Born in Kuwait and raised in Canada, Fawaz Al-Matrouk is a director, editor and writer with a career spanning two decades. He studied in Arab-Western relations at the University of Toronto, plus he holds an MFA in Cinematic Arts from the University of Southern California (where he was mentored by Ridley Scott). In total, he has directed seven short films, and worked in countless more. His creations have played in festivals worldwide. including Cannes, Dubai, and Clermont-Ferrand, often winning awards (writing, directing, and audience choice). He also directs commercials and writes science fiction novels. His latest film Anwar, a sci-fi story raising questions about immortality, premiered at the Sedona International Film Festival.

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Lida Bach – You wrote and directed Anwar. How did this story come into your life?

Fawaz Al-Matrouk – Anwar came to me as an image of a post-human madonna and child. I was reading about post-human futures, and wondering what it would be like if we could transfer our consciousness into a synthetic body. I grew up in a religious family, so the obvious question became heaven. What happens to our hope of heaven if we could live forever on earth? It came together as a story about two people who love each other, but have different ideas about the human soul.

LB – You opted for a genre movie. What is your relation to sci-fi, and are there any specific writers and filmmakers who influenced you?

FAM – I think science fiction is a powerful tool to examine our lives through imagination. Before I spoke a word of English, I knew an alien called E.T. [Steven Spielberg, 1982], that film helped me navigate my own childhood experience. I was inspired by Steven Spielberg early on, I watched Jurassic Park [1993] and read the novel by Michael Crichton. I also love Ridley Scott, both for his science fiction and historical epics. Gladiator [2000] is the reason I studied history for my undergraduate degree, I wanted to make a film like that. I came back to science fiction when I watched Arrival [Denis Villeneuve, 2016], written by Eric Heisserer based on a short story by Ted Chiang. I love the work of Ted Chiang. I’ve re-read ‘Story of Your Life’ and ‘The Merchant at the Alchemist’s Gate’ a few times, and they move me to tears every time.

LB – The topics of mortality and immortality are central to your film. What is your relationship to death, and how did your personal experience help to shape the story?

FAM – I’m not sure how to answer that. My relationship with death? I think of Epicurus, who said he’s not afraid of death, because where death is, he isn’t, and where he is, death isn’t. I’ve lost important people in my life. One of my earliest memories is the loss of my grandpa Zaid, and one of my formative moments was the loss of my mentor David Stein. He was only 34. My own relationship to death? I hope to live a long life. I would be tempted to choose everence in the world of Anwar.

LB – Parental roles are also at the core of the story. Please comment.

FAM – I’m fortunate to have loving and supportive parents, who modelled a lot of the qualities I write into my parental characters. In Anwar, Mona and Ali both love their son, but they have different beliefs about life and death, so they are in conflict about what to do in this future world. Mona chooses to live forever, Ali allows himself to die. Mona’s gift of love is to show Anwar memories of his dad, her own personal memories downloaded into the Inwardeye, so he can learn about that choice and make his own.

LB – To boot, faith and technology are key elements. Do they compete or do they complement each other?

FAM – In Anwar, technology has solved the problem of death. We can live forever and travel the stars. But that leaves the question of what happens after death, which is a question of faith. I suppose that faith and technology compete in that question. For Mona, the answer is clear: nothing happens when we die, so we should live forever. For Anwar: our souls live on, and if you choose to live forever, you’re just a robot copy of the person who died in the transfer.

LB – Do you believe in (almost) eternal life, and – more crucially – is that desirable?

FAM – Do I believe it possible? Not yet. I can imagine a future where we can transfer our minds into synthetic bodies. Is that desirable? It depends on our understanding of consciousness at that time. If we understand something fundamental about consciousness that makes us sure the eternal version of us is real, then yes, absolutely. I would love to see what the world looks like in 100, 200, 300 years, and to try to solve problems that are larger than one life time.

LB – Why did you opt for a child protagonist in the first part of the film?

FAM – Anwar starts as a child, because he knows nothing about this future world or the choice he has to make. We learn about it as he learns about it. This comes from the madonna and child image, which was the original inspiration for Anwar. It also gives us the Pietà at the end, when Anwar is an old man dying in the arms of his eternal mother.

LB – Your protagonist makes a very surprising decision based on religious grounds. Why did you decide that religion should play such a major role?

FAM – Religion plays a major role in the lives of most people around the world and throughout history. I think if we develop a technology that could make us live forever, that would put us in conflict with many religious views about the afterlife and eternal soul. I found that conflict interesting.

LB – You tackle a lot of topics – mortality, parental roles, religion, spirituality, temptation, etc – in one short film. Do you intend to turn it into a feature film?

FAM – Anwar is meant to be a self-contained short film, though the scope is large. The original subtitle was “a life in three scenes.” It feels complete, though I did write a feature version, and I have other stories set in that world. I could see it as a series that starts before Anwar is born and goes on to follow Mona after his death. I guess that raises the question: is eternal life possible for the story?

LB – Failing eternal life, what are your plans for the future?

FAM – Oh, I have more stories than I can make in a single lifetime. So hopefully someone figures out this eternal life business. Maybe we can make a film together on another planet? However long I have, I want to write and direct. I love to be on set and to work with other artists toward a common vision.

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Fawaz Al-Matrouk is pictured both at the top and in the middle of this interview, snapped by Julia Macri and Isabel Soloaga respectively.