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August 19, 2014
Cherien Dabis on Directing Herself in "May in the Summer"
Cherien_Dabis_directing_MAY_IN_THE_SUMMER_photo_courtesy_of_Cohen_Media_Group copy
Cherien Dabis directs MAY IN THE SUMMER. Photo courtesy of Cohen Media Group

On the eve of her wedding, successful writer May (Cherien Dabis) travels to her home country of Jordan for the final preparations, but once there is confronted with the many unresolved problems of her family, as well as her own feelings of not-belonging in the place where she was born. May in the Summer paints a complex portrait of family life, as well as delving into life in the Middle East in a way few American films ever do. Directed by Dabis, May in the Summer acts as follow-up to her award-winning debut Amreeka and revisits some of the themes she explored in the 2009 film. May in the Summer also features Hiam Abbass as May's mother Nadine, Nadine Malouf & Alia Shawkat as her sisters Yasmine & Dalia and the always fantastic Bill Pullman as their father, Edward.

We sat down with Dabis to talk about her creative process, how it was to direct herself, casting the exceptional Shawkat in dramatic roles and her fascination with Arabic proverbs.

How did you decide you were going to play May yourself? Did you have any other actresses in mind?

I did not originally write the role for myself and I spent about a year looking for someone to play the part. Authenticity is very important to me and I was having a difficult who I felt would embody the spirit of the character and would share her cultural experiences and linguistic skills. About a year into the casting I had people encourage me to play the part myself, I thought they were absolutely crazy, because of course I was interested in acting but to put myself in my own movie and direct my acting debut sounded like a recipe for disaster. But it kept coming back, as if the universe was telling me to do it, to the point I felt convinced enough to put myself on tape. It was a trip! You have to get over your hang ups and listening to yourself, but I saw potential there. So I called myself back and I surprised myself, it was compelling enough that I started showing my tape along with some other actors to some people and it was surprising to me that even my financiers were supportive of the choice. The final straw was when I sent my audition to an objective third party who knew nothing about me or the movie, so this person watched my tape and wrote a compelling email about why he would cast me.

Have you found that because you directed, wrote and starred in the film, people tend to automatically think it’s autobiographical?

Yeah, in fact my first film was somewhat autobiographical, this one is not, so it’s interesting. I have to remind people that I’m not May, I’m a terrible tennis player and don’t jog, although I had to jog a lot to practice for the movie.

How did you cast the sisters? Alia you’d worked with before but this is Nadine Malouf’s first film, right?

Yes, this is her first film but she’s done a lot of theater in New York, she was in Disgraced, which I didn’t get to see but heard it was amazing. I found her at a casting call, she had this bubbly spirit, very joyful and fun-loving and full of this youth that was really great for the character. When she came to me she had a perfect American accent and only after I cast her and we were having dinner one night she broke into her Australian accent. It was hilarious.

In Alia Shawkat you’ve found the rare actress who is compelling to watch even when she’s not doing anything. She usually does comedic parts, yet you’ve cast her in serious roles. What did you see in her and how is it to work with her?

I was a huge fan of hers in Arrested Development, I loved that show. Like you said, she’s so compelling to watch and it’s the silent moments where you see that depth. I had a meeting with her before Amreeka and I saw how smart she is and she was underutilized in a way, I wanted to bring out that dramatic ability. It was great to have her in both my films and to see different shades of her.

Hiam_Abbas,_Nadine_Malouf_and_Alia_Shawkat_in_MAY_IN_THE_SUMMER_photo_courtesy_of_Cohen_Media_Group copy
Hiam Abbas Nadine Malouf and Alia Shawkat IN MAY IN THE SUMMER. Photo courtesy of Cohen Media Group

Your ensembles feel so lived in. Can you talk about the rehearsal process? Do you spend lots of time with the cast before shooting begins?

One of the most important things to me is that we spend as much time together as possible, this is even more important to me than actually rehearsing the material. I want my actors to feel comfortable. I like rehearsing for two weeks and talk to the actors to dive into the details of their characters, because every actor has a different process and approach. We also spend time together both in character and out of character, and here is where the family dynamics start to come in. It was tricky since I was also directing, I couldn’t spend as much time with my actors as I wanted to.

More so than Amreeka, May in the Summer feels like a slice of life. We feel that these characters’ lives continue after we leave the theater. Do you always write backstories for your characters?

In a way I think this happens when I’m writing, cause I want to make them as alive as possible on the page. Depending on who I’m working with acting-wise, this continues during the shooting process.

Can you talk about the title cards you use to separate each chapter? Where did those come from?

Those are actually Arabic proverbs and I’m obsessed with proverbs. Arab proverbs in particular are a part of everyday language, culture and speech, you hear them all the time and they’re amazing nuggets of wisdom. I wanted to use them in the film so they would serve as ways to deepen on May’s emotional journey and also in ways that would parallel her own writing. And also I wanted for people to go “oh, if only she were listening to that proverb!”, it’s the irony of life in the Middle East where there is so much wisdom in the language and so many people who are not following this wisdom.

Your characters also spend a lot of time eating and talking about food, why did you include these moments in your film?

Culture is a very important part of my work, I’m a Palestinian-American, I grew up very politicized, obviously I’m passionate about what happens in the Middle East. But I’ve made a very conscious choice in my work, that stems organically from who I am, but there’s a place for politics - and there are many people doing these kinds of films - but I’m more interested in engaging the emotional aspects of everyday life. I like to engage the cultural aspects of who I am and I think this paints a different picture of the Middle East, and one that we don’t get to see very often. I feel that the more specific I can be, the more I can conjure those senses and the more engaged people will be. I want people to feel like they traveled to a place they might not be able to go to in real life and feel like they’ve seen it, smelled it, heard it and that it somehow gave them a different idea of what this place really is.

In both your films you show a very matter-of-fact approach to how Middle Eastern people see themselves and others around them. In “May” we see the women with the burkinis, but you don’t linger and over explain, you just show (same with rockets). Similarly in Amreeka we see Muna (Nisreen Faour) wonder what Saddam Hussein has to do with her, in a way that’s innocent even. Is it easy for you as a screenwriter to avoid being preachy and trying to teach your audience lessons?

I think I’ve always been aware of not wanting to over-explain, instead wanting to very subtly layer the political into the folds of everyday life. To allow these moments to be the fabric of the film without adding commentary to them is very important. The background and context lend a lot to the story but they’re not the story. These moments should remind you about the place, pull you back into it...but also in a way the film could happen anywhere and it’s those moments that remind you you’re in the Middle East. This is how it feels like to be in Jordan for example, there are moments that pull you out of your normal life and remind you that there are problems greater than yours, like a moment a fighter jet flies over you and makes the ground shake which can be very terrifying.

In Amreeka you showed us a Palestinian woman moving to America, in May in the Summer we see a woman with a successful life in the US making her return to the homeland. Can you talk about the relation between both films? Should we think of “May” as a sort of sequel to Amreeka?

May in the Summer is in some ways the reverse of Amreeka, it completes the second half of a cultural experience. Amreeka is the classic story of migration, this one is about returning to home and finding yourself in discord at several levels. Both films go together as a diptych and complete my own experience. They embody my own experience, I’m seen as an Arab in the States and American in the Middle East.

You have male characters but your films are about women and they are usually much more interesting than the men. Do you mind people thinking of your works as “women's pictures”?

I grew up in a very strong female household, and it comes naturally for me to tell those stories. To paint portraits of women as real as possible and it’s important for me to defy the stereotype of the typical Arab movie. This is a feminine film and I think it’s relatable, it’s not a chick flick but it’s a film about women.

Would you say it’s a feminist film as well?

I’ve wondered about that myself and I’m not sure I’d classify it as a feminist film. Some characters are feminist, but I’m not sure what classifies something as a feminist film. If it’s all about being about strong women, then sure! It’s a movie that explores a lot of women’s issues, from sexuality to what it means for a woman to be divorced in the Middle East.

What filmmakers have inspired you to make works like these?

I love Almodóvar and he was someone I had in mind when I was making this movie. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Volver are some of my favorites...In general I love Wong Kar Wai, In the Mood for Love is one of my favorite movies. I’m also a big fan of the Neorrealists and also Mike Leigh and his approach to making films. Robert Altman and his ensembles and naturalism, I’ve been very inspired by Cassavetes and cinéma vérité, which is something I’ve tried to achieve in my films. For this I wanted some cinema vérité mixed in with some stylization, with the colors, costumes, textures…

The film ends on a very open note, as the world seems full of possibilities for all your characters. Will we see any of these characters in your future films?

I’m currently developing a television series in the vein of my first two features, so you will see characters that reminisce these but will be quite different at the same time.

May in the Summer opens in theaters on August 22.

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Written by: Jose Solis
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