We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Linda Dahlem a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Linda, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Growing up as a timid only child in one of the smallest countries in the world, Luxembourg, I often felt lonely and distant from the rest of the world. Luckily, I grew a fascination with the unique world of cinema very early on in my life, which quickly became a place of solace and connection, and in truth, a place I looked to for guidance.

Having this refuge in my life made me feel truly understood and never alone. I knew that I wanted to create the same sanctuary for others, which is why I pursued a career in Film.

The immense power of storytelling helped guide me through to adulthood and shaped my perception of the world, the endless possibilities, and the depths of human emotions, which is one of the reasons I strive to tell stories from unseen or overlooked perspectives and delve deep into uncharted territories.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I fell in love with crafting and drawing as a child and really just loved everything that was aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. I was fortunate that my parents supported my many creative hobbies. When it came to academia I had a harder time wrapping my head around things like math and grammar, which always felt like a foreign concept to me.

When I turned 15 I had to decide where to go with my life, and art was the first path that came to my mind. I went to Art High School and really enjoyed painting, sculpting, print arts, photography, and graphic design.

In my mind I always saw myself on a film set, largely because watching DVD Behind the Scenes while doing my homework was a daily ritual and a world I saw myself in. It felt like a very faraway dream for someone who came from a small country, but at least in my mind, not something that was impossible.

I went on to study Visual & Motion Design in Berlin. Living in a bigger city and going to a school that only focused on art really brought out so much inspiration, ideas, and self-growth.

One night, while editing a short film, one of my best friends and I talked into the early morning hours over Skype, her being in the UK and me in Berlin. That night we both decided that we wanted to move to California.

I left Berlin a few days after getting my Bachelor’s Degree and moved back home to Luxembourg where I got the opportunity to work on a Feature Film. I chose to dip my toes in the Art Department and was lucky to work under Christina Schaffer who is a phenomenal Production Designer. She taught me so much in the 2 months I worked for her, that even to this day, it is the best experience I ever had on a film, and what really inspired me to become a Production Designer.

That same year I moved to San Francisco to study Production Design and I quickly fell in love with directing. I was deeply intrigued by the range of creativity and leadership aspects of the Directing Job so I took a leap of faith and changed my major after my first semester, and I have been doing both – Directing and Production Design ever since. Combining these two worlds gives me a unique perspective on every project I take on, especially my own directing projects, which are always very heavy on Production Design, lined with symbolism, and inspired by mythology and the avant-garde movement.

I have now been living in the US for almost a decade. I moved back and forth between Los Angeles and San Francisco a couple of times, and have worked on numerous Feature Films, Commercials, Brand Videos, and Short Films as a Production Designer/Set Decorator while also directing and writing my own Short Films and Music Videos.

I am currently in pre-production for a short film I am directing called ”Pearl Rising” which is based on a Poem I wrote in 2016.

”Pearl Rising” is a narrative tale that intertwines poetic words underlined by music, and sounds of a post-apocalyptic era through a well-choreographed relationship between Mother Earth and her daughter Pearl, fighting for the future of humanity.

My team and I are excited to shoot this project on a Volume Stage to submerge our performers and crew in the otherworldly realm of Pearl during production. It will also be a great opportunity to further explore this new technology and the endless possibilities it presents for filmmakers.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I believe very much in introducing art as early as possible in life; diving into mythology and symbolism, and learning the way of storytelling through the ages. Art has such an amazingly large spectrum, it is everywhere all around us, and we constantly consume it, in real life and in the digital world. The idea of creating beauty with your own hands is a language on its own, and I hope that society keeps uplifting and cherishing that way of living.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I learned on my journey is that there will always be moments of judgment and opinions about who you are, what you do, and how you do it. While some of that can be helpful at times, often it comes from a place that does not benefit us. As creatives, our most important job is to step into our own authentic selves, no matter how loud the noise around us gets. Our uniqueness, process, and point of view are the core of our artistry, and the more we nurture that, the more confident we become in creating art that resonates on a wider spectrum.

Since I was young I easily got inspired to try new things and I always loved learning, so naturally when I grew up I was interested in all different avenues of art. I love drawing, taking photos, making short films, designing and building small sets, stop motion, animation, writing and also cooking and baking. I soon realized that many people get uncomfortable with this way of living, and I was told over and over to focus on just one thing specifically, but that felt really unnatural to me and made me question who I was as a person. I had to unlearn to live up to people’s standards and follow my own path, even though that means getting to my goals at a different pace. My authenticity, in its many forms, fulfills and inspires me every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lindadahlem.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lindimu/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindadahlem/
• Other: www.pearlrisingfilm.com www.whispersandpoetry.com

Image Credits
Javier Espinoza Joaquin Espinoza