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Q&A Nadine Labaki

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Up-and-coming film director and the winner of seven Phénix awards for work in advertising, talks to EXECUTIVE about creative freedom and her take on the industry

Has the phone stopped ringing since the awards?

No it hasn’t, but not in the way you think. It’s not as if they are all suddenly scrambling to hire me. All the agencies know me. I’ve been doing this for years. I’m not a new talent who has burst upon the scene, although I have had offers from abroad, France, Dubai, Italy and Egypt.

Surely your fees will go up?

Maybe they should but I am not a very good businesswoman. At the moment I’m having fun. Making ads is not my life and so maybe that is why I am not so focused on the monetary side of things.

But how much do you charge?

My fee is $3,000 per day. An advertisement can take two weeks with one or two days of shooting.

What was your first break?

It was an ad for Banque Audi in 2001, for H&C Leo Burnett. The one with the teacher in the classroom. I liked it very much, it was realistic (and) popular.

Are you targeting retail customers and what are your expectations for 2004?

We are aiming first at small and medium enterprises. We need to develop our network to at least 20 branches. I expect this year to be very hard. What you have seen here has been achieved in only six months. I spent 16 hours each day in the office. Sometimes I sleep there, to see my aims accomplished.

Do you look for realism?

We live in a society where there are so many taboos, so many things we can’t talk about. As a director, the things we cannot do – certain expressions and behavior that we can’t show on TV, limit me. In advertising you need to show a perfect world that does not exist and this is where I think advertising is fake. People are not stupid, they know when they can’t identify with an ad because it’s too good to be true, and they just don’t believe it.

What do you think of the quality of creative talent in the country?

I think being in an Arab country we’re not bold enough with our ideas, because we think that we’re going to be judged. There are too many boundaries and too many limits. The problem is not with the level of creativity that we have. I think we have a lot of talent and people who are really very creative. What we lack, I think, is courage. We think that if an idea is too bold it’s going to be rejected or it’s not going to sell. We’re afraid of how people will perceive things and consequently we’re still hiding behind easy things.

Do you find that you have to stifle your creative urges to please the client?

I’m very fortunate that this has never happened to me. I often change a lot of things on the shoot and storyboard, but I do this with the client and their message in mind. At the end of the day, you are doing a commercial, you are only the director, and this is someone else’s vision. I still introduce new things; I don’t just want to execute someone else’s idea. But I try to introduce my way of thinking in a way that the client will accept.

Do we spend enough on ads? I try to adapt whatever idea I have to the limitations without really knowing what the actual budget is. Of course, if we had more money we would be able to get equipment all the time, and could do bigger things. But, I’m more interested in concepts rather than huge productions. You are self-employed. How often then do you work?

I think two or three projects a month are enough for me because I can’t do more than that, even if the money isn’t great. Otherwise, you will not be able to give each project the time it needs and it will affect the quality of your work.

You also direct music videos. How did you get involved in this?

It was a coincidence. A friend of mine was a producer and she introduced me to singer Pascale Mashaalani. At first I didn’t think I’d be interested in shooting music videos, especially since I didn’t really like the formulaic stuff at the time. You know, the singer singing and dancing with a bunch of girls dancing behind him. But then I thought, why not? Maybe I can change things.

We also hear that you are working on a film. When will it be released?

By next year I think. I really can’t talk about it yet, but this is the next step in my career. I feel the urge to move on, to tell a story, to talk about my country, my people and I think a film is the only way I’m going to be able to say these things.

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