If the lines outside the screenings for Sand Storm were to be believed, it was one of the unmissable movies at the Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star. The first feature film by Israeli filmmaker Elite Zexer has gained quite a buzz at many a film festival. It won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year, and recently has been announced as Israel’s official recommendation for The Academy Awards.
At the Mumbai Film Festival, Sand Storm was part of the International Competition. For Zexer, the response to the film hasn’t sunk in yet. “It happened just a few weeks ago, I’m still waiting to hear what’s next. I’m very excited and it’s going to be intense,” she says.
The inspiration
The first thing that Zexer locked in while making the film was its last frame. In the movie , Zexer traces the life of a young Bedouin village girl who is conflicted between tradition and modern ideals. An educated young woman on the brink of empowerment, she has a choice: between what is chosen for her and what she wants.
The inspiration for the story came from the women Zexer met while growing up. The Tel Aviv-based filmmaker and her family regularly visited the semi-nomadic Bedouin villages, since Zexer’s mother was a photographer and often travelled to the region. “I have [encountered] over 50 stories such as this over the many years, [all of] which are the basis for the drama I wrote,” says the filmmaker, who is on a short trip to Mumbai; it is her first trip to India.
The title Sand Storm is a metaphor for an inner storm. Zexer explains how the Bedouins who live in the desert have natural sand storms. For many hours, you cannot see anything because the air is thick with sand. When the air clears up, it feels like nothing’s changed. But there is a thick layer of sand on the ground, which is going to rise again the next day. “Viewers are welcome to draw their own meanings from this,” says Zexer, adding that the film will be available on Netflix in a few months.
Keeping it authentic
Zexer wrote the script over four-and-a-half years, revising it every so often. She then gave it to some Bedouin people to read, to get their feedback on her portrayal of them. She and her director of photography often travelled to these villages, which are not recognised by Israel. “I had to make him understand how dark darkness can be. We went to the villages at night, and there was just one bulb, shining bright like a moon, for the whole village. He then understood that the night sequences in the film meant no light.”
Shooting with Bedouin women was out of question, since they weren’t supposed to be seen by anyone except close family members. But the cast and crew did manage to shoot on location. “We wanted to keep it as real as possible. We wouldn’t do something that would make the film artificial.” And for the set, Zexer explains, they had to bring in objects so that it looked authentic. “For costumes, we had to understand what tradition is and how those characters would function within the Bedouin traditions.”
Based on the feedback on social media, Zexer reckons they did get it right. “Some Bedouin women told me it is not 100 per cent true, it is 200 per cent true,” she says.
Complex realities
So, what’s the big takeaway from the film for the viewers? Zexer says that the film has been made with a lot of themes, such as father-daughter and mother-daughter relationships, tradition against modernity, sisterhood, and family. She insists that everyone takes away different things from the movie and it’s never the same. “I tried as hard as I could to show how complex the situation is. The viewer can judge whatever he thinks of it.”
Zexer, who was a bio-technology student, turned to filmmaking at the age of 22 because a life spent in a lab wasn’t for her. The film was supposed to premiere at the peace centre formed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres, who was someone Zexer looked up to all her life. “We chose to have the premiere in the peace centre, with Jewish and Bedouin leaders. But unfortunately, he (Peres) passed away and we cancelled the premiere.” Currently, the film is playing in Israeli theatres, including three close to where the Bedouins live, which are always running to a full house.
Universal themes
Earlier, during the intercation after the screening of the film, an audience member told Zexer that the story reminded him of home, a remote village in Rajasthan. And this reaction doesn’t surprise Zexer. “I was very happy to hear it. South Korea, Germany, USA, Israel, France… everywhere I go, I hear this. When I made the film, it was important to me that the viewer thinks that while this is happening so far away, it is so familiar and relatable to me,” she says.
And what’s next for the filmmaker? “I’m working on a few things, but it is rather slow. Sand Storm is taking over my life. I’m very busy travelling and promoting the film right now,” she says.
The author is a freelance writer
