by Sherif Awad
Especially for www.SherifAwad-FilmCritic.com
-My family! I could write whole chapters about my family. My family was poor. We had to struggle and fight daily to keep going. My parents were born into the II World War, so there was no education for them only and endless HARD Work! But in spite of those difficult years, my siblings and I, we got back as a reward lots of love; and the core values of life so that to continue on our own! Respect, dignity, integrity, faith, on our choices and beliefs. These defined us since then
-In the early years of my life, I had no TV set neither radio. But I had something more important, a very vivid imagination. The clouds or the rainbow before or after rain had become my pens or for the next faces of my mind stories. I felt that nothing could stop me from thinking of what I wanted. You see the lack of equipment of that early stage; I may say it was more vital and helpful for me since it became stronger inside what I wanted to do. And you know, I admit in a short of speaking I was fortunate. Because usually when you have everything, you don’t put yourself in a position of creating or finding a way to have it. So Yes Creation for me it was existing inside me, but became huge because of my daily struggle to create something! And that, for me, was a unique experience. Our parents used to tell us stories, sing to us and bought us story books or poetry. Through those stories, my childish imagination, and my passion for being one of those characters I was reading, I guess it was the start. I dreamed of the icons in those books and started to make drawings of them, and then new stories upon those characters, later on, the poems or the music that came out from them made me start writing my ones. So simple, I started.
So later, when we managed to get a tv set, a whole world of magic came into our house.
I could say a bunch of films and actors. Especially those that had goals to achieve and good acting and performances always fascinated me more. Everything seemed changed and unbelievable. Movies and music had become a part of me. I started paying attention to act in their gestures, all the small details that made my mind follow strangely those films. So reading literature and writing my own stories, I ended up with specific actors or film directors in my mind.Westerns, Gone with the Wind, thrillers Hitchcock, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, and many others. Everything from the arts and entertainment is placed into a niche place in my heart. I loved the painting! I loved books. I loved the movies. I loved the songs. So Yes, I did it all! I dreamt of my dream, and I tried to create it! Through colors, through films, through books, through songs! They say that talent is an open wound that never closes. I say As long as it is open, is still productive and gives till it dies. In my mind in my heart, nothing but nothing would ever be possible to stop me — only death. So, that was the promise I made to myself, that whatever I wanted to create, I was about to do it! No matter how hard work I had to do, no matter how long it would take me to do it. And either I would manage or not, the only thing I wanted was the Journey towards that dream of creation!
-I did not open my eyes and said that I would be an artist. I did not know what art was when I was a child. And indeed, we did not have time to say such a thing either.
Studying on my lessons and helping my family was the only I should focus on those days.
But, as I have mentioned, I had it always inside me. So I guess ART found EVI! Strange, but my full name means a creator of light. So, since I create through the light, I have inside me, this can’t be wrong. It was inevitable, I guess! Well, Studying for me never ends since I was a child.
Even being at school through Maths or literature or anything else, everything added something to that I am today. I mean the way to solve or examine or appreciate life and its problems.
I studied fine art and scriptwriting and have taken numerous online courses about filming or writing. I keep learning something new every single day. Even though the love I get from my child or anything new I find in people and the world! The lesson never ends. The only thing I have to do is keep the eyes and the ears of my soul open. Then, you can’t remain the same, you change its second and you go on like water that never stops! But most of all, I can say for sure that I had already inside me. It just a matter of guts. Nobody can tell you what you can or can not do. It’s up to you. What you are willing to sacrifice, how far you want to go.
And for me, the limit is the sky. Since the air never ends in a short of speaking, I always think of me in an endless journey between imagination and creativity.
-I must confess that I don’t see myself as people describe me or talk about my creations and achievements through prizes etc… It’s not the fact that I am humble or not. It’s just the feeling that I have deep inside me. That I am still going, somewhere I don’t know; till the end! Then I may remember, What I am or who I am! Maybe I recognize in myself, all these different creations each time! Perhaps I am this puzzle myself, and I place piece by piece each time something of all these I have done so far. A long way in this journey ahead, I hope, and still so many things inside me that are not told yet so that you could have your answer. For me, it is a great satisfaction though, the smile, the comments, even the stunning silence I get back from the audience when they “meet” with my art! So If I have added something into them in a way to make them think or feel or act about anything in their lives, that would be great!
– Well, for a woman who is an artist the challenges are from both sides. I mean as a woman, struggles to strike a balance between working and family life. Now a woman who is an artist the things are more complicated. Since she accepts daily influences from all parts of life, and she has to be alert and informed so that she can give all these to her audience through her work. Since I firmly believe that the art world must be alert and through art to help people being open-minded and dare to live, dare to act ,dare to take any risk even though they fail. Art is Life and Life is Art. So both must have the same heartbeat and respond to challenges with a step forward even if it must be through hell!
– Each season produces its art. We are now living in an extreme emergency in Greece. The state has politically lost its bargaining power, and there is no longer any public sphere defined by the state. And also, the rights of citizens have been severely restricted. We are in front of a pile of rubble. The role of art has become even more critical: Art is the only way that individuals are confronted with the socio-political situation and can raise public awareness. The survival of artists in Greece is crucial; the means for artistic production being more inadequate than ever. Nevertheless, there seems to be a tendency to view suffering as an opportunity for a new beginning. The question remains, whether this attitude expresses confidence or is a desperate whistling in the dark.
– From the very beginning of this art journey, I had set up my rules and goals. I create these; I inspire! And not according to the rules of the market or as the flow goes! No, for me, creation is born with something new, not copy others. So I always think of first, which is the Film Festival or the Museum or the Music Scene that any proposal it comes. And mostly if it is according to my standards of quality and beliefs about art. That is constant research, and you must be reborn each time with something new! After hard work of innumerable hours of thinking and working.
– Well, to achieve something like this, you must work first of all with yourself and have found that point of balance inside you. Then with understanding and lots of work, you settle your priorities, always knowing that you can’t be only an artist but also a human. It’s a mutual relationship, and there is a phantom thread that holds both sides, sticks together, and exists uniquely to make them survive both.
-I am in the middle of great and many things. I shall refer only to these are ready to be or those they are about to be fulfilled shortly. I wrote songs from cinematography.As part of my social contribution, one of my songs in a live-in Cyprus TV and will be on to the rest of the world. Since its about breast cancer. My film about water will continue the traveling exhibition about WATER in India! I am writing a trilogy of scripts, which is an adaptation of my book. A great story that I hope we all see it on the silver screen.
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