We sat down for a one-on-one with director Myriam Ahmadi to discuss her series I Must Live. Already receiving plenty of critical accolade, the series addresses the struggle of those suffering from vitiligo, a skin condition in which pigment is lost from areas of the skin, causing white patches.

Miryam tells us why she thought this story needed to be told and shares a sneak peek into her upcoming project.

By Mariam Elhamy

How did you learn about Lujain Salah’s story and her battle against ignorance and prejudice while coping with vitiligo?

The story is about the thousands of people who are dealing with vitiligo, not just Lujain. I actually learned about Lujain after the script was written.

How were you able to portray the suffering of those thousands through the story of just one girl?

This process was very hard because we were afraid to make it seem like it’s one person’s story and struggle, especially after we’ve been into multiple households and researched a lot of cases on a very wide scope of people who have been dealing with the disease.

The number of cases has especially increased over the past 2 years because of the higher levels of stress. It wasn’t easy to take all these stories and put them into the one character that Jamila Awad portrays.

We sat with many people and learned all the details of the way they were bullied and the specific words that they heard as children. What came out is only but a glimpse of what their daily life is like.

Do you personally know anyone who has lived a similar experience? What can you tell us about vitiligo?

Yes, I personally know some cases. Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease, it could develop after you are born and it would increase with time by gradually spreading from the area it started. Other people might develop it at an older age as a result of stress and low immunity like in post-pregnancy.

Why did you choose vitiligo?

I chose vitiligo because it’s an important issue that no one has talked about before, neither in the Arab countries nor internationally. I did not relate it to women in particular I only chose it because I knew that it is a story that would affect and get sympathy from many people.

I believe that art is a powerful tool that you could use to easily educate and cultivate society in a very smooth and light way without lecturing. I really like real humanitarian topics that invoke emotion and that is what I focus on.

What advice would you give women on loving themselves despite unattainable industry beauty standards?

We have to accept ourselves and accept others as they are. Once we accept each other’s differences we’ll understand our own beauty. My advice is, accept and love yourself first so that others can love you too and ignore negative comments.

What advice would you give parents who feel helpless in the face of bullying their child is enduring?

There are two kinds of ways parents can deal with this situation. In the series we showed the father being supportive, empowering and encouraging his daughter to stand up for herself and be strong.

The mother on the other hand, lived in denial and could not believe or confront the disease, she wanted to protect her child from any emotional harm that the disease might cause her.

The message we wanted to portray here is that parents have to accept their children as they are no matter what condition they have.

Looking back over the past five years, has your work been aligned with your ultimate goals?

I surely drifted a bit; no one stays on one path throughout their whole career, but most of my projects resonated with my goals and were on the same track.

What drew you to I Must Live?

The topic. This topic is humane and untapped, either on a national level or a universal one. The sensitivity of this issue made me a bit frightened of the reaction of the mass audience, especially that we published it on TV before going online, and the audience of each platform is different from the other.

I was also afraid for the feelings of the patients of vitiligo, that some scenes might hurt them, but thankfully it didn’t.

Have you seen more opportunities opening up for female directors recently?

Yes, recently more topics have emerged that serve women. I’m seeing more and more female directors, directors of photography and set designers. This industry is expanding for women and I see a lot of potential for more growth, especially in the topics.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give young girls in general?

Just accept and be yourself and dream big and you’ll achieve it.

What can you tell us about a project you are currently working on?

I’m working on a very sensitive topic as well. It’s about a relationship between a married couple and it will be on Shahid, but we’re still working on the script.

Clothes: @villababoushka
Make-up: @aisha.helmy
Photography/Videography: Cairo West

Watch the interview on our channel

Actor on the rise Khaled Anwar: On Fame, Social Media and Taking risks

We had the wonderful opportunity to have a sit down with Jamila Awad on the shore of El Gouna and talk about her latest series Lazem Aesh (I Must Live). She looked back at her acting beginnings and shared with us how she has fun on set and her two cents for young actresses.

By: Mariam Elhamy

CW: What interested you in this role?

JA: What made me love this role is the message behind Lazem Aesh. It’s against bullying and society’s skewed perceptions of beauty.

How did you immerse yourself in this role?

I met with and observed a lot of people who have endured this disease, and that made me feel closer to it. Also studying the character had a part in it.

What is the message you’re trying to convey?

The message that I am most concerned with and want to emphasize is people’s current apprehension of beauty. Who decided to make a catalog for humans that entails what looks good and what doesn’t? Society decides that certain traits look good and we all follow blindly.

How we perceive things is what makes us decide if it’s beautiful. An example of this would be freckles, people used to hate having freckles but nowadays it’s considered beautiful and many women fake it with makeup. If people can learn to accept vitiligo they will eventually see its beauty.

You’ve attended every edition of GFF, how has the festival evolved each year and what’s your favorite part about attending?

This year the festival really made me feel that it is a constant. Many festivals were canceled due to the current pandemic, but the GFF still happened and proved to be a huge success.

You have a huge fan following and your red carpet appearances are watched closely. How would you describe your personal style or how you choose your red carpet outfits?

I like wearing whatever suits me and I don’t really care about trends. So I pick something that I like and would suit me, and perhaps it will create a trend.

When did you realize you want to be an actress?

I didn’t decide I wanted to act after I grew up, I knew I was going to be an actress someday, I knew it before I could even talk. When I was 6 years old, I would watch a 5-year-old kid on TV and think that I’m behind, as I grew older I started seeing a lot of teenagers acting on the screen and I was in university and almost graduating so I felt that I need to do something.

I always believed that someday I would be walking in the street and some director will meet me and ask me for a role, but of course, that never happened. Later, someone called me up and asked me to come for the casting of Taht El Saytara without even knowing that I was interested in acting. So I went and they picked me among a thousand other girls for the role.

You’ve starred in a number of projects, which one was the most fun in terms of on-set experience?

Banat Thanawy, because the movie itself was light and a part of studying the role was that we actually had to become friends and talk to each other the way we did. This was fun because I didn’t have to focus on the role on a very deep level and study its many aspects.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from the directors that you’ve worked with so far?

Every director has a character and a mood. The location really affects the director’s mood and whether a director is calm and can do his work without any tension.

I worked with directors on projects that lasted at least 6 months so you can imagine how much we learn from each other and a certain unspoken chemistry builds.

What advice would you give those wanting to pursue a career path in acting?

For people who want to start out young, you should do this out of a love for acting and not for the love of fame.

Watch the interview on our channel

Gouna Film Festival 2020 Fashion Roundup

After the success of her latest documentary, Talking To The Trees (known as The Girl From the Brothel), Director Ilaria Borrelli tackles a new documentary about young girls, this time in Egypt.

We sat down with Borrelli and French producer Dominque Pinault during the El Gouna Film Festival to know more about their new collaboration, The Goat.

By Aliaa Elsherbini

Can you tell us what The Goat is about?

IB: The Goat is the story of a little girl who narrowly escapes a forced marriage in a little community in the desert, thanks to a series of events involving a Canadian multi-national company that wants to take over the only water spring of the community to make bottled mineral water.

So, to save the spring, the little girl has to travel seven days in the desert to bring back her father, the official owner of the spring.

What motivated you to come and film in Egypt?

DP: We were looking for a desert, and on a trip we were taking, we met an Egyptian woman who talked to us about Siwa, and urged us to visit, as it is so beautiful. So we went to Siwa and did some scouting and it is really beautiful and poetic and has never before been shot for the cinema so we thought it would be a wonderful idea to film there.

Can you tell us more about the theme of the movie and the reason behind creating a story about forced marriage and other contemporary problems we see in the world right now like multi-nationals exploiting resources?

DP: Multi-nationals are taking over, and they can even be stronger than states as we see in Brazil for example and other places in the world where they take the recourses of poorer countries killing all the possibility of life and culture and everything else.

This and forced marriage are one of the themes of the movie because we know that they happen and they put women’s lives at stake. Forced marriage is a main subject because children should not get married before 18 years old, and that should be a law but we do not have that law yet.

Ilaria, what inspired you to be a film and documentary maker?

IB: Originally, I trained as an actress and started to work on TV series and films but I felt that the scripts were always very fake and not close enough to my real life and to women I knew, I always had to pretend to be a little stupid girlfriend or a wife.

So I wanted to portray in my own writing more realistic women, women who work and have dreams and want to change the world.

Portraying little girls seems to be a recurring theme in your movies. Looking back at the latest one, The Girl from the Brothel addresses sex trafficking of young girls in Cambodia. Is that a theme you wish to continue to explore in other parts of the world?

IB: I think today to talk about little girls in difficult situations is the most urgent because if these little girls don’t go to school, they will become discriminated against. I would love to tell the stories of all the little girls, like the one from The Girl from the Brothel which you can find on Amazon Prime.

There are so many difficult situations for girls around the world, so my main concern in these films is giving opportunity to little girls who do not have a voice.

What’s the filming status of The Goat at the moment?

DP: We know where we are going to film in Siwa, and now we are casting and looking for a 12-year-old little girl. We found a lot of very good ones for the role, and we have Egyptian stars with us stars like Nelly Karim and Youssra.

IB: We also have American actors who are interested in being part of the movie. This is a French, Italian, American and Egyptian co-production so it is very special. And since yesterday, we have the great news that Naguib Sawiris wants to co-produce this important film.

It is exciting because it is really an international film production shot in Egypt, we are aiming for big international film festivals, and we are thrilled with how it is coming along.

When will the film be released?

DP: I think around next winter, so a year from now.

IB: Actually, our dream is to open the next El Gouna Film Festival with The Goat.

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