For her feature film debut, Nora el Hourch delves into the lives of three teenage girls navigating the complexities of growing up in a world that is intrinsically connected to social media. Covering topics like cultural identity, sexual abuse and the challenges of feminist movements, Sisterhood is an impressive feat that found its place in the Platform section at the Toronto International Film Festival. The filmmaker spoke with Film Inquiry about her creative process during the festival.
Wilson Kwong of Film Inquiry: How has the experience of premiering your film in Toronto been so far?
Nora el Hourch: I still can’t believe that I’ve done my movie, so everything after that is like a dream for me. I’m really grateful to Toronto for giving me this chance, because it’s changed my life. I’m really just enjoying the moment and I’m so so grateful.
Can you talk about the process of making your first full feature film?
Nora el Hourch: It was hard because you have to write a story that you really want. But on the other hand, you have to write a story that gets funded by financial partners, so you don’t want to get lost between those two goals. It was really difficult and it took me a long time to write.
In terms of the writing process, what was the initial idea that sparked the story behind Sisterhood?
Nora el Hourch: First of all, I wanted to speak about how hard it is to have two different identities and cultures. It’s like you’re both and none of them at the same time. I also wanted to speak about sexual harassment and being a victim, which is something I talked about in my short films. Then came the question of how can I match these two topics? I found a way to do this because I have friends from different cultural backgrounds, and I spoke to them about their thoughts, and finally got the perfect idea to mix these two topics together.
What made you decide to focus on this particular age group when writing the characters for the film?
Nora el Hourch: It was really important for me to speak about the new generation because the MeToo movement was really an adult fight in a way. And it was really interesting to me to see how teenagers right now live with that movement. You see Greta Thunberg taking care of an adult problem with global warming, and if you spend time with teenagers, you can see how much they care about their world and their future. They want to rebuild their world and change it. So after I noticed this, I wanted to speak bout how they lived in a post-MeToo world and how they endured this. It was really much more interesting than just adults fighting their own fights.
And how was it working with all these young performers? My understanding is that many of them didn’t have any formal acting experience beforehand?
Nora el Hourch: Even though I thought it would be easy on paper, in reality, it was so tough because I didn’t realize that being 15 was so young. So we trained a lot, and I spent time with each of them because I really wanted to know who they are, how they felt and how I should be speaking with them. You really can’t speak to them in the same way that you speak with other people, so I really tried to understand them and have this connection in order to direct them. It was really hard work!
It’s also nice that you made a movie about teenagers, and actually collaborated and cast them into the film, which isn’t always the case with these types of stories.
Nora el Hourch: I really wanted them to be close to their characters, and as an example, I didn’t want someone who looked Arabic and teenaged, who wasn’t. So I wanted people who really were young, and who really [identified with] this religion or culture to make their character feel real.
I want to ask you about the title of the film, because I understand the original title in French is actually different from Sisterhood.
Nora el Hourch: So the French title is HLM Pussy, or Habitation à Loyer Modéré Pussy, which translates to subsidized housing in a poor neighborhood and pussy. I came up with this idea in my head after [Donald] Trump said ‘Grab ‘em by the pussy’, and there was a lot of feminist activist movements around that. I really wanted to create a sorority name using that, but because pussy is really rude in the English language, we decided to change the title to Sisterhood.
As a final question, I was hoping you could speak about the ending of the film, which is such a powerful way to end off the narrative. Was this always the ending you had in mind?
Nora el Hourch: To me, this was always a story about the new generation. It’s a movie for them and I really wanted to give them power. I always wanted to speak about being a victim who was going to get stronger by the end. So by the end, the character Zineb realizes what’s happening and that it’s not normal, and she says no. It’s really hard, but thanks to what she’s been through, she can say it. For the ending, I wanted the girls to just have the power to say no. And I really wanted to make a metaphor on the fact that there is no revolution without risk, and without victims.
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