For Vegas
Exiled writer Ahmed Naji pens a letter to the city which may or may not be his salvation.
Interview with Director/Producer Robin Greenspun
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
As a member of the Advisory Board of The Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, I met BMI/UNLV City of Asylum Fellow, Ahmed Naji. After hearing him read from his book, Rotten Evidence, Reading and Writing in Prison, I felt compelled to speak with him about doing a film about his life. What started as my notion of a film about his time in prison, quickly became evident that the project could be so much more than the telling of his past. Working with Ahmed and using the beginnings of his writing about his time in Las Vegas, the film took on a new direction, a new energy, and a new focus: Las Vegas as a waystation for a traveler in search of his voice. A lifelong resident of Las Vegas, the film became an unexpected chance to explore my city, my country, my culture, through the eyes of a man in exile searching for his and his family's future. Using the visual and cultural iconography of Las Vegas, at times a love letter, at times a cautionary tale, For Vegas, is a poem for and about a city and its culture as told through the eyes and heart of a traveler, a migrant, a seeker of truths.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The film explores the plight of writers who are imprisoned and then forced into exile for their art but gives a different perspective on the issue of immigration and the broader view of migrants than is often explored. The issue of how we classify writers not only based on their writing genre but on their perceived ethnicity and how those classifications can be manipulated is a topic for discussion. The film also explores Las Vegas in a different light than is normally seen in media and on screen. Is it an oasis? Or is it simply a waystation?
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
We are all immigrants. Whether my relatives arrived at Ellis Island in search of freedom from being persecuted in Eastern Europe or Ahmed arrived in exile decades later after being persecuted in Egypt for his narrative writing, the story of immigration is complicated. Whether it's religious persecution or cultural persecution, uprooting one's life and family and escaping with a sense of purpose is terrifying and exhilarating. Some of us are lucky enough to survive it, others are denied the opportunity to survive both physically and emotionally. How do we find our identity and move forward? I hope that the film is able to showcase in part the struggle for identity and the feeling of belonging that can often feel like a mirage.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
This is the first film I've done in which the narrative influenced the visual path as much as it does in this film. Starting out in a more typical documentary style format of past and present, the film evolved into a visual poem and grew far more creatively than I could have imagined.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We've received very positive feedback so far. Ahmed's writing is rather magical to me and the feedback seems to indicate that viewers agree.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Making the choice to use a female narrator for the "voice" of a male writer we knew would be questioned by some. It was a conscious choice, one that allows Ahmed as the writer to dispense of gender when a viewer/listener digests his prose. But it definitely has been a point of discussion in viewer feedback.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We're looking to connect with writing and humanities programs through universities and writers’ forums as the film has been very successful with the several university screenings and forums we have participated in. Both BMI/UNLV and the Humanities Institute / UT Austin have hosted the film and discussions with very positive feedback. We would love to do more! And, of course, we'd love to be included in more film festivals. But ultimately, educational distribution is the right avenue for the film.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Film festival directors and educational distributors
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We want this film to be a further exploration of the migrant journey, but beyond that is the issue of creative persecution. And the classification of writers based on their country of origin, their perceived ethnicity and their gender are all issues that come into play.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Good question! There are so many.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Ahmed Naji is writing a new dystopian novel as well as working with McSweeny's on the upcoming publication of the English translation of his non-fiction work, Rotten Evidence, Reading and Writing in Prison. He is also part of a team working on a narrative film based on his dystopian novels as well as his experiences in prison.
Robin Greenspun is working on a new medical-based documentary.
Interview: February 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
For Vegas
Exiled writer Ahmed Naji pens a letter to the city which may or may not be his salvation.
Length: 42:39
Director: Robin Greenspun
Producer: Robin Greenspun
Writer: Ahmed Naji
About the writer, director and producer:
ROBIN GREENSPUN has had a varied and diverse career in media including television and film for over 40 years. Greenspun was a partner in Stone Village Pictures and was an Executive Producer on the films Love In The Time of Cholera and Penelope. Through her company, Culture Dog Films, Greenspun has been producing and directing documentary films including Semicolon; The Adventures of Ostomy Girl, Are You Really My Friend?, and The Zen Speaker: Breaking The Silence. Her latest film is For Vegas, featuring a narrative written by exiled Egyptian writer, Ahmed Naji, a City of Asylum Fellow at UNLV. Greenspun was President of the CineVegas International Film Festival from 2002 until its hiatus in 2009.
AHMED NAJI is the author of three novels, Rogers (2007), Using Life (2014), And Tigers to my Room (2020), and another non-fiction book (Rotten Evidence: Reading and writing in prison) as well as numerous blogs and other articles. His work has been translated into many different languages including English, Italian, and Spanish. In 2016 Ahmed was sentenced to 2 years in prison after a reader complained that an excerpt published in a literary journal harmed public morality. His imprisonment marks the first time in modern Egypt that an author has been jailed for a work of literature. Writers and literary organizations around the world rallied to support Naji, and he was released in December 2016. His original conviction was overturned in May 2017. He is now a Fellow at Black Mountain Institute at UNLV and living in Las Vegas.
Key cast: Ahmed Naji, subject of film and writer
Looking for: distributors and film festival directors
Facebook: Culture Dog Films
Twitter: @culturedogfilms
Instagram: @culturedogfilms
Website: www.culturedogfilms.com
Funders: Beverly Rogers, Daniel Greenspun
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
DC Independent Film Festival - March 1 through 5