00:00:00: Hi, movie breakers!

00:00:00: Welcome to Calvary Film Festival which just started yesterday.

00:00:06: We already have our first director here not from the main competition because his film was in competition at Sundance where I did NOT see it with too many films but now i saw and it's really a wonderful work.

00:00:20: Hot water?

00:00:21: I'm here with Ramzi Beshua, the Director & Screenwriter.

00:00:31: It's interesting for me to play this film in different cities all over the world and see how audiences respond.

00:00:39: Your story is a road movie with the mother and son.

00:00:42: It's inspired by experiences you had that also reflect on your own family history.

00:00:48: I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon.

00:00:50: I was born in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

00:00:53: My mother is from Indiana United States And my father is Syrian.

00:00:57: So this big multicultural mixed international background ended being in Beyrut.

00:01:03: This film...this is first feature as writer-director.

00:01:07: It largely kind of pulls from my experience becoming acquainted with the United States for the first time, much like the lead character in the film.

00:01:14: We have

00:01:15: two leads – a mother who is originally from Lebanon and her son has grown up in USA.

00:01:21: so it's this first-generation thing where there are gaps between parents or childs that have very different cultural backgrounds as well.

00:01:29: also a language background which is addressed to the film.

00:01:33: Is that something your own biography?

00:01:35: Yes came across.

00:01:37: that I think really encapsulates it well.

00:01:40: they call this sort of thing third culture.

00:01:42: kids grow up in a place where neither of their parents are from.

00:01:45: Bother grew called Safrita, and although his mother was Lebanese he never got the citizenship.

00:01:53: And my mother of course across the ocean grew up in a small town in southern Indiana called Bloomington.

00:01:59: I grew-up in Beirut this Mediterranean city The capital of Lebanon A place where neither of them is from.

00:02:05: i do associate with that experience being third culture kid.

00:02:08: your film premiered in Sundance and, In some ways it seems very characteristic of the kind of films shown in Sundances.

00:02:15: Did you find that U.S audience or especially The Sundance Audience reacted different than the audience in Calvary or in Munich?

00:02:22: You told me have been to Munich just before...

00:02:25: Yeah I think there even inside the United States audiences responded differently from city-to-city which was really great to see.

00:02:33: A certain joke might draw a big laugh.

00:02:37: It's a different line that yields a big resonant.

00:02:40: Laugh in San Francisco or Seattle.

00:02:43: So it's been interesting when the film played in Park City, In The Eccles Theatre.

00:02:47: It was a really crazy experience because its such big hall and no one had seen this movie before but for myself and our creative team making it There is long tradition of road movies that come out America.

00:03:01: That comes from all over the world.

00:03:03: Its funny cause I don't think i've seen nearly as many people have of them, I had such few references for this genre.

00:03:12: And in a kind-of very honest and coincidental way whatever themes or tropes that are part of this canon...I feel like they just came out honestly when i was writing it not in specific or as an intellectual reference to this body of work.

00:03:30: so yes there's many....as I look back now..many road films have gone through Sundance interestingly I think.

00:03:36: first film the film Hard Eight by Paul Thomas Anderson, his first film.

00:03:42: And that movie was part of The Sundance Labs and that became Paul Thomas Andersen's first film... ...the scenes of John C Riley in Philip Baker Hall driving through Nevada Basin I think were the earliest images.

00:03:54: two people in a car.

00:03:55: That interested me but i didn't know when I was fifteen sixteen watching this film.

00:04:00: it was a Sundance film.. ..and I did not know When I Was Fifteen or Sixteen.

00:04:32: There's also a specific anecdote that you just told at the Q&A Inspired to film

00:04:38: up.

00:04:38: It's such a long story, so I always try and keep it short.

00:04:42: i was A high school student in beirut in lebanon.

00:04:45: our tenth grade english teacher told us his Story from her personal life about driving Her adult son across the deserts of oregon.

00:04:53: And as they were driving this would have been In the nineties or the eighties They Were driving Across The Desert and they stopped at a payphone Where there used To Be These Public Telephones?

00:05:07: that they needed to reach, and he dialed the number.

00:05:09: He couldn't get through so he got back in the car.

00:05:11: They kept driving many hours away.

00:05:14: That's when she learned that he had actually ripped one of the pages out of the phone book To save the number So he could try calling it somewhere else later And she considered this a huge infraction Perhaps as lesson for her students.

00:05:25: She was telling us story which then drove all way back.

00:05:29: She made him drive with her many hours Through the desert in wrong direction back into the phone booth, when I first heard that story as a fifteen-sixteen year old sitting in English class.

00:05:42: It struck me it was great idea for road movie but of course is not the movies you just watched and thats not film.

00:05:49: your audience will see if they go to cinema or watch our movie But its a story about mother an her adult son The lessons they impart on one another and the things they both have to teach each other in their adulthood.

00:06:02: The

00:06:02: big theme of this film is also split parents who live on opposite ends after United States.

00:06:09: How did that resonate with your own life?

00:06:12: And how does it grow into a story?

00:06:14: The

00:06:14: fractured family dynamics for me were interesting, just as a writer It helped dramatize the plot motivation and a destination.

00:06:28: And it gave these characters rich backgrounds.

00:06:31: or you know why the things are, Why Things Are The Way They Are.

00:06:35: but both my parents have seen the film they saw actually at the premiere in Sundance not knowing what they were about to witness...they happened to be in Texas visiting my brother.

00:06:48: Well, the week we were premiering so it became an opportunity for them to fly two hours north To Park City Utah where Sundance is held.

00:06:56: It's funny.

00:06:57: I was kind of afraid my dad wouldn't enjoy the movie and but he really expressed that He loved it.

00:07:02: And after the movie My mom told me something funny.

00:07:05: She took me aside.

00:07:06: she said there are too many F words Which i think Is a really good.

00:07:11: That's a

00:07:12: mom thing to say.

00:07:13: The most quintessential criticism from mom, but I was interested in telling this story about a single mother who lives in place that is not where she's from.

00:07:25: Raising her kid in the world that is foreign to her and i drew on my own experiences alienation cultural shock moving to southern indiana as young adult simply infuse them into our lead character.

00:07:38: leahad .i say lead characters ,but this movie very much so.

00:07:41: two-hander it'a duo.

00:07:43: Her experience with sons were ones close to me, but the story of fractured family dynamics.

00:07:52: The casting process on this film was quite a gift.

00:07:56: I don't know if i'll get another chance at it This way again.

00:07:59: I first started writing this movie with no actors in mind.

00:08:02: In many ways, i wrote myself into a problem because i wrote A very specific character regarding the mother Leal.

00:08:09: I wrote a Very specific Character that...I think so few people could play.

00:08:13: it's um..i needed a person middle age in the fifties who speaks english arabic french but That their first language is not English.

00:08:21: that really restricted options as we shot this film in the United States working with The Screen Actors Guild.

00:08:27: So, the casting process was one that I got really lucky.

00:08:31: someone mentioned the name Lubna Azabel As i was still drafting versions of the script.

00:08:35: and thats when it clicked!

00:08:40: getting into cinema, sitting in that English class where my teacher told us the anecdote of watching voraciously movies.

00:08:46: I was running VHS and DVD tapes after class... Watching a lot things from all over the world!

00:08:51: And so had seen Lubna her work.

00:08:54: it's perfect when suggestion is made to me.

00:08:56: So i kind of adapted script for her.

00:08:59: I wrote with her mind hearing her voice hearing her laugh sent an email with this script attached which she responded very keen excited reply.

00:09:09: casting director.

00:09:10: whose name is Anne Golder, replied to me about the email and she said wow this a dream e-mail.

00:09:15: This response you're getting...this perfect!

00:09:18: You got your first

00:09:19: choice.".

00:09:19: And so that was real lucky gift.

00:09:21: when it comes to other lead Daniel.

00:09:24: Pure coincidence they share her names.

00:09:26: Daniel Zogadri the actor and Daniel the character.

00:09:29: I went us film in New York City at The Angelica going watch the film TAR and i saw preview for movie called Funny Pages released in remember pointing at the screen and I was like, ah that's Daniel.

00:09:43: The actual...that he could play his character.

00:09:45: I've written with Daniel.

00:09:47: it was a really again.

00:09:48: our casting director reached out to his representatives And then we had a very fortunate meeting as one of the producers an eye were scouting locations for the film.

00:09:56: We were passing through the city where Daniel lives in Kansas City Missouri In the middle of the country and there was this snowy ice cold snowy night enjoyed a meal, and then we got back in our car and kept driving on.

00:10:12: So it was really nice moment that we get to meet in person, share a meal before he even read the script.

00:10:16: The other character where were really lucky is this character of Sasha played by Dale Dickey.

00:10:23: Confessedly his role originally written for a man kind of inspired some people I met along the way traveling through United States many years ago.

00:10:32: We were having some issues with scheduling and timing, the character on page kind of.

00:10:36: in any case again to credit for producers someone suggested what if we do a gender swap?

00:10:41: And we worked our friend Dale Dickey who had all been working on a film prior.

00:10:45: I was an associate producer and worked at some original music compositions as composer For The Film A Love Song which came out in twenty-twenty two starring Dale Dickie As lead.

00:10:54: So Dale and i had a rapport fast friends on set and I got to be a part of this movie in post-production as the composer.

00:11:04: And so we immediately, it was an unanimous yes switching this role and giving it today.

00:11:09: all is like who Sasha must be?

00:11:11: I'll save The Last Anecdotes about one or other very important roles.

00:11:15: Wonderful Gabe Fazio does great job playing the father.

00:11:19: such a human honest and tender role that many people would think too afraid to embody of Van Golder, our casting director.

00:11:30: We got wonderful tapes back from people and gave did amazing readings of this role.

00:11:34: I remember could see like glimmer in his eyes.

00:11:37: they were very wet you know just with emotion behind his eyes.

00:11:40: he would speak even on my laptop or on my phone.

00:11:42: watching this self-recorded tape immediately i knew That the way he was delivering these lines is so deeply tender that this is Daniel's father.

00:11:51: There's a saying in the film, God doesn't count time spent on hot water against you.

00:11:56: what does it mean for you?

00:11:58: It's kind of as beautiful little mantra gesture at the idea of acknowledging our times by night.

00:12:05: The only thing certain is death.

00:12:07: You can sort of spone this as long you choose to, that if you submerge in hot water and your nervous system calms it's just a kind-of beautiful sentiment.

00:12:18: A handshake with the universe where you say maybe I'll be able squeeze out more stolen time.

00:12:25: Do already have any new project?

00:12:26: There

00:12:27: are lots of things swimming around my head but i am excited about an upcoming project.

00:12:33: still is in its infancy.

00:12:36: It's tricky because it's such a fresh idea, but I'm curious to work on this wonderful dark comedy about a wedding set between two Lebanese families in which huge accident happens.

00:12:48: This catastrophe occurs at the wedding and it has to move to the hospital.

00:12:52: And the rest of the movie is this sort-of beautiful love story About bombastic bunny kind of outrageous tale about two families and two people navigating their aftermath Of this arranged marriage tradition, family and the institution of love.

00:13:09: Just very quickly.

00:13:10: people can take one thing away from your new film Hot Water.

00:13:14: what would you hope it to be?

00:13:15: It does bring me joy when I see the film again with audiences And i'm reminded do slow down and to imbibe enjoy hot water and loved ones we have in our lives found otherwise.

00:13:29: And I also, it brings me joy when people after the film is over come up to me and say how they enjoyed the music.

00:13:53: I hope it transports

00:14:18: audiences.