Sheherazade 1980

Directed by David Lamelas

David Lamelas plays ‘the sheik’ in an interview with interviewer Barbara Rothschild (Hildegarde Duane) at his luxurious house in Beverley Hills, LA. The video humorously explores American perceptions of Arab culture through Lamelas’ portrayal of an archetypal wealthy Middle Eastern Sheik, questioned by an initially hostile (Jewish) interviewer, who eventually falls for his charm. The title Scheherazade refers not to his favourite wife, as Barbara Rothschild first believes, but to the camel who saved his life in the desert. The film ends with a romantic finale in the Sheik’s swimming pool.