A Star Among Us: AlWajd AlFayez
AlWajd AlFayez is a young Jordanian who’s following her passion in film-making. Being a director and the founder of Mugshot Productions, she aims to tell stories by using cinematic shots, translating her imagination into reality. Read all about her career and what inspires her…
Introduce yourself.
My name is AlWajd AlFayez and I am a storyteller. I get to dream for a living, and then transform these dreams into reality.
I have a BA in Film and a Master’s degree in Directing and Scriptwriting from the UK. I’ve always felt the need to polish my film making skills and expand my experiences, so I moved around and took film making courses in several places such as Paris and Cairo. When I realised that I had fallen in love with Cairo, I decided to settle down there and was fortunate enough to train with Inas Al Deghedi, one of the region’s greatest film directors.
I then worked back and forth between Amman and Beirut on several music videos and TV commercials. After moving around so often, I collected the experiences that I got and decided to take them back home to Jordan and start telling our stories, and that was when I founded Mugshot Productions, a boutique film production house whose main aim is to become the region’s primary Story Factory!
What inspired you to be the person you are today?
My family is my biggest inspiration, each and every one of them made me grow in ways that I will forever be grateful for. I am who I am today because of their constant support and belief in me. They always make me push my own limits, and that’s how I grow.
Define success.
Success is to know what you want in life, go after it, and enjoy its fruits when you finally get it!
Share with us the best piece of advice ever given to you.
Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally!
Not everything that people do is because of you. It’s always because of themselves. People have their reasons, they have their own dreams, their own minds, their own paths; they are in a completely different world from the one you live in. So just let it be, control your own mind, build your own dreams, live in your own world and create your own paths, and after all of that, if they’re still affecting you, just make a movie out of it. We’re only human after all!
What motivates you?
My biggest motivation is my love for film! Knowing how fortunate I am to be doing something I am this passionate about and still call it a job is my driving power as I head to work every day. However, what motivates me artistically are the people, along with their struggles, their dreams, their happiness, and their stories – that’s the backbone of every great script – and the fact that I am privileged to be able to bring forth those stories and transform my imagination into reality is my inspiration.
Tell us a common misconception that people have about what you do.
People don’t know the long process and the amount of time spent preparing for even the shortest productions. To them, it may look short and simple when they watch it, but the journey to get it released is exhausting, fulfilling but really time consuming.
Mistakes are…
Not mistakes, only lessons learned.
Three random things about yourself…
– My life is a mental movie, I’m guilty of recreating scenes from my daily life in my head. They almost always have a soundtrack!
– I can shamelessly say I’d steal Nutella from a baby!
– Sometimes my dreams have subtitles.
You’ll know you’ve made it when…
When I replace the plastic Oscar that I’ve got with the real one!
WE SAID THIS: Don’t miss our Q&A with filmmaker Cherien Dabis.
