Aki Kaurismäki’s new film The Other Side of Hope recounts the fate of a Syrian refugee named Khaled, played by Syrian actor Sherwan Haji, who ends up – not exactly by choice – in Finland, which is frigid, both meteorologically and interpersonally. Khaled’s sidekick is an Iraqi refugee named Mazdak, played by Iraqi-Finnish actor Simon Al-Bazoon. The film is a debut for both starring actors, who have come to Karlovy Vary to present the film.
How did you wind up in this film?
Sherwan: For me it was one of those crazy universal moments when things just happen, there is some metaphysical intervention. I received an email which said that there is a production company that seeks an actor from the Middle East who speaks English, Arabic, and Finnish would be a plus, and there is like a little thing that says “with a reasonable sense of humor.” I looked at my old passport, went to the mirror and I thought: “OK, it might be me.”
Simon: I had forgotten all the idea about doing theater or movies because I did that before. But I got a call and they said, “are you still doing acting?” And I was like, “Always, I never say no to acting.”
Did you know it was Aki Kaurismäki’s film?
Sherwan: I had no idea. I thought it was just an amateur film about the ongoing situation with refugees and I would be like making pizza behind all of the scenes as an extra or something like that. And then I went there, they gave me a script in Arabic, but it was Google-translated from left to right, I thought of it as a brain test or something.
Simon: We were sitting and doing the Arabic voice test and after that, they said this is Aki Kaurismäki’s movie and you have been chosen for that movie. “Congratulations!” Sherwan was really like: “Wow, it’s amazing, unbelievable.” And I was like, “Who’s Aki?”
You can read the whole interview in today's Festival Daily.
