Raghdad Mukarker (she/her) is from Bethlehem, Palestine, but currently studying for her Master’s Degree in Interaction Design in Barcelona. She is a filmmaker, freelancer, and single mom to a beautiful child called Riyona. Her films are generally based around human rights issues, specifically women’s (human’s!) rights.
Would you please give a brief introduction of yourself to the magazine?
I am a 43-year-old woman, single mom to a beautiful child called Riyona; she’s 17 and a half years old. I am a filmmaker, freelancer, and currently, I am a filmmaker studying for my master’s degree in interaction design.
You’re a filmmaker, what would you say is your general vision for your work?
Originally, I studied filmmaking, especially documentaries, which can make a change in life. For me I always look for positive change in any community I live in or even the world in general. I see films as very good means of achieving that because many people are so interested in watching films, some are not very interested in reading, unfortunately, so they would love to watch movies and they serve as an alternative in getting a message across. I’m usually interested in Human Rights issues. In women’s rights issues and just justice in general. Any human rights cause, I generally run to that.
What inspires you?
That’s a tough question. Ever since I was a teenager, I was so fond of films. I used to memorise every single film I watched. Being born in 1979, I got to watch all the Arabic films in black and white, and I have explored so many eras. When I was watching black and white films, I saw so many good messages, but there were also many messages against women. It’s like washing their brains, it’s like programming women into doing things society expects them to do, and at first, I was influenced by that, but then I saw how bad this influence was, and I was like “OK, we should be aware of this dangerous weapon which is media” We should be aware of which messages you spread because anyone can be affected by that or influenced by that. Media is a very important means and can be a very dangerous weapon depending on the message you spread, because people get influenced by the messages they see or feel from those productions, even if it's a fiction film or documentary, even if it's an ad or fiction film or documentary. As a teenager I had very naive ideas about women’s role in life, and when I analysed those views about the roles women had in life and I thought they were totally influenced by film and media. They are a dangerous weapon because people believe them. And I thought to myself, I want to be that person that portrays a progressive message to humanity, a message of Justice. I want to be an influencer rather than a receiver.
The theme of our edition is Feminity, so my question is “What does femininity mean to you”?
If I answer this I’ll be biased. I think women are the power of the world, I think we are so very strong creatures. I think our creation, against what some might think, is the strongest. Because even when talking about the slightest things our bodies do, like the period, childbirth and breastfeeding, as well as being very active family members while maintaining the feminist side of ourselves. I think that is very unique.
How do you feel about binary terms like femininity and masculinity being the two main terms that people use?
I hate that they are used, because what defines us is the brain, rather than the other hormonal side that everyone is concentrating on. In my opinion, I don’t like to see women’s rights organisations use that term, because it should be human rights, there should be no distinction between me and women, and it’s not good to concentrate on them. Everyone has a different view of what is feminine and what is masculine. So I can’t really generalise because its a personal opinion.
Would you say that adopting the terms “Feminine rights” or “Women’s rights” can be counterproductive to actually achieving these rights?
I think so yes, because the moment people hear that, it serves as a repellent. It should be human rights whether it is children’s rights or women’s rights or male rights. Because in the world there are even males who are suppressed and they need someone to speak up for themselves. There shouldn’t be organisations concentrating on just specific rights because we are all humans, and they should carry that human title, a general title for everyone.
How do you think femininity has impacted your work specifically?
My personal life has been impacted by work, because I had a very tough experience in terms of rights, and my rights were basically taken from me. I am Palestinian, and in Palestine we only have religious marriages, so it’s either a Sharia, or a Christian marriage. So I struggled with that because I left my marriage and sought a divorce and couldn’t get that until 2020. I left the marriage and the house in 2007, and only got a full divorce, my full rights and my child’s rights in 2020. So imagine that it’s like 13 and a half years to 14 years, they wasted my age.
I left the marriage when I was 27 and now I’m 43 and I feel like all my age was wasted because I wanted my rights. And to me, that shouldn’t be happening. Feeling this frustration made me want to make a change through my films.
The first film I made about such an experience was my graduation film from the film school which was in 2008, and it got screened in many organisations, in many cinemas, even some students in other universities took it as a model for their graduation project. So my personal life influenced my work.
You talked about being from Palestine, and some of the difficulties you’ve faced personally; what challenges have you faced being a woman artist from Palestine?
I can’t even count them. The society in Palestine is very much conservative, and I come from a family who’s not that conservative; we support freedom of speech, opinion and all that. But in Palestine, you can’t have that. One of the difficulties is the language you use in your films because you cannot be that open; you have to study the language you use in your films, otherwise, the films will get rejected. So you won’t be able to deliver your message because you said the wrong word or you tackled this sensitive point. So it’s so much stress to use the exact terms that make you deliver your message without being attacked and without starting just to defend the film and defend yourself, and it becomes a different approach.
There are taboos; for instance, if you want to talk about religious laws, you can’t. It’s like criticising god himself, and then you would be provoking people to just attack you because you have to be very clever in delivering your messages.
Who or what. would you say, is your biggest inspiration?
I don’t think it’s a one or it’s a who, or it’s anyone who fights for justice, anyone who does not accept oppression, anyone who believes in equality between human beings, and it’s basically anyone. Anyone could be influencing me, sometimes even just children, watching children and seeing the freedom they have. The freedom of action, kids just walk in streets happily dancing and running, but when we grow up they teach us to care about what others would think. Animals inspire me, sometimes we are used to cussing others or cursing others and calling them names like animals, for me I respect animals because to them, they don’t do the bad things that humans do, it’s just their instincts that make them who they are. And sometimes you learn lessons about good qualities from animals.
Do you see yourself as someone else’s inspiration?
I was told I inspire people and I’m so happy about that, but I don’t do that intentionally. It’s just that people are very smart and sensitive in sensing your goals, and sensing your energy and sensing your views. So sometimes you’re just talking randomly and someone comes up to me and says you inspire me, and I’m so happy about that, I see myself as a source of inspiration and I wish I can continue to be that way, and I hope that I never influence someone’s views in a bad way, so my intentions are good and I hope to be that positive influence forever.
Do you have any words to share with the audience of this magazine?
I do have advice based on personal experience. My advice is fight for your rights even if everything around you tells you you’re not gonna succeed, because I keep saying :”If you fight, even if there is a 1% success rate in winning that fight, there is a percentage, it’s 1%. If you don’t fight or seek your justice it’s gonna be 0%. So between 0% and 1% I would always go for 1%.”
So, again, during my separation or divorce in Palestine, the full custody of the child is by default to the man, to the father. So even in a marriage, the father is the legal representative for that kid, and if a woman and a man get a divorce, it’s by default going to the male. What I wanted is to get my daughter’s custody, full custody. And everyone told me not to, the church is against you, the church’s rules are against you, the community is against you, even the country is against you. And I said, as I told you before, I have a 1% chance and I’m gonna go for that, if I don’t apply or fight for that, it’s 0% and I’d rather go for the 1% and eventually, I won full custody over my daughter. It was a 100% success rate, not a 1%.
Raghad Murkarker was interviewed by Mohammed Al'Awaadi, thanks to Mohammed for transcribing the interview into this article as well. To hear the full interview on audio, you can check it out on our Spotify podcast, and please leave any comments, praise, thoughts underneath our Instagram post featuring this interview!
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