Berlinale Bloggers 2024  3 min Dina Naser: “I learned sign language to make ‘Sukoun’”

Hind is deaf - but that hasn’t stopped her from training hard at karate, to the point where she is expecting to be selected for an important tournament. However, the girl’s dream turns sour when she is harassed by her coach. 

Dina Naser’s new film “Sukoun” (Amplified) raises thorny questions about harassment of children, especially the disabled. I met her and her co-producer Batoul Ibrahim to discuss the film, which is featuring on the Generation Kplus programme of the Berlinale. We explored how they made the film, their artistic choices, and their experience at Berlin’s top film festival. 

Why did you choose this particular project? 

Dina: For several reasons, the main one being the subject, which is important and sensitive, especially in our Arab societies. Some films have dealt with sexual harassment, but I don’t remember any that have dealt with sexual harassment of children, so this shows the importance of the topic. There’s also very limited representation of deaf characters in Arab films. So all the elements were important to me: the theme, the character and the acting, all of which mean these untold stories need telling as soon as possible. 

The topic is of course sensitive in every detail. How did you deal with that sensitivity? 

Dina: I took my time to understand the world I was entering. I learned sign language and protocols for dealing with the deaf community. I met my heroine, Malak Nassar, who is 12 years old and one of the most talented and sensitive people I have ever met in my life, to the point that I sometimes forgot that she can’t hear, because she’s so clever and intensely focused. I also met Saif Al-Din Saleh, a sign language trainer, who helped me explain feelings and thoughts that the principles of language I had previously learned couldn’t convey.  All this is regarding the fact that Malak is deaf. As for the fact she’s a child, the first goal was to create a safe space between us and her, with clear communication so she could express her acceptance or rejection of anything, and any detail that made her feel uncomfortable, which we would then immediately amend. Malak was interested in the issue and it shocked her, because she had heard about harassment, but hadn’t been exposed to it personally. She’s smart, so she quickly understood that people with disabilities are more vulnerable to harassment, because they can’t talk about what they experience. This made her realise the importance of the film, and she did her best to make it as good as possible, to benefit her community. 

Batoul: We did a reading of the text, just us, her and the sign language coach, before her family or the deaf community were present. Malak had questions about the harassment scene of the film, which we answered. We wanted to see her raw feelings before they were affected by her close relationship with her family and her community. Then we invited her parents to meet Nadeem Al-Rimawi, who plays the role of the harassing coach, also to help him feel comfortable playing this difficult role.
 
How was your relationship with the deaf community, and was it limited to making the film? 

Dina: We were able to enter the world of the deaf community, and we also brought them into our world. Four members of the community worked with us as production trainees, and learned about the filmmaking process. The entire production team also went to their centre to explain the filmmaking process to everyone and tell them about our of our roles within it.  

I hope we have given them hope that they could work in the film industry, in contrast to mainstream culture which condemns everybody with a disability to be idle. We tried to help them tell their stories, and launched a digital platform called Masmou3 (“Audible”), for and by the deaf community, where they can create and share content about their lives with their peers, through sign language. 

We also held a training camp to bring together Malak, Nadeem and actress Suhad Khatib, who played the role of Hind’s mother. For about a month, they trained together and became close. We also trained the actors in karate, which they use in the film. The training camp benefited everyone, especially us as the direction and production team.  The sound design is one of the most important elements of the film. How did you choose the soundtrack? 

Dina: From the beginning we understood that we needed to integrate both images and sound. The main goal was to get into the world of Hind’s character and the way she perceives the world in sound and images, as well as understanding the moments when she’s connected to the world, and the moments when she separates from it and closes in on her inner world.  

We did medical tests with Malak to work out which frequencies she hears and which she doesn’t. This was a technical task to help us understand her perspective and use it to tell the story. Then came the turn of sound designer Ensieh Maleki, who understood what we were after right from the start. We would talk to her on calls that lasted two or three hours. She was the only sound designer who understood my goal and didn’t just propose technical and digital solutions like other designers. I felt that what they were proposing wasn’t real, but Ensieh succeeded in taking us, through sound, into Hind’s real world.  In all the years I’ve been attending the festival, Arab films have featured in every section except Generation. How do you feel about screening the film in Berlin? 

Dina: The Generation category is an amazing discovery, both because of the real audience of children, who express what they feel without any filters or preconceptions, or in the serious and bold topics that it presents to children. I thought Sukoun was a heavy film that they wouldn’t like, but I was surprised by their reaction and their questions, which showed a deep understanding of the film.  

The children loved Malak. When she went up to the stage and I told them she couldn’t hear their applause and would have to move their hands if they wanted to express their admiration for her, they spent the whole time doing that.  

Today, I understand the importance of the Generation programme perhaps more than any other section. It has shown me the importance of talking to our children about important topics related to their lives, about love, sex, bullying - even death - and that when they realise that you are talking to them seriously, they surprise you with their awareness, understanding and responses. 

Batoul: We should also pay tribute to those in charge of the programme, for their excellent choices, and for their respect for us and our choices. Even when we did an action supporting a ceasefire in Palestine, before showing the film, they were supportive. Nothing disturbed us, and we left the Berlinale having had a great experience. 

February 2024