'THR Presents' Q&A with 'The Exam' star Avan Jamal, director Shawkat Amin Korki and producer Roj Hajo, who talk about making Iraq's submission for the 2023 Oscars - presented by mîtosfilm
“My daughter, she told me about the idea of some students with cheating Bluetooth devices,” explains Korki. “And then I researched for months, went to schools and the Ministry of Education, and I found that there’s [large-scale] corruption in the education system there. … During the research I found these two girls, and I started to write the script with my co-writer, the story of the film through the eyes of these two female characters, these two sisters.
Due to the relatively small number of working female actors in the region, Korki cast his two leads, who didn’t have any prior acting work, from a pool of unknowns. “I never had any experience acting in any film or any other project before,” Jamal explains. “It was my first ever experience. But like anybody else, it was my dream, from childhood. I always wanted to become an actress. It was totally by luck — I was introduced through some friends, filmmakers here in the region.
In working with a first-time actor, Korki recommended Jamal stay in character between takes. “When he saw me first, I was totally another person, a completely different person from the character’s perspective,” explains Jamal. “The way I was dressing, the way the character was in the imagination of the director…so he totally tried to encourage me to stay in the character, by being as simple as possible.
Shooting in Iraqi Kurdistan meant working in a place without a very large established film industry, though Korki was able to employ several team members he’d worked with before. Hajo explains: “There is no casting agency where you can contact and look for professional actors.
For Korki, the story finds relatable themes in its specificity. “It’s a story which happened in Iraqi Kurdistan, but I think the topic is universal,” he muses. “Also, it’s a part of a picture of women’s issues and education issues. It’s also about the corruption not only in Iraqi Kurdistan but the Middle East. The story, for me, in this condition — who is right? Who is doing illegal things? The topic came to me in this morality situation.
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