“Sjoberg and Winslow approach the narrative with the same delicate caution that Cai shows his beloved falcon, shading it with muted colors and a contemplative score (by Samuel Stewart). Their script places as much importance on what characters aren’t saying as on what they are, leaning into wordless giggles, companionable silences or worried gazes into the distance. Even as the boys’ moves become bigger and bolder — at one point, they steal a car to meet a dangerous smuggler — the film is scrupulous about not sensationalizing them. “The Falconer” wants to keep the focus on the subtly shifting dynamic between the boys, not on the excitement (or peril) of their adventure.”
Inspired by true events, The Falconer is about two best friends, Tariq, the son of a poor beekeeper, and Cai, a privileged Westerner with a passion for endangered animals. They work together at a dilapidated zoo in Oman, blissfully separated from many of the troubles of the outside world. Their care-free friendship is challenged when Tariq promises to help his sister, Alia, escape from an abusive marriage. Cai’s worldview is pitted against Tariq’s daring plan to steal animals from the zoo and sell them on the black market to help empower Alia to leave her marriage. They are forced to wrestle with morally complex choices that reveal the vast distance between their worlds.
“The Falconer” is an adventure movie, but at its core, it’s a story about the friendship of two boys from very different worlds. Artistically and stylistically, we worked hard to create moments of humanity where the boys’ friendship comes alive in the midst of their larger-than-life adventure. We set these moments near the ocean, a “third place” that is neither a part of Tariq nor Cai’s world.
As filmmakers who have traveled a lot but who never lived in the Middle East, it was important to us to do everything in our power to make a film “from” the region, not “about” the region. This meant bringing the real- life Cai and Tariq to set, working with village women to plan the traditional wedding, and surrounding ourselves with incredible creatives in the region. What we learned from them informed both the story and the visual language of the film.
The true story of “The Falconer” is fantastical and larger than life. To translate it to the screen, we have lifted it out of its historical moment, during the Spring of 2011, obscured some of the particulars, without losing the adventure, and focused in on its most elemental, universal core: a story of brotherhood.
When we asked the real-life Cai if we could make a film about his life in Yemen, we asked if there was a “love story.” He laughed and said, “The real love story is between me and Tariq.”
We are making this movie because we relate to this story. In our lives and travels, we’ve often felt like Cai, the privileged Westerner. And throughout the world, we have experienced the friendship and kinship that he and Tariq share.
The facts of the story are so specific and peculiar that they add to the realism of a friendship and brotherhood that anyone, anywhere can relate to. And so the specific becomes universal. This story should not be surprising to a global audience, but hopefully it will be. Yemen and the corner of the world in which it resides, has often been painted with broad, cumbersome strokes of tired stereotypes and wildly unhelpful generalizations by Hollywood and the news.
This film is our love letter to this part of the world. And an ode to the universality of kinship, friendship, and love that goes beyond blood.
“The Falconer” is the first international film in history to be filmed entirely in Oman. Hopefully, it will inspire audiences to have a meaningful dialogue about privilege and friendship between people from very different cultures.
