UNITED KINGDOM: Freida Pinto returns to the big screen in Miral and graces the red carpet

Record ID: 220540

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Freida Pinto returns to the big screen in Miral and graces the red carpet
  • Date: 19th October 2010
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 18, 2010) (REUTERS) DIRECTOR JULIAN SCHNABEL SPEAKING TO MEDIA SCHNABEL HUGGING AL MASSRI (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, JULIAN SCHNABEL, SAYING "I didn't like the script and I said, 'Looks like there's a good book in here', and I asked her to send me the book, and when I read the book I thought, well it already looks like a script -- there's not very much to do. It's written like a script, and I think I should put everything else I was doing to the side and do this cause it was the most important thing I thought I could do." SCHNABEL SPEAKING TO MEDIA WITH JEBREAL IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, JULIAN SCHNABEL , SAYING "After reading her book I sent her a letter, and I wrote, I said, 'Your project of education is really the core message of this film'. And it's not about what kind of world we're gonna leave our kids, but what kind of kids are we going to bring into this world because they could screw it up, after (inaudible).I think it's just about learning respect and charity and, obviously, that doesn't say anything about the movie because the movie is something that's sort of beyond logic in a way. You just have to see it."
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVAD8OGO3939JMT0DURUVC7T2CAC
  • Story Text: 'Slumdog Millionaire' star Freida Pinto attends the BFI London Film Festival's gala screening for her new film 'Miral' in London's Leicester Square on Monday (October 18).
    Accompanying Pinto is co-star, French-Palestinian actress Yasmine Al Massri, Jewish-American director Julian Schnabel and author/screenwriter and Arab-Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal.
    'Miral' is based on Jebreal's book of the same name and her first-hand experiences of growing up in East Jerusalem.
    The film pans the period of the birth of the State of Israel in 1948 to the brief hope of the Oslo peace agreement in 1994.
    'Miral' follows the story of three generations of women, Hind (Hiam Abbass), Nadia (Al Massri) and Miral (Pinto), whose lives intertwine in the frank human search for justice, hope and reconciliation amid a world overshadowed by conflict, rage and war.
    The story begins in war-torn Jerusalem in 1948, where Hind Husseini discovers 55 orphan children on her way to work, and takes them home to give them food and shelter. Within six months, the 55 grow to almost 2,000, as Mama Hind sets up an orphanage and school called the Dar Al-Tifl Al-Arabi Institute. She believes education is the only route to peace.
    The story moves to 1978, where 7-year-old Miral arrives at the Institute, following her mother, Nadia's suicide. At the age of 17, and on the cusp of the Intifada resistance, Miral is awakened to the anger, frustration and struggle, falling prey to a political activist.
    Miral finds herself in a personal battle: fight like those around her, or follow Mama Hind's defiant belief.
    Pinto felt it was a story to be told and revealed how she prepared for the role and how gracious her hosts were on location.
    "I stayed in a Palestinian family for around eight days. I spent time learning the language, the kind of food they ate, then I went to Dar Al-Tifl, which is the orphanage where Rula grew up, and the students, the young girls there -- there were around twenty or twenty five of them -- and they were so welcome. They taught me something called the Dubuque, which is a Palestinian dance, like a folk dance kind of thing.", she said.
    Jebreal says a film like 'Miral' has never been made before, and that it was now dedicated to all the girls who live in the Middle East. She was also suprised and pleased at how the multi-racial crew work so well together, showing hope for the future and the region.
    "The last day of shooting they were crying, they decided to work together. That means they are ready for a solution."
    Al Massri said Rula was the key to her depicting Nadia so well, and did not make her nervous in her performance. Asked what message the film was trying to deliver, Al Massri said the young just want the chance of a normal existence.
    "I think the movie is simple. There's no lectures, there's no philosophy, there's no intellectualizing things. It's human. It's about kids, and we're here to talk about these kids," she said.
    Schnabel admits that he was not sold on the script at first, and asked to see the book for a better idea of the story behind it.
    "After reading her book I sent her a letter, and I wrote, I said, 'Your project of education is really the core message of this film'. And it's not about what kind of world we're gonna leave our kids, but what kind of kids are we going to bring into this world because they could screw it up," Schnabel said.
    'Miral' features cameos from British actress Vanessa Redgrave and U.S actor William Dafoe. The film also stars Ruba Blal, Alexander Siddig and Omar Metwally.
    'Miral' is Schnabel's fourth feature film, although he is best known as one of America's most acclaimed living painters.
    Miral is a red flower, and is also the name of Jebreal's daughter.
    'Miral' is set to be released in UK cinemas on Friday 3 December 2010 by Pathé Productions Ltd.
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