“No” is not an answer
Light-keeper, cinematographer, rebel
(Credit: Noir Barakat)
Last week, I started my journey with the Zyara team. We continue here.
She’s a person of extremes. She did not like school and had a problem with figures of authority, be it work-related, political, or religious. She can’t be an employee. She enjoyed cheating at school for the fun of it — copied from students and allowed students to copy from her. An outlaw. During the war and when everyone was hiding in shelters and complaining, she traveled in her parallel world with her headset on — less drama and more dreams. Shelter time was free time to dream.
The dreamer at 3 years old
Muriel growing up
With her mom and on the way to explore the university, they walked between two buildings: one with well-dressed students, the future lawyers, and the other full of graffiti, with torn jeans, red-colored hair, and loud students. Guess which one she picked?
Her original plan to study translation or law ended her behind the camera. She fell in love with light and decided to become a cinematographer.
One day, her mom approached her about being unable to continue paying for her education. In what she calls her parallel universe, she kept going to classes until she got the pink slip! Snapping out from her dreamy life, she went straight to financial services and talked to the lovely and helpful Ms. Carmel.
She mentions her with fondness and admiration. This woman played an impactful role in Muriel’s career. Little acts of deliberate attention can make a huge difference in someone’s life.
She worked with her on a full scholarship and got it. The university had one condition: to pay it forward. “Sure,” she answered, “And I also know who it’s for.”
Her kid brother was following in a couple of years :-)
Work
Passionate about her country. Even though she was given several opportunities to leave and blossom elsewhere, she chose to make it in Lebanon. She wanted to work as a Director of Photography (DOP). Muriel was told it’s not a woman’s job; there are no female cinematographers in the Arab world, and there are too few globally. The camera is too heavy, and she can’t carry it. She took the job of Assistant Director for a couple of years and then asked to be closer to the camera. She worked with the technicians hauling equipment. She ended up carrying little as the guys wouldn’t let her — sometimes, they carried her and the equipment together. Since DOPs were primarily foreigners, her role turned into a translator gaffer.
First female Arab cinematographer (Credit: Racha Chalhoub)
From the beginning, she loved what she did. She worked straight until her 30s with no vacation. She never felt that it was work. She’d be on a film shoot every other week when in uni. She cranked 40 of them in a row. She got the opportunity to shoot her first 35 mm and won the best cinematography prize. She had a goal to have her first feature film at 30; she celebrated her birthday on the set of that film.
You promise something to yourself, and it will happen. A hard worker and an overachiever. An emotional blow takes her down for 5 minutes, after which she rebounds and moves on.
More about cinematography
Superpower
“I wish I could speak all languages. I wish I could download them all into my brain! That’s why I chose audio-visual art: it is universal.”
The light-keeper
She works with both, from the light into her lens to the light in people’s hearts. Sunshine is gorgeous, but the light within us is much more beautiful. She will do whatever it takes to help people maintain their inner light. She may lead by example, sit and talk to them, inspire them, or push them to believe in themselves.
“This is my mission in life. Keeping the inner light on!”
She can seamlessly help people when they’re going through challenges. She started by observing her parents and learning her first big life lessons from them.
Free will
She even believes that she picked her parents and the country she’s living in. She believes that if someone got paralyzed in a car accident and stayed alive, what he does with the rest of his life is his choice. Does he allow the accident to awaken his spirit or break it?
“Nobody is a victim. You always have a choice to change. Always.”
Denise jumps in: ‘Except for children.”
As an adult, if something happened to you, it happened. What about the present? The future? How can you change your mindset to change the outcome? You can either choose to live as a victim for the rest of your life or not. It’s your free will.
What saddens her the most is when she sees people giving up. For her, everything is possible.
Cine-Jam the film lab (Credit: Racha Chalhoub)
Children, parenting, and feminism
They have a weak spot for children. Denise believes that parents must be emotionally ready before bringing children to this world. Muriel goes to the extreme of making it compulsory for the parents to go through therapy before bringing a child into this world.
Why did you bring the child?
Muriel believes that when you bring a child to this earth, you must take care of them, guide them to bloom, and discover what makes them happy.
“When is it right for a woman to move on and do what she wants to do?” I ask. She always has the right. We all do. The man can be an excellent caregiver, but our society has given him this rigid role. Fathers should have their rights just like mothers. Divide the load equally. The problem is that the emotional weight goes to the woman, and the financial burden goes to the man. Very rarely do you find the right balance between the two roles. Very few fathers know how to be fathers.
Feminism today is being screamed out, like seeing someone escaping a cage after a long confinement. The reaction is understandable, and it’s probably the least to be expected after centuries of injustice.
For Muriel, it’s all about human rights. To empower the woman, you have to empower and educate the man and the woman. A man has to understand his insecurities about having the woman as an equal human being, as much as the woman should be at peace with her insecurities and fears.
We live in a patriarchal society, and there are contexts where man is given power beyond reason. Religious laws are biased against women. To balance, you raise boys to become men who are allowed to cry, ask for help, and communicate, like you need to raise girls to become women who dream, believe, and achieve. You cannot strengthen the woman and step on the man. Men should be reminded that there is a feminine side to them. They need female energy, just like a woman needs male energy. We all have both energies within us, and we choose to feed one over the other.
Muriel wishes to see this type of empowerment, which she calls feminism.
The Zyara factor
Since Zyara’s launch, her passion has shifted from light to art that serves humanity. She evolved from cinematographer to light-keeper. Muriel and Denise both play the role of light-keeper and love-giver.
Denise was listening to Muriel getting into the heavy conversation, and she started tearing up. I looked at her and slightly tilted my head with that inquisitive grin. She giggled and said: “I am a bundle of intense emotions. A lot”
Zyara refined Muriel. It made her even more humane. They will keep Zyara going as long as they can. The Zyara makers want to leave an artistic and poetic legacy, honoring the people they visit through their stories. Zyara is their way of loving the world. The people they visit feel safe with Zyara’s non-judgemental and loving values.
Love-giver and Light-keeper (Credit: Noir Barakat)
“Zyara is a piece of me and a piece of her, and the wonderful team that supports us: Bashar, Elsy, Rachelle, Liliane, Rosanna, Khalil, and Elie.”
Life is a beautiful Zyara. This season, expect 12 new stories of resilience.
Home of Cine-Jam is an association for Humanitarian Arts. It aims to inspire and induce social and emotional healing through authentic short films or series.
Zyara is the first creation of Home of Cine-Jam. An award-winning documentary series that paints poetic portraits of people. Through 5-minute episodes, Zyara engraves parts of its subjects’ souls, some of their stories, and their emotions.
Zyara team working on season 5