»Identitti« in the cinema | Randa Chahoud: “There’s a big question mark inside me”

A white German woman pretends to be Indian. Is that possible? Photo: Razor Film_Alamode Film Is it a challenge to film a literary work like »Identitti«?

Yes, precisely because it was so celebrated in the community. I have already filmed science fiction stories by the author Stanisław Lem. Some felt it was blasphemous to dare to do so. You have to free yourself from that. It's about doing something independent that retains the spirit. The reason why I wanted to do “Identitti” was the author Mithu Sanyal, who I admire very much because her texts are gentle, humorous and radical at the same time. She was also involved and visited us on set.

The book and the film revolve around the topic of identity. What does the term mean to you?

The term is like a small open wound that stays with you permanently when you are swimming and searching because you have a mixed-race identity. Especially when it comes to a more privileged and a non-privileged culture. My father is Syrian and my mother is German. There is a big question mark in me too. In "Identitti" the main character Nivedita sometimes wishes to be darker and sometimes lighter. “Identitti” is also about looking critically at what happens when someone puts on the disguise of another culture, as Professor Saraswati does. A white German woman pretends to be Indian. It's different whether you dress up as French or adopt a non-privileged culture. Ultimately, the question is: How much colonialism is still in our system?

In the novel, these questions are played out on a political, moral and emotional level. Because Nivedita has a lot to thank her professor for. How do you implement such complex ideas in a film?

We tried to keep that spirit in the film. It is clear that what the professor did was not right. You can't simply take the pain that comes with a certain cultural root that has been entrenched over generations and say: "I like that, now I want to be like you." But the empowerment that Saraswati passed on is valid. This is the dilemma faced by the main character. That's the exciting thing: Saraswati made a big mistake and still did something positive. But a film in which people talk to each other on an intellectual level all the time would be too boring for me. The idea of ​​bringing in the dance choreographer Constanza Macras came quite early on.

How did you translate the text into dance?

We thought about what it might look like if 30 people sat in a seminar and listened: How does it feel when you were really looking forward to it - and then you get kicked out? We tried to translate feelings into physical, dance-like movements. This also reflects the special humor that Mithu Sanyal embodies in her novel. Constanza immediately said: I don’t want dancers, I want “normal people.” She said: We'll get involved, no matter how awkward it looks. The implementation was complex: the actors recorded their lines, music was composed, and then we practiced choreography on the day of filming. The actors had a button with their text in their ears so that they could say it in rhythm.

So were there technically complex processes, but also spontaneous and playful elements?

Playful is exactly the right word. With Mithu Sanyal I always feel a certain zest for life despite the difficult topics. The attack in Hanau, racism and the political situation also play a role in her novel. Friendships break down. There is no attempt to soften it. But there is still the energy not to simply give up. This should run through the film – as well as the novel.

Randa Chahoud is a German-Syrian filmmaker and graduate of the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). Her English-language feature film debut “The Accidental Rebel” premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019 and was subsequently awarded the Best Young Actress Award and the Youth Jury Prize at the Max Ophüls Prize 2020. Her works include the Stanisław Lem adaptation “Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot”, the Amazon Prime series “Deutschland 89”, for which she was nominated for the German Television Award in the “Best Director” category in 2021, and the historical drama series “Deutsches Haus”. Most recently, she directed the political thriller series “The Kollective,” which premiered in the USA in June 2025.

There is dance, surreal elements, extravagant deities, richly detailed rooms. How does “the look” of the film come about?

I try to look at each film together with my creative team: What is the right thing, what goes with it? The producer Roman Paul was a great sparring partner. I also really enjoy working with the cameraman Julian Hohndorf and the production designer Juliane Friedrich. We attach great importance to details. Julian is looking for a kind of “truth” in the pictures. He tries incredibly hard to make something look like a snapshot. The same applies to the production design. That was the case with the professor's apartment, but also with the street scenes. We did a lot of scouting to find these places.

Speaking of scouting: How did you find your leading actresses?

We had a great caster who not only searched the databases of acting agencies, but also did a lot of community castings. I think we had 400 submissions for the roles of Nivedita, Priti and Oluchi from people who had never been in front of the camera. Saba Lou Khan, who plays Nivedita's cousin Priti, is actually a musician and Zoe Magdalena, who plays Oluchi, is a screenwriter. We've got musician Sabrina Setlur as Goddess Kali - and Amanda Babaei Vieira, who plays Nivedita, is an experienced theater actress. Anyone who comes from the theater works differently than someone who makes music or writes scripts. This is an adventure. But the approach was not to play it safe. We looked: Who fits into this film as a person and artist? Everyone brought a lot with them and were deeply involved in the topic, intellectually and personally. I am very grateful for that. And I tried to give the actresses space. There are many improvised scenes in the film, such as the argument in Oluchi's apartment. I like the slightly awkwardness that emerged there and seems incredibly real to me. It was also very fortunate that editor Andrew Bird created something very organic from this material.

The cast of “Identitti” is – with a few exceptions – female and made up of people of color. Do you see this more often now?

This is still very rare. No matter how talented people of color are, they don't get nearly as many offers as white people. And when someone gets a leading role, the suggestion is sometimes made: Don't get cocky. A bit of gratitude is expected between the lines. It is particularly tricky when the details in the script, costume or make-up are not correct. Actors can sometimes make valuable suggestions because they know their character well from their personal background. But this is not always met with enthusiasm. Some actors have told me that they stopped contributing so as not to be seen as difficult. As long as you stay in your place as a PoC actor, everything is fine. But when you question competence, what often happens is not an open exchange, but rather something that I would positively describe as uncertainty. But there are also great people: The costume designer of “Identitti,” Frauke Firl, once said to me: I don’t want PoC actors to have to point out to us professionals that, for example, a certain item of clothing symbolizes oppression just because we haven’t done our homework. You have to suffer enough pain already.

I'm currently in post-production of an action series - also with an eighty percent PoC cast and a wonderful PoC story. I'm also writing a script for a feature film with the Syrian journalist Sulaiman Tadmory that's about a love story in a torture prison. We are in the financing phase and hope to shoot in Syria. It's not that easy in this country, but my heart is set on this project right now.

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