We were lucky to catch up with Rafael Maman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rafael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I guess I alway knew I wanted to make films. Since I was a child, all I could think about is cinema and slowly I started wondering what it would be like to make films, what if people could actually see the images I have in my head. This passion turned into some sort of game for me, that became highly addictive. However, it is only much later that I realised I couldn’t live without it. I was working in an office job after graduating from a business management degree, the whole career path seemed to be laid out. It only took me a few months to feel like my life didn’t have a purpose to me. I didn’t really know why I would go to the office, and I couldn’t stop thinking about making films. I just wasn’t made for this kind of life, and I felt the need for a constant change, something the art world could bring me. I went to do an internship on the producing side of filmmaking and all of a sudden I felt like I had a reason to wake up in the morning. I was curious about everything going on and driven beyond what I could have imagined a few weeks before. Understanding the mechanisms of this mysterious industry which had built my dreams since I could remember it was incredibly fulfilling. Soon enough I decided I wanted even more and started making short films as a hobby, which turned into an obsession. The obsession got me into USC and from this point on there was no way back.

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.

My passion for visual storytelling, combined to my business background led me to become a film producer and director specialised in narrative fiction and advertisement. I tend to assume both positions on most projects I work on, which means initiating the project, finding the resources and teams to accomplish it in the best possible way as a producer, and developing it and leading the team artistically as a director, in order to tell the story in the best possible way. I think my capacity to assume both positions on a project gives me an edge, as I understand all the challenges and can juggle with both to obtain exactly the product I want. Even when I get hired to only perform one of the two positions, I know exactly what are the constraints of the other members of the team thanks to the experience I earned working on these different yet both extremely important jobs of a production. As an artist, my tone and visuals are the things that truly differentiate me from my fellow filmmakers, as I often blend fantastic elements to realistic situations and set ups through creative framing and reinterpretation of commonly known images in a new context. For example, the first film that got me connected to high professionals of the industry was a film I made about a street mime who gets lost in a Charlie Chaplin film, an environment in which he strives as he can express himself better than others without words. It is almost realistic as I work with people who truly perform as they would in life (like this mime), almost like a documentarian would do, and it is absurd. But so can be life, and I think that’s what people like about my vision of life through my films. This film is actually one of the things I am the proudest of as its main actor, Karen Zar, the most viewed mime in the world thanks to internet, told me this film was a great pride to him as it told his life story even though I only met him after writing the script. Exposing people’s passions and inspiring more to follow theirs is the greatest achievement I can think of. I’m beyond happy to have followed my dreams despite the obvious challenges it would bring, so if I can help someone realise their dream or simply believe in it through fiction or commercials, I think I will be fulfilled. That is definitely what I am aiming at.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As an artist, and even more so as a filmmaker, you have the great power of telling stories to people. These stories can inspire people to believe in their dreams, to change, to accept who they are, to know they’re not alone… The range of possibilities is infinite. And I know it is possible, because it worked on me. The stories I have seen on screen since I was a child gave my life a purpose, and knowing that I can now have an impact on people’s life and inspire them the way I have been inspired is the most rewarding thing I can think of. The most touching testimonies I have ever received from audiences or people I have been working with were that they felt understood and less lonely. Feeling you had a positive impact, even the tiniest one, on at least one person is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist to me.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I don’t think there is any step of my career I have ever accessed without being rejected at least once before. But obviously my first entries into filmmaking were the toughest. I would apply to film companies coming out of business school and they would ask: why would we hire a business guy to do creative work? Go to film school first. I would apply to film school and they would say I didn’t have any relevant professional experience to get in. And I know it is not exclusive to this industry, many companies in every industry now require you to be below 25 and have 27 years of work experience, so to speak. Yet I think my greatest proof of resilience was my very first film, or at least that’s the one I can remember most vividly. Too French, too indie, too long, too short, too artsy… I heard it all and got rejected from every film school in the world, everyone told me I didn’t have the right profile … but USC, one of the best. Had they not accepted me, I would have kept making my films on my side, this goes beyond a simple job. And I think that’s the spirit, because on every single project you do, everyone keeps telling you it’s a bad idea, until you prove them wrong. I don’t know or ever heard of any film that didn’t require an incredible amount of resilience to be made.

Contact Info:

• Website: rafaelmaman.com
• Instagram: @rafa2323
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-maman-4b1069146/