Conversations with Farida Alami

Today we’d like to introduce you to Farida Alami.

Hi Farida, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story started back in North Africa, growing up in Morocco. one day my uncle was visiting us from London and brought with him a brand new camcorder. I will never forget that moment getting to hold the camera and playing with it. What followed are years of watching American movies and shows, my curiosity about the making of such great entertainment kept rising. I found myself falling in love with the craft and everything related to the city of Angels. I would spend hours watching behind the scenes of my favorite shows and while I was becoming a Laker fan, I decided to make a quick fun youtube video about the team we had that year using an old version of moviemaker on windows.

At that moment, I just knew. I was passionate about movies, sports and Los Angeles. I made it my dream and goal to move there and study film. In 2013 that dream came true as I moved here for that purpose. I was lucky to have parents who supported my dreams all the way through. During my last year in college, we had to present a documentary project, being an avid surfer, I decided to focus mine on the danger of plastic pollution in the ocean. Filming that documentary made me realize how much I enjoyed documentary filmmaking. The documentary called “Plastic Disaster” won numerous awards, including the Special Jury Remi award at the 2018 WorldFest Houston, the film festival where Steven Spielberg won his first award. After graduation, I worked at the city of Torrance and the city of Long Beach as a videographer and video editor, then I worked at ABC7, TMZ and now I am a video editor at Warner brothers, I also work NFL Games and concerts on the weekend at SOFI Stadium.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest struggle I would say was the whole moving to a new country that I did not speak the language of at the age of 17 by myself. I would do it all over again no hesitation. Other struggles along the way come from the fact that I was an international student and even though my parents helped me financially, students on Visas are not allowed to work outside of campus which made it difficult to gain experience on the field and make extra cash. the loneliness of being so far away from my family is hard, missing family weddings, funerals and births is really hard emotionally. There are numerous times where giving up felt like it was the right and easy choice. However, my big dreams keep me going. When I look back and see everything that I have accomplished in my time here so far, it makes me want to keep pushing.

Less personal challenges would be being a woman in the entertainment industry. Nothing is given to us and we have to work twice as hard to prove ourselves. I also feel like there is a lot of nepotism in this field and it’s all about who you know. So being a transplant here makes things a bit more difficult. So you learn to make your own way with what you have.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a Filmmaker. Telling a story through my Lens is what I love to do. as much as I enjoy the filmmaking process, I find myself more fulfilled when making documentaries because of the simple aspect of realness and education attached to it. I consider myself a jack of all trades when it comes to the entertainment industry; beside being a filmmaker, I am also a video editor of all kinds of different projects.

What I am most proud of is my documentary “Plastic Disaster”, I gave it my soul and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Marrying my two passions, the ocean and filmmaking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1acjqraXMhs

What sets me apart from others is passion. I am a very passionate person and that makes a huge difference in the depth of the work.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
My advice to those just starting out would be to have big dreams and never give up no matter how hard it gets. Picture it, visualize it, then Go for it. It’s a warrior mentality. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

If there is one thing I wish I could tell myself when starting out, it would be to stress less and enjoy more.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://faridaalami10.wixsite.com/website
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgn-fr0m1u_YanP0YY78mzQ