TAHARA is my directorial debut as a writer/director/producer and fulfilled my graduate requirements at the University of Southern California. TAHARA was a recipient of a Caucus Foundation Student Grant Award in 2002. TAHARA has also won the following awards to date during the script writing and pre-production phases: The American Association of University Women community action grant for projects promoting equity and education for women and girls worldwide; The Entertainment Industry Foundation Grant for projects that promote health education and awareness for women and girls; The Paul Robeson Pre-Production Grant for films which promote aggressive social change through media activism; and The Roy W. Dean Film Grant for film projects which are unique and benefit society. TAHARA will now make it's way through the festival circuit and will hopefully win numerous prizes and awards.

When an audience watches a film, especially a film like TAHARA, they never know the back-story of the making of the film. As industry professionals we can appreciate how these extremely difficult projects start from one person's vision then evolve into a final film despite the difficulties the production team may have encountered. Ultimately, the film must speak to our audience no matter what trials and tribulations the production team went through. I knew from the beginning that TAHARAwould be an extremely difficult project because of the controversial nature of the subject matter. However, because of supportive foundations such as the Caucus Foundation I was encouraged to continue my work despite all the obstacles I encountered along the way.

The present day portion of the film takes place in Los Angeles and was shot entirely in Los Angeles. During casting I could not find any Egyptian actors who were suitable for the roles. There are few Middle Eastern actors in the community.  I was not sure how I would cast the main role of Amina. I cast the film on several occasions with actors of different Middle Eastern ethnicities but they were not "Egyptians". I was not comfortable shooting as I was not getting the authenticity I required for the film's success. It is only by chance that Caroleen Khalil was visiting Los Angeles on a Full Bright acting scholarship. She is quite famous in her own country of origin, Egypt, and has won many awards for her work. However, she had never been involved in a US based project. Through word of mouth I learned she was in town and met with her for coffee. I cast her immediately. At this point, I had to re-cast the entire film around my leading actress. She was authentic and I now had to find the real deal, several Egyptians to match up with her. Where would I find them all? By chance again, I met Yousria, the older woman who plays the role of the grandmother who was also visiting from Egypt to baby-sit her granddaughter. Yousria never stood in front of a camera in her life. I auditioned her by doing a few improvisations only to discover that she was a natural and she was cast.

One day, after rehearsal Yousria abruptly broke down into tears and confessed to the group how she almost bleed to death when she was five because of her own circumcision. She told her own daughter and granddaughter that this is why they are not circumcised. This is the first time ever she spoke to her daughter about this. She too, had a strong personal investment to see this tradition stop. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe I could gather together so many supportive and wonderful people who have personalized the issue so deeply—this is why TAHARA resonates with truth.

I was patient and never once compromised my vision.  In the end the Egyptians came to me in Los Angeles. I also had the support of many Hollywood organizations and mentors, which gave me the encouragement I needed during the dark times.

The flashback sequences of the film were much more problematic. For the flashback sequences of the film I intended to collaborate with Egyptian NGO's to produce the film on location in Egypt. However, I had to get official permissions from the Egyptian censorship board before anyone would assist me. In 1991 CNN shot a real circumcision operation but they did not have legal permission. This three-minute clip played internationally and forced the Egyptian government to open dialogue on the issue. However, several Egyptians who were involved in shooting this clip went to jail. This controversial clip did initiate a debate. A few years latter female circumcision became illegal because of international pressure from many international organizations.

This is what I was up against. No one would help me with my film without the official Egyptian censorship board approving my story. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. In Egypt you cannot shoot anything without official government permissions, every script must be approved and stamped by the censor and if you do not get your approvals and you shoot you can get into big trouble as the CNN people did years before. This did not stop me. I met a wonderful woman who was the head of the censorship bureau and she promised to give me my permissions if I made the script changes she required. She said there were some things missing and she wanted me to research by talking to these women in the villages. She encouraged me to travel from Lower to Upper Egypt where I interviewed hundreds of women on their beliefs regarding circumcision. I read my script to them with the help of a translator, as many of these women cannot read or write. I got their feedback.  All these women said the script was completely authentic and they loved it. They heard the story and decided not to circumcise their own daughters.

I had achieved one of my objectives, to touch the women who come from practicing cultures. Now, I knew my story resonated with them. I gave my script to the head of censorship and she too loved it and promised me she would have my approvals ready when I returned to Egypt.

I needed a rest so I returned to Los Angeles to edit my Los Angeles footage and pre-conceive the flashback sequences so I didn't have to spend the rest of my life savings. At this time I won the Caucus Foundation Award and received the much-needed encouragement I needed from the industry after a trying few months.

I returned to Egypt ready to shoot only to find that this woman had past away in my absence. The person who took charge of the censorship bureau was conservative and believed that the film would attract an international mass audience so he did not support the project. Other Egyptian filmmakers were approved to discuss the subject previously because he did not believe those films would be seen internationally.  For this reason alone, he stopped all my previous efforts and did not support my project at all. Egypt is a very difficult place for film production and many Hollywood directors opt to shoot in other locations such as Morocco or Tunisia instead of dealing with Egypt's censorship rules and bureaucracy. I had to solve this problem. How would I finish my film?

I met a Producer who owns a studio in Egypt called Studio Masr. He would use his influence to get me my permissions. At this point, the issue became time and money as I had already invested all my money and spent many years of my life on this film. It was time to move on but how could I solve this problem. The Producer at Studio Masr gave me access to all his facilities and I started to re-edit the film. My first film at USC was also about circumcision and I happened to save all the outtakes. I received permission from USC to use this old footage to complete the film. I edited the film at the Studio and found that the black and white footage would solve my story problems and I would not risk any loss of emotional involvement. I decided to finish the film this way.

My next film will be an independent film shot in Cairo, Egypt. I am thrilled as it will be the first of it's kind. My initial interest in shooting in Egypt was because I had always dreamed of making films there. I have achieved both my dreams as a result of TAHARA. I feel that I've made a film regarding female circumcision which will appeal to a mass audience in order to broaden the base of knowledge regarding the issue but it also speaks to the women themselves who come from practicing cultures. I am excited to get TAHARA into the festivals, as I am certain it will do quite well. Second, I will shoot my first feature entirely on location in Egypt. All in all, TAHARA has helped me achieve some of my filmmaking objectives.

Contact us today for more information on TAHARA, a film by
Sara Rashad.
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