A storm is rolling as a Palestinian American grandmother unpacks her new apartment with her granddaughter. They bond over food, reading fortunes in coffee grounds and facing past traumas.
But in “Maqluba,” not everything is what it seems.
“You think that the granddaughter is there to help her unpack her belongings, but as the movie goes on, you realize, there's some things that she's looking for in the apartment that she's trying to conceal from her grandmother,” said the film’s director and writer Mike Elsherif.
The film’s Louisville debut is Nov. 17 at the Speed Cinema’s Sunday Showcase.
While that’s the plot on its face, Elsherif uses it as a vehicle to delve into deeper themes.
“The story within the film is really about two generations of women, how they deal with generational trauma and their coping mechanisms,” Elsherif said.
Dealing with intergenerational trauma and the different ways people confront their trauma felt close to him, as a Palestinian American whose parents were displaced from Palestine.
“I feel like a lot of Palestinians, the way that they deal with everything that's going on is being more connected to music and art, or some, for some, it's more being connected to religion,” Elsherif said.
He took a very personal approach when creating the film. Even casting his mom in the lead role.
Getting her onboard was pretty easy, according to Elsherif.
“She was like, ‘I will audition for you.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, okay. Are you sure you want to do this?’ She goes, ‘Yes, I need something that people can remember me by before I die,’” Elsherif said.
He couldn’t say no to that.
Elsherif wanted to create a film that showed Palestinians, and Arab Americans in general, in a light that he felt was missing when he was growing up.
“My biggest thing was making this film was really changing the narrative and making something that where you saw Arab American characters or Palestinian characters, and you connected to them emotionally, and they were funny, and it was nuanced and idiosyncratic,” Elsherif said.
Film attracted Elsherif when he was young, and as he grew in the medium he saw it as the perfect vehicle to share those stories.
“It's so emotional,” Elsherif said. “You can't just argue with a heart when you’re watching a movie.”
While Elsherif’s film is an important look into the part of the Palestinian American experience, he aims to create something anyone can feel connected to.
“I never want my films to feel didactic or like a film that has a specific, message that is trying to push on people, because ultimately, I love people, and I'm a humanist, and that's the kind of films that I want to write and direct,” Elsherif said.
“Maqluba” is the first in what Elsherif hopes to be a trilogy of films exploring Palestinian Americans, their identities and struggles.
