Habib Media Innovation Award

So we took home 2nd place in the Documentary category for our short on 'Revisiting Tarab' that we made during our internship at the Sharjah Art Foundation, on a night of musical performances.

The height difference contributes to our success. It's all about contrast, guys!

Our documentary was screened at the award ceremony.

Was awesome to be able to look behind us and see everyone's reactions while watching it.

Unfortunately Samar couldn't be there due to finals, 

so let's say the girl on the far right is standing in for her.

I'm really happy that I was able to collaborate with two of my closest friends and make something that felt so easy to make. I enjoyed every part of the project, and I loved how we had each other's backs the whole time. Sometimes I was unable to be at the location, so Naima and Samar would take care of the things I needed to do. Samar constantly ran around grabbing and reassembling the tripod, switching my lenses, and speaking to people we had to interview. Naima's like a well of knowledge, and she'd always know some special insider's secrets and we'd be able to use it. She worked on assistant camera, and I really believe that her shots really spoke of the environment and the people at the night of the performance. Her compositions are always unconventional and feel so personal. Both Naima and Samar are incredibly assertive people, and so many parts of this documentary wouldn't have come together without that assertiveness. The editing process was challenging, and we dealt each other a lot of criticism, but we all worked so closely on it and I think what we ended up with was really strong, and really true to our artistic preferences.

Our documentary basically focused on the interactions between people, the response you evoke and how good people have positive influences. Seems like a no-brainer, but I think we often punish ourselves and keep on hanging around people who are no good for us. If someone hurts you all the time, makes you feel like you're not worth it, or doesn't put the same amount of effort into the friendship as you do, then you should really stop trying with them. Focus your energy elsewhere, and eventually, you will feel much better.

I honestly don't know how to end this post. Mostly, I just wish I were able to thank Naima and Samar and somehow show them how grateful I am to know them.

-Deena

Those Mornings

I've been having a lot of those days recently. The kind where I notice I'm awake, and I open my eyes to see a brightly lit ceiling, and I wonder if I even fell asleep. And then I take the covers off, and sit up and put my feet on the floor and just sit on the edge for a while. And I just think, and think, and I wonder what I'm going to do for the rest of the day. I always feel like I should call it a day already, and just go back to sleep. But I always force myself to get up and be productive, but most of the time, I return to my bed at the end of the day, and I feel so unproductive. And then I promise myself I'll try to make things better tomorrow.

This morning was different. I couldn't force myself to be productive, so I came back to bed and curled up with my laptop. I just wanted a half hour to myself.

Earlier last month, Naima, Samar and I submitted our documentary on Revisiting Tarab to a competition in Dubai. An email from the dean congratulated us on taking the Habib Award of Media Innovation, 2nd place in Documentary.

I got up and got ready, because I felt like that little email gave me all the time that I needed to myself.

I'm pretty sure this is when I realized that maybe it's not the time that I want or need, it's probably the fact that I'm not putting the time into the right things, the things that I want, and I need to change that.

I should be making more films, and you should be doing what you want to do.

Go do it right now,
-Deena

PS. I still haven't gotten over the shock that our first documentary ever won an award. It's really funny to think that we made that for a class project, and our professor gave us a C for it. That was entirely discouraging, and this award just juxtaposes that grade right out of my mind.