Nutley Filmmaker Examines American Dream, As Seen By A Syrian Refugee

Nutley, NJ - What is the true nature of the American Dream?

That vexing and oft-controversial question is the impetus behind Nutley native Christopher Jason Bell’s new movie, “The Winds That Scatter.”

In his movie, named one of the “best films of the year” by Film Pulse, Bell tells the story of Ahmad, a refugee from Syria chasing a dream of starting his own taxi service.

According to the film’s website:

“When [Ahmad] loses his menial employment at a gas station, he attempts to navigate through the current American economy with optimism. An impression of hopelessness slowly begins to take a toll on his relationships, faith, and sense of self, with his dream slipping quickly from his grasp.”

Patch recently had the opportunity to ask Bell five questions about “The Winds That Scatter” and his filmmaking roots.

We understand that you grew up in Nutley. Can you tell us more about your Essex County roots and how they influenced you as a filmmaker?

Bell: I was in Nutley until I graduated high school, then made the “big move” to Long Island for film school. Summers were still spent in my hometown, and upon graduation I was jobless and plagued with behemoth student loans... so therefore, more Nutley. Because of this situation, I had a lot of time to think and a lot to think about. It’s a small suburban town -- with all the good and bad that entails -- but I think it had a lot of weird, overlooked spots that were evocative to me.

Tell us what aspects of life in modern, post-9/11 America influenced this film... Is art imitating life in this case?

Bell: Just being from the Arab world in a post-9/11 America isn’t a pretty picture. There doesn’t have to be overt discrimination in order to feel displaced, distrusted, etc. So I wanted to show the main character in various situations that are subtly touching upon peoples’ perceptions of him -- and doing this not only with characters in the film, but also with audience members’ perceptions of him.

What does this film say about the American Dream?

Bell: I wanted to be realistic about it. I think there are a lot of things -- systemic things, among others -- that work against the classic “American Dream” scenario of working hard and therefore achieving great success. For someone who is a person of color, who is of Arabic origin, who is Muslim -- society is working against you big time. Sure, there are examples of those who are able to “come out on top,” but I think the deck is stacked against most people, and that’s something that shouldn’t be the case at all. “The American Dream” and all it entails is, consumerism aside, just basic human rights that everyone should receive.

If you could only show us two minutes of the film, what scene would you show and why?

Bell: It’s a tough call, but I would probably show a scene that takes place early in the movie, where the characters take part in a demonstration/protest in front of the UN for their home country, Syria. This was a live demonstration that my cinematographer and I documented, and there was just so much humanity... you could really feel it. There’s passion, there’s unity, there’s humor, there’s spirituality. I think it’s a great representation of the various ideas we’re exploring in the movie.

The movie is set in New Jersey...Tell us some your favorite places to film in the Garden State and why you like them so much.

Bell: Locations are a mix of places I grew up going to (there were a lot more that ended up on the cutting room floor, unfortunately) and places I discovered via Weird NJ coverage. For the former, of course it’s my attachment to these areas... a kind of nostalgia. But I would be critical about it -- like, am I just being cute here or is there some kind of unique energy that I can harness? And yeah, some of those places just felt right.

The latter was part nostalgia, too, since I grew up reading Weird NJ. But again, I was looking for these expressive locations since I was making a mediative, atmospheric film... the environments had to be strong and absorbing. So why not visit some of these Weird NJ places? Some of them ended up fitting shockingly well. It also helps that these “weird” places are, by design, locations with strange energies that people devoted an entire magazine to.

Watch a trailer for the film below.

Sign up for Patch email newsletters here.

Video and photos courtesy of Christopher Jason Bell