time. In Tel Aviv, Karam heads to the airport. Transformed by the experience of existing in a tunnel, she glances at the masquerade, leaving it behind, a world where Abu Dahab blends in among the crowd that is oblivious to his identity.

Director’statement

In a situation of war, the line between fiction and reality is blare. Therefore many elements in Musical Chairs are borrowed from reality. The world of underground tunnels and their diggers is rich with details: an air compressor is a must to ensure that you can breathe well; tunnel diggers map out their routes well, using a periscope and a compass to ensure they are digging in the right direction. Tunnels are the lifelines of Gaza city, which has been under siege for a long time. Many essential goods, like food and medicine, would not be available, if it wasn’t for the tunnels. Yet, Musical Chairs is a film about dreams more than reality. Karam dreams of having a normal life with no war or occupation; Ali, dreams of the world he paints, while Abu-Dahab dreams of the “goods” he steals. In order to be able to escape from their reality, our film characters pretend to be “the other”, “the enemy”. The film narrative soon reveals that our protagonists are obsessed by “the other”; it is as if the characters can no longer define themselves, except by relating to “the other”. The visual world is confined: narrow alleys in a refugee camp, an underground tunnel, and a dark, dim environment juxtaposed with a world of fantasies and flashbacks. Although the flashbacks are real life past events, they become like a fantasy the moment they are remembered. After all, when we remember events, we imagine them; our memory enriches them, in order to make them bearable. The story of Musical Chairs is an attempt to deal with a surreal reality, which the audience is asked to question. The film examines the dynamics of engaging in a struggle; our protagonists dig in order to be transformed; they dig to make sense of their world, as they become “the other”, which is simply fulfilling a game of musical chairs.

TFL PROGRAMME:

FeatureLab 2009

Discover more details here:

PDF

TFL Catalogue 2009

TFL AWARDS:

TFL Production Award (€ 50,000)

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