Noor in the presence of Noor

Published November 18, 2014
A Scene from the film.—White Star
A Scene from the film.—White Star

KARACHI: He was there, patiently listening to the directors who made a fictional film on his life, on the first day of a film festival organised at the Alliance Francaise on Monday evening. He sounded reluctant to answer the questions put to him by the moderator of the conference, Bina Shah, prior to the screening of the film titled Noor. It was understandable. The film starring him hadn’t been shown yet.

The panel discussion that kicked off the event was quite interesting. Replying to a question, the director of Noor, Cagla Zencirci, said she was from Turkey while her partner Gaillaume Giovanetti, the co-director of the film, was French. Both had been coming to Pakistan for a decade and it’s their seventh visit to the country.

The moderator then put a set of questions to director Michel Spinosa, whose film ‘Son Epouse’ will be shown on the second and last day of the festival (Nov 18).

He said when he was young he wanted to become a psychoanalyst; but later on he decided to be a film-maker. He’s from south of France, and to be a film director he had to come to Paris, where there were circles and institutions related to the film world.

Mr Spinosa said his film was set in India. He wanted to come to Pakistan as well. Connecting his interest in the discipline of psychoanalysis with his profession, he said the subject always intrigued him. He had made a film about a girl suffering from psychosis, which was not only disturbing for herself but also for others. He said psychology of human beings inspired him as a film-maker.

Mr Giovanetti told the moderator that he and Ms Zencirci didn’t start out as film-makers, and at that point Ms Zencirci chimed in claiming they had first met in Ankara and whatever he would say she would agree to.

Mr Giovanetti said when the two hadn’t yet visited Pakistan people had painted a frightening picture of the country to them. Once they landed here they found out that reality was different. “We found that the country was cinematic,” he enthused talking about his experience of shooting his feature film in Pakistan. The two began as makers of short projects and documentaries, but Noor was their first feature film.

Ms Zencirci said Noor was their eighth film and it was difficult to categorise it; one could call it a fictional documentary. During the shooting she realised that fairies really existed, she exclaimed and mentioned that Noor was made on a small budget. They didn’t have to face a major problem while filming except that everywhere policemen would ask them if they had permission to shoot. Actually the policemen wanted to act in the project, she said.

When the moderator turned her attention to Noor, he could barely say that before he acted in the project he worked in a circus as a transgender and his life wasn’t a good one. He requested that questions be put to him after the showing of the film.

Ms Giovanetti said the film was about the idea of masculinity and its representation in Pakistan and Europe. He was looking for a real character, someone who lived at the margins of society, and was a potential actor to boot which he found that in the shape of Noor. He insisted the story of the film was fictitious.

Ms Zencirci said she was lucky to meet Noor. The concept of the film was not about the transgender community but about ‘breaking prejudices’.

After the panel discussion the film was screened.

The film pivots around Noor who belongs to the transgender segment of society. He wants to act and behave like a man, but finds it difficult in a society that doesn’t accept him as such. He does a couple of jobs, including at a trucks decoration company. He wants to grow a beard like a man and wants to marry a girl whose brother doesn’t like him. In a moving scene, Noor asks an old man whether his marriage was an arranged marriage or of his own choice. To which the man replies his was a love marriage which encourages Noor to follow his dream.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2014

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