Amid the Israel-Hamas war, Ramy Youssef and Hiam Abbass reflect on a landmarkRamyepisode.
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When theRamyepisode Egyptian Cigarettes debuted on Hulu on September 30, 2022, it was unlike anythingon American television.
How are you doing?
How have you been doing since October 7?Ramy Youssef:Its really sad.
And for a lot of us, its another chapter in this timeline of really sad things.
We were in Palestine whenShireen Abu Aklehwas murdered.
We went to her funeral.
Its why we made Egyptian Cigarettes.
Its why we focused it on kids.
I feel for all the people we worked with who are there.
We have crew whose families are directly in Gaza.
Trauma from my childhood comes back to me.The exile and being heredoesnt help the situation.
My daughter Lina Soualems documentaryBye Bye Tiberiastalks a little bit about the story of women in my family.
RY:Bye Bye Tiberiasis this really beautiful portrait of all of the women in Hiams family.
Seeing that existence was really powerful.
Its a dark moment.
I really want to see light.
A lot of those spaces already have illegal settlements all around them.
And the IDF is destroying anything that makes those places feel like home.
It had pieces of old ambulances that had been destroyed by the IDF.
They took them and made them into an art piece and then that art piece got demolished.
Were feeling this whole destruction of spirit.
I feel that just as an American.
So many of the people in the West Bank have never even left.
When Wadia came to shoot the episode, that was the first time hed been at the beach.
Its one of the small lights we give a shot to find.
But it feels like everything around that is crumbling right now.
And we need to rebuild again, really, from zero because theres no trust left between the two.
The war has to stop.
The bloodshed has to stop.
I think people will feel that too when they seeBye Bye Tiberias.
On a level, that feels like a contribution.
We cant even get on the same page of making a gun harder to get.
Were not even talking about getting rid of guns.
Im like,Wait, I thought we were all artistic partners that focused on people and humanity.
Theres also a much larger wave here of corporate interest versus the peoples interest.
Whats in the way is the reality that were in systems that are purely driven by money.
That tells you how all of us are viewed.
The crew for the episode was predominantly Palestinian, including director Annemarie Jacir.
Ive been in touch with a lot of people because all my family is there, basically.
Its very hard to disconnect.
In my own community where I grew up in New Jersey, there are a lot of Palestinians.
One person I know has basically lost generations of their family at this point, over 50 members gone.
One of the main points of Egyptian Cigarettes is that religion and nationalism are not the same thing.
Thats why its called sacred, you know?
Seeing religion being used to perpetrate anything violent is the worst of humanity.
I dont think there should be nation-states.
We are living in a society that puts humanity over capitalist interests.
Theyve never aged well.
Theres no country that doesnt have a laundry list of massacres.
Thats also very clear, even if I look only at the Arab Muslim world.
We havent figured it out.
We have not figured it out when its tied to nationalism.
And I did not want to respect that.
I really just want this to end.
We need to be creative again.
We need to be able to give our energies to better things to life and not to death.
When you look back on the episode, what are you most proud of?
What Im most proud of is the kids who are in it.
Not only could we be actors.
We did it, and we can do it.And theyre really good.
These guys are amazing on-camera their emotional intelligence, the way they take notes.
HA:I was very proud of everything I was given to do in that episode.
It was really incredible to see this group of people become tight artistically to make it.
Hiam was the best assistant director ever.
We were able to weave a lot of what we did within the context of our show.
Because Im not Palestinian, right?
The list of people we think about and pray for is too long.
Conversations feel really difficult now because something incredibly fresh and painful is happening.
Art heals, and it is incredibly hard to heal something that is still being wounded.
Whats been happening in Palestine has been actively wounding for a very long time.
Theres almost been a tolerance there so you could sneak some art in.
But in general, its been an incredibly hard thing to broach because the pain is so active.
But Im going to be optimistic and say its not going to stay that way.
HA:Right now, its emotional and its an open wound we need to heal.
Once the wound is healed, were the same people.
Well be a little bit wounded, but we will be wounded together.
We wont be wounded one against another.
Were hand in hand, always, and we will stay that way.
Its against bigger systems that are above my head that I cannot reach out for.
And I think were all capable of that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
