HANAA a film by Antoine Asseraf & René Habermacher starring Hanaa Ben Abdesslem styling Yoko Miyake hair Nicolas Eldin make up Tracey Gray Mann production by Clast postproduction by The Stimuleye text by Omar Khayyam sound by Gnawa Diffusion
A SHORT COVERSATION BETWEEN HANAA BEN ABDESSLEM & ANTOINE ASSERAF
Antoine Asseraf: Where are you from, and how were you discovered ?
Hanaa Ben Abdesslem: I was raised in a town on the sea coast of Tunisia named Nabeul.
I dreamed of becoming a model since I was very young.
In
2009, I participated in a reality TV show for models in Lebanon. There
I met Sophie GalaI, who would become my manager, and in 2010 she
presented me to IMG Paris, who in turn presented me to Carine Roitfeld,
at the time Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Paris.
Through her introduction to Ricardo Tisci , I was chosen as a Givenchy fashion show exclusive that same season.
AA: You're becoming an icon representing the "middle-eastern woman" in the fashion world and beyond,
but which people are icons to you ? Can you tell us a bit about your relationship with Farida Khelfa ?
My icons are the Tunisian women in the fashion industry, whom I admire and whose accomplishments I respect, such as
Liela
Menshari, Hermes window designer — she received the Golden Dido Award
for her contribution to Tunisian culture and influences in world,
and Afef Jenifen, who fought for Arab women’s freedom of choice and continues to defend their rights.
Farida is a great support and she always has good advice, such as "stay true to yourself."
AA: As your home country Tunisia, and the Middle-East, in general, is changing quickly these days,
how do you navigate your image as ambassador and model for that region ?
The challenges is to communicate that modeling is a career path and a serious profession.
It
is not a hobby and to succeed in modeling you need to take it very
seriously if you want the modeling industry to take you seriously.
AA:
Tunisia, along with Lebanon, is one of the most fashion-involved
countries in the arab world, do you have a theory about that ?
Not
really a theory but more of an observation. Many arab countries are
also fashion involved. Arab women in general love fashion and you have
designers from all parts of the M.E region such as Jordan, Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia, Qatar etc.
However,
the International press speaks mostly of Tunisian and Lebanese fashion
maybe because the culture in those countries are more open to the
media which plays a part in that exposure.
AA: What are your current projects for the remainder of 2012 ?
I
am constantly traveling and working on new shootings and editorials.
What I am currently working on now will probably be out at the beginning
of next year. So stay tuned!
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