Edmonton documentary looks at ‘Things Arab Men Say’

An Edmonton-made documentary called Things Arab Men Say is shining a light on the Arab community through conversations that take place inside a barbershop.

Jamal’s Eden Barber Shop, run by Jamal Cherkaoui, who is originally from Lebanon, has been on Perron Street in St. Albert for 17 years.

“People like to come to the barbershop to talk about politics, sports, everything. People feel comfortable at the barbershop,” Cherkaoui said. The barber immigrated to Canada from Lebanon to build a better life for his family.

It is conversations like what happens inside Cherkaoui’s barbershop that inspired filmmaker Nisreen Baker to make the 52-minute documentary.

Baker, who used to sit and wait at barbershops for her husband, said she found the conversations thought provoking.

“The conversation was very honest, very straight-forward, very hard hitting and unapologetic,” she said.

So she recruited eight men, her husband included, to be a part of the documentary – one where issues such as religion, politics and identity are discussed as each participant gets a shave or cut by Cherkaoui.

Things Arab Men Say (Trailer) from NFB/marketing on Vimeo.

“It gave insight of how they came to Canada, their identity, how they identify themselves. I thought, ‘that’s a good way to present our community, the Arab community, to the larger Canadian community,’” she said.

The men come from various countries in the Middle East, such as Egypt, Iraq and Sudan.

“In the post-9/11 world, with the current stigma on the Arab community… I wanted to start a dialogue with the Canadian community. I wanted to show them the variety we have within the Arab community so we’re not painted with the same brush as people who do heinous acts,” Baker said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "In the post-9/11 world, with the current stigma on the Arab community… I wanted to start a dialogue with the Canadian community. I wanted to show them the variety we have within the Arab community so we're not painted with the same brush as people who do heinous acts," Baker said.

Cherkaoui is hopeful the documentary will break down stigma and discrimination.

“If anything in the news happens, any terrorism or anything, people look at us like we’re all the same,” he said.

“We are different. We’re not terrorists. We’re hard working people, very smart and very educated.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We are different. We're not terrorists. We're hard working people, very smart and very educated."

Fasal Asiff is a second-generation Canadian who is three-quarters Arabic. He said he is not often pegged as Arabic due to his complexion but he doesn’t hide behind that.

“Sometimes I hear discussions in different areas where people are talking about terrorism and I inject myself into it right away. I let people know who I am, what I am, I don’t have any problem hiding it,” he said.

“We are soccer parents. We are football parents. We are baseball parents. We do things everybody else does. We work hard at it. We want to raise our families. We want to education them.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We are soccer parents. We are football parents. We are baseball parents. We do things everybody else does. We work hard at it. We want to raise our families. We want to education them."

Baker is also hoping the documentary will be introspective and prompt discussion within the Arab community.

“There is something within our culture that lends itself to extremism and I’d like to start this conversation. I believe the solution will come within our own community. The fact we might have that shortcoming within our culture does not in any way, shape or form equal that we’re evil or bad people. We’re a community just like any other community,” she said.

Ghassan El Chazli, Baker’s husband, is Palestinian. He said he has not faced issues of racism or discrimination, but he wants others to understand that not all Arabs are the same.

“A lot of people assume the Arab community is a single monolithic Muslim community. The reality of it is it’s the opposite of that,” he said.

“The extent to which there is diversity within the community isn’t really that much known. You live in some countries in the Middle East, you would swear 90 per cent of the people are of the same religion but they’re not and people don’t realize that.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The extent to which there is diversity within the community isn't really that much known. You live in some countries in the Middle East, you would swear 90 per cent of the people are of the same religion but they're not and people don't realize that."

Despite their differences, however, he said there are often more commonalities than differences.

“People who are enemies abroad or back in the old countries can easily become friends simply because you can remove… the cause of conflict. If you strip away the political component, conflicts within the states themselves, at the human level, it’s incredibly surprising how those cultures or subcultures or different religions and ethnic background groups actually get along,” El Chazli said.

Things Arab Men Say, which is produced by the National Film Board of Canada, premieres at the Garneau Theatre on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 1:30 p.m. It will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the filmmaker and the documentary participants.