Palestinian Filmmaker Maha Haj on Politics and Male Vulnerability in ‘Mediterranean Fever’
variety.comCaitlin Quinlan Returning to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard with her second feature film, Palestinian director Maha Haj tackles the dynamics of male friendship and the strain of living under occupation in “Mediterranean Fever.” The subtly tender film follows family man Waleed, whose chronic depression hinders his dreams of a writing career and leads him into the path of neighbor and petty criminal Jalal, where tragedy awaits. “Mediterranean Fever” is a co-production between Palestine, Germany, France, Cyprus and Qatar, with sales handled by Luxbox.“The idea came to me five years ago,” says Haj, “but I can’t really tell you how or what exactly inspired me.
It is partly about the frustration that we Palestinians live with daily, whether we’re in Gaza, the West Bank, inside the state of Israel or exiled.
It’s the sense of being imprisoned and not knowing when you’re going to be free, if you’re going to be free.” Waleed is outspoken in the film, encouraging his children to speak Arabic and arguing with Jalal over their Palestinian identity.
In making the film, politics were crucial off-screen as well as on. “I decided not to take money from the Israeli Film Fund although I have every right to,” Haj says, changing her approach from her first feature, which was funded by the organization. “I wanted to make a film without Israeli money because I wanted to present it to the world as Palestinian.” Funding a second feature is often a challenging prospect and this added further complications. “We had to be very patient in order to find money elsewhere, so it took quite a few years.
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