An Interview with Filmmaker Faisal Hashmi
Who are you, and what are your passions?
My name is Faisal Hashmi and I'm an independent filmmaker based in Dubai. My passions lie in telling stories, primarily for the visual medium but even on the page and for any other form of media if the story calls for it.
How did you first discover filmmaking/writing? Do you remember the first film you ever saw?
I first started writing short stories back in high school that weren't very good but I knew I enjoyed the process of crafting a story with a twist at the end. I never really thought of pursuing this as a career back then so I joined a business college afterwards and continued writing during that. Soon after, I realised that a lot of the stories I'm writing feel cinematic in nature so I started exploring writing them as screenplays and learning the art of how a screenplay is written. But I realised that in a country with a fledgling film industry like UAE, there isn't a marketplace that exists where I can hand off my screenplays to directors who can then go make them. I had to make my own film otherwise these screenplays would just be sitting in a drawer somewhere. So I wrote a short screenplay that took place in one location with two characters and got my friends on board to shoot it over one day with whatever equipment I had access to. It's then that I realised that I actually enjoy the aspect of directing too and bringing my words to life. So that's when the bug of filmmaking took over. It was too late by then to switch my education to film school so I decided to learn film by making films instead.
As for the first film I saw, I don't recall the very first one but I distinctly remember seeing films like Jumanji and being in awe of the scale and spectacle of them as a kid. But in terms of one that made me aware of how much storytelling plays a part in films, I would say M Night Shyamalan's 'The Sixth Sense' would be that film. I remember that twist ending blowing me away and then dissecting later how it was hidden in plain sight. That's when I knew there is a real craft to this that I am intrigued by.
How has your pandemic been? The good? The bad? Is there something you've learned about yourself during 2020?
The pandemic has been a mixed bag. As someone who works as a commercial director to pay the bills, it has been rougher since a lot of the projects got cancelled and budgets got slashed throughout most of the year. As a filmmaker, it was challenging too since I couldn't shoot anything new and my latest short film's festival run got affected as most film festivals got moved or went virtual. But as a writer, I feel like it was a boon because I made a decision very early on to use this extra time on my hands to focus on writing the scripts that I always wanted to write but didn't because of a lack of free time. So at the end of the year, I have two new feature length screenplays ready so I feel proud of myself for making the best out of a bad situation. I guess you could say what I learned about myself is that I am good at adapting.
You make films in the United Arab Emirates, can you tell me a little bit about the scene there and what it is like being a filmmaker in the region?
The film industry in the UAE is still in its infancy, although there's certainly more happening now than there was back in 2009 when I first made my short film. But even then, it's still restricted to mostly self funded short films as we don't have a marketplace where independent producers and studios are regularly putting out feature films in cinemas the way countries like India, UK and South Korea do. Without that, it's an irregular output once in a while. So as a filmmaker here, my focus is to make contained short films that can be made on a modest budget yet still tell a compelling story but at the same time carve a niche in the space here as a genre filmmaker since almost none exist in this region. As I gear up to develop a feature film, the challenges in funding and resources definitely are formidable but I'm ready to face them head on over 2021.
Are there particular tools you use that help you do what you do? These could be as specific as a type of pen or paper, camera, or an app or software you use?
I am fortunate enough to own almost everything I use to shoot my short films including a camera and various lights and even audio equipment. In terms of softwares, I use this new app called Notion to do all my outlining and pre-writing before I jump into the screenplay and it has been really useful to organise myself this year. As an editor, I'm a fan of Adobe softwares so Premiere Pro is what I use to edit almost all of my short films and it has really served my editing style well.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me means being able to do what you love and make a comfortable living out of it for you and your loved ones. I don’t have grand aspirations of becoming a multi-millionaire. As long as I get to tell the stories I love to tell without restrictions and can sustain myself financially from it, I’d consider myself a successful person.
What's the best piece of advice someone ever gave you?
The best piece of career advice I ever received is to make the film that you would want to see if someone else made it. It recalibrated the way I think about cinema in general where instead of trying to second guess what an audience would enjoy, I am much more in tune with the kind of films I like to watch and trying to make that kind of film hoping that there is a section of the audience that enjoys my tastes and sensibilities too. That’s the best way to create something authentic because if you don’t care about your own film, an audience certainly won’t.
If you could tell your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
I would say it would be to worry less about the state of the film industry in the region in ways both good and bad, because I have come to realise that everyone charts their own path. Just because you have a thriving film industry here doesn’t mean that you will automatically make it as a filmmaker, and just because the film industry is struggling doesn’t mean you’re doomed. Find your way in sooner and trust your voice and the stories you have to tell to the world and worry less about the doom and gloom.
What is an unusual habit that you have?
It’s not exactly an unusual habit for writers, but I am a night owl in every sense of the word and have found that most of my writing and certainly my best writing occurs late at night when everyone is asleep. There’s something about the calm in a pitch dark room that gives me focus and probably explains why so many things I write are horror-tinged. So I’ve made it a habit to only write when the world goes to sleep.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do?
I have faced writer’s block many times throughout my writing career, and sometimes I’ve been on a deadline and haven’t had the luxury to just step away so you have to tough it out. But otherwise, my best solution, when I’m lost or unfocused, is to step away and partake in the real world by meeting people or more importantly watching films and TV that other people have made. It has more often than not sparked ideas in me on how to tackle what I’m stuck in which gives me renewed energy to come back to my script and see it through till the end. Also, it’s helpful to have at least two projects to be working on so you can switch between them if one feels like it’s getting stale or difficult.
Where can people find you? Are there any recent projects you'd like to mention?
I’m pretty active on every social media platform, so people can find me as @faisalhashmi on Twitter and @faisalhashmifilm on Instagram. My newest short film Amber is concluding its festival run and should be on YouTube in a month or so, but other than that I’m actively developing two feature film projects. One is a thriller called Cinder that I can’t wait to shoot once financing is in place, and the other is a horror anthology set over one night in Dubai and follows five interconnected stories which should be a lot of fun to shoot!
Some of Faisal’s films can be seen below.