Reelshow Interview with June 2012 Film Competition Winner Dima Jammal

Hi Dima, congratulations on winning the Reelshow Online Student Film Competition in June 2012. Can you tell me a little bit about your background. What got you into filmmaking, and who do you draw your inspiration from?

Thanks so much for the prize and the opportunity of letting my film participate in the competition. On the other hand my inspiration was made from my sister and from the outer society seeing girls suffering in relationships and not knowing how to deal with it and struggling with the daily external factors buzzing their lives

Where did you get the idea for your film? Why did you want to make Behind A Veil, is it a subject that you feel very strongly about?

The idea of the film was all the same but the girl was unveiled. Before a week of the shooting I had a conversation with a close friend and he helped me fix some little details and we got into this conversation of booming the movie in letting the girl to be coming from a religious family

Tell me about the casting process, did you use just professional artists or friends as well?

All the cast are not professional I chose them randomly. The dad is my father and the mother is my relative and others are friends.

What did you shoot the film on, and with which particular equipment?

I shot on a 7d Mount Camera.

How long was your shoot?

It was for 2 full days

Where was it shot, and were there any issues with locations? Did you use college or University facilities?

The shooting took place in several locations the house, the hotel, the restaurant, mall, the shop , the Nails bar and sea side. No I had no problem in locations because they were fixed before the shooting days and everything was ready for us on the shooting day.

What did you edit the film on?

Final Cut

Is there an active film industry in Lebanon and are there many opportunities for young women, like yourself, to find work?

Not really, its hard to seek this field in Lebanon because it is expensive to produce a film and we don’t have production companies giving opportunities to new upcoming directors to show what they have.

What’s your ambition and which aspect of the industry do you aspire to be involved in?

My ambition is to work on becoming a producer/director in this field and I concentrate of getting the full experience from the TV industry because it’s the only industry that has opportunities in our country and opens doors for exposure.

You graduate from The Lebanese American University this year. Can you tell us a bit about your years at university- what course/degree are you taking and do you think it is essential for your career path?

I took courses related to all radio tv and film and a bit of theater I enjoyed the TV and the film the most but due to the production I concentrated more on the tv industry where it had different doors in it and a lot of opportunities.

Who is your favorite filmmaker?and why

Steven Spielberg, because he is an icon in the film industry and had a significant, permanent and influential contribution to the development of film and the film industry and has a compelling vision and groundbreaking style that has helped to define cinema as we know it today. In addition he is perhaps Hollywood’s best known director. Tintin and Catch me if you can are movies I enjoyed by him.

Finally, what’s the last film that you saw and the best film that you have seen in the last twelve months?

Where do we go now? Directed by Nadine Labaki it was really the last movie I watched due to university projects and work.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us- we wish you well with your film career..!

 Behind a Veil  Winner Reelshow Online Student Film Competition June 2012.