This year, ALFILM – Arab Film Festival Berlin has to take place online as well. Nevertheless, the program it will present from April 21 to 30 is rich and comes up with some gems from the Arab region. In addition to a selection of feature-length films, the festival also offers a glimpse of several short films. One of the is the short animation “How My Grandmother Became a Chair” by Nicolas Fattouh. It is a co-production between Lebanon, Qatar and Germany. The ten-minute film was released in 2018 and already looks back on a remarkable festival career. Its success is explained, among other things, by the highly evocative story and the suspenseful staging.
How My Grandmother Became A Chair is screening at ALFILM
The grandmother, who is the protagonist of the film, sits at a large table in her apartment. Around her are her children and grandchildren, who talk to her incessantly. They belong to the family and that is why the grandmother cares for them and feeds them abundantly. On the other hand, the grandmother is suspicious of the housekeeper, who comes quietly and carefully with the food and cleans up. She sees her as a wild animal, a kind of predatory cat that could pounce on her at the crucial moment.
The grandchildren also treat the housekeeper badly. They push her back into a corner and confirm to the grandmother that she should not trust her. But it soon becomes clear that the grandchildren are not acting from honest motives. They alone want to profit from the grandmother.
In metaphors, the film tells of emotional dependencies, prejudices and loyalty. As the grandmother slowly turns into a wooden chair, the grandchildren return. In the meantime, they have become loud screeching birds and mercilessly hook the grandmother. They want to have everything the grandmother still owns. Only a storm can save the grandmother. Faithful and self-sacrificing, only the housekeeper, who has given up her cat form and appears as a normal woman, remains with the grandmother.
The director dedicated this film to his own grandmother and her housekeeper. With a quick editing, the story seems very dynamic. The drawings that form the base for Fattouh's 2D animation mix a colorful and almost childlike romantic aesthetic, on the one hand, with a crude plot, on the other hand. The contrast that emerges reaches the viewer on an emotional level and leaves a lasting impression.
