Yazan Al Assadi
Filmmaker, 2016
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Digital Film & Television
If you want to be a filmmaker you have to be passionate, make movies, it doesn’t matter if they are good or bad, just make them, learn from your mistakes then make movies, your hard work will reward you.
08 June 2016
Impassioned Filmmaker
Yazan Al Assadi’s ‘Paradise is here’ won the Best International Short Documentary at Wendy’s Shorts USA Film festival in 2015. The passionate filmmaker enrolled at Limkokwing University in 2014 under the Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Digital Film & Television programme.
The Syrian student started actively pursuing his love for film in 2008 when working in high school film projects. After graduating from high school his dream of being a filmmaker became bleak as there are no film schools in Syria. “I couldn’t travel at that time so I studied business and kept on using my low budget camera to make films,” said Yazan.
Yazan did not let the setbacks dampen his spirits, “I volunteered and assisted in as many productions I could to see how they work and I learnt quite a lot from them.
The blooming filmmaker started researching on institutions and universities that offered film programmes which led him to Limkokwing University. “Limkokwing grasped my attention, first because of its accolades and secondly its multicultural environment.”
“Making films is all about inspiration and creativity, Limkokwing is the perfect place to draw that motivation, I met people from different cultures and constantly got inspiration from what I saw and heard.”
Yazan also credits the University’s approach to learning, “What I like most is that students are immersed into workshops competitions and industry projects, these are important because they prepare students to deal with real work. It is through these workshops that I sharpened my skills in camera work, lighting set up and directing.”
2015 was a year of Yazan’s success, his short documentary ‘Paradise is Here’ won the Best International Short Documentary at Wendy’s Shorts USA Film festival and nominated as the Best Documentary at Sarawak Mini Festival.
It was also selected for Pune Film Festival, India; Goas Film Festival, India and the Multiverse Film Festival, USA. His film ‘Who you are’ was selected in the CDEMF Film Festival in China in 2015.
Yazan so far has worked on 38 projects and directed 14 of them. On whom he draws inspiration from in the filmmaking industry; he states director Martin Scorsese and Wes Anderson.
“I mentioned two directors because each of them has a unique style, one focuses more on visuals and the other on storytelling and body language; I try to combine all styles into my films.”
Currently, I’m doing my internship at Chili Pepper Production House working with them on the Hollywood Film (Reborn) and preparing for my December graduation film.
Yazan related his definition of success, “What I consider as success in my line of work is when I deliver the message in my films and see the reaction on the audiences’ face. I take great pleasure in people being inspired by my work.”
On his advice to students who are pursuing the same dream as him Yazan said, “If you want to be a filmmaker you have to be passionate, make movies, it doesn’t matter if they are good or bad, just make them, learn from your mistakes then make movies, your hard work will reward you.”
