MUMBAI: Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, best known for his Oscar-nominated movie “Paradise Now” and “Omar”, says his pursuit will always be to resist oppression as a storyteller.
The director remembers watching “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” as a 14-year-old Palestinian at a time when violence was one of the obvious options to fight opression.
The movie, he says, gave him the perspective that there was another way.
“What I realised was, when you fight violence with violence, violence wins. When I was young, I thought if I don’t fight, violence will win. If I fight violence with violence, in the end violence will win too! This was a philosophical-existential question.
“I thought it was best to resist through art. I am doing something that won’t let violence win, at least for me. Violence could spread, more and more but it won’t win for me. I will win it through the awareness I am spreading (with my art),” the filmmaker said in an interview.
Hany, who participated in a special masterclass at the ongoing JIO MAMI 21st Mumbai Festival with Star with Nandita Das, believes it’s crucial for filmmakers to narrate stories of their region with utmost truth for the future. (AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel