The film Mé el Aïn (Who do I belong to), by Tunisian director Meryam Joobeur, burst into the Berlinale, the Berlin film festival, this Thursday with its complex portrait of trauma, love and identity in a family of Tunisia due to the departure of the two eldest sons to join the ranks of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
“I wanted to do something universal; he wanted to talk more about the roots of extremism than about that particular type of extremism; and how we build our identity; “Sometimes, when we cling too much to a label, if that label is questioned, our entire identity falls apart,” said Joobeur – who also has Canadian nationality – at a press conference in Berlin alongside part of the cast of actors.
This is his first feature film and is inspired by his 2018 short Brotherhood, which was nominated for the 2020 Oscars. Now, as part of the official competition, Mé el Aïn (Who do I belong to) is in the running for the Bear of Gold and the Silver Bears of the different categories, with their simultaneously realistic and dreamlike vision of a traumatized family microcosm. It is a co-production between Tunisia, France and Canada, with collaboration from Norway, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
In the film, Aicha (Salha Nasraoui) lives with her husband Brahim (Mohamed Hassine Grayaa) and their three children on a farm in northern Tunisia, an existence that is disrupted when the two eldest, Mehdi and Amine, leave to live. Syria to join the ranks of the jihadists of the Islamic State (IS). A few months later, Mehdi returns home with an enigmatic pregnant Syrian wife, who wears the niqab. Aicha, who has always had premonitory dreams, welcomes them and tries to protect them, while Brahim looks at her daughter-in-law with suspicion. Furthermore, Mehdi’s return triggers strange events in the town.
The director opened the press conference with a protest. Joobeur pointed to a photo in the gallery in which the brothers Malek and Chaker Mechergui appeared, who play Mehdi and Amine, respectively, and regretted that, due to a visa issue, they could not be present. “It is important for me to mention here the injustice of the existence of visas, because they really break hearts; “They should be here to talk about their experience and their work in the film,” said the filmmaker, moved, with tears appearing. Both, who are from a family of shepherds and whom she met while traveling through Tunisia, were also actors in the short film Brotherhood.
