We recently connected with Weam Namou and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Weam, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Early in my writing and film career, I realized that in order to turn my dreams into a reality I had to take certain actions (what others call risks). For instance, in 2003, I was at the Surrey Writer’s Conference in Vancouver, and met with three producers: one who’d produced Father of the Bride II, one who produced Pay it Forward, and the third, I forgot what he produced. I pitched to them my Iraqi American stories and their reactions were quite unique. They didn’t see how they could possibly adapt them into film. “It would be difficult to cast an Arabic movie,” one said. “Who would we cast for the leading role? Tom Hanks?”

I thought, it was possible to cast Tom Hanks in The Terminal, playing a foreigner. The film was inspired by an Iranian refugee who lived inside of a Paris Airport. It was possible to cast Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta as women, but it is impossible to get a good actor to play a normal Arab? Plus, the roles of “bad” Arabs have been easily played by other western actors, starting with Rudulph Valentino. In the 1920’s he starred in The Sheik and Son of the Sheik, two films which set the stage for the exploration and negative portrayal of Arabs in Hollywood films.

I didn’t make such remarks to the producers, one of which smiled at me as though I was a naïve little girl. In the middle of our conversation, he had even winked to his colleague, as if to say, “Isn’t she a darling creature to have such profound visions?”

I walked away, uninfluenced by their discouragement. Yet I understood that if I was to have my stories reach the largest audiences possible, which would be through films, I would have to create that opportunity for myself. Otherwise, my stories would simply collect dust.

The Surrey conference was in October, and by September of 2004, I was a film student at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan. It was a one-year program, and I was the only female student in my class. This was all happening while I was engaged to my now husband, preparing for a wedding, and starting a new home. By the time I started my short thesis film, I was married and during post-production, I was pregnant and dealing with morning sickness.

My thesis, a comedy called Green Card Wedding, was played at Novi’s Emagine Theater. The reaction was wonderful – people laughed where they should have laughed. This process started my journey as an independent filmmaker. I have since written, directed and produced two films; a feature documentary which has won over a dozen film awards from all over the world including the United States, France, Italy, Singapore, and India. This year, I completed a feature narrative film, Pomegranate, which is currently touring festivals. Pomegranate was selected quarter finalist by Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope and later Buffalo 8 Productions of Santa Monica became a partner and Scott Rosenfelt, the producer of Home Alone, Mystic Pizza and Critical Thinking became our executive producer.

Throughout every step I had to be willing to take risks with my time, energy, and money. Many people thought that as a woman of Middle Eastern background I would receive the type of support reserved for minorities. That never happened, despite all my attempts. Coming from a background where my people were oppressed and persecuted, I knew that the only way to get things done was through hard work, a belief in myself, and faith in God.

Weam, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born in Baghdad, Iraq to an indigenous people known as the Chaldeans (Neo-Babylonians who today still speak Aramaic). I immigrated with my family to the United States at age ten and spent the next ten years trying to adjust to my new world. I was a minority in Iraq as a Christian and here in the United States, I was again a minority as a Middle Easterner. I often joke that I’m an expert at being a minority.

After graduating from Wayne State University with a bachelor’s degree in communications, I had intended to apply to law school and write part time. After some reflection, I decided to write full-time and travel the world. Thus began my writing career. It was an amazing time where I traveled, wrote, and involved myself in several correspondence writing courses (this was before the internet). One of the writing programs including a summer program in Prague through the University of New Orleans. Another was attending one year of film school (fulltime) at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan. Throughout my career, I attained top notch New York literary agents, such as Frances Kuffel, attended first-class writing conferences, and worked with Hollywood producers such as Scott Rosenfelt and Sam Sako.

My path was not easy. Originally, all I wanted to do was write books. My design changed in the mid-1990s when I realized the extent of stereotyping that exists in the West regarding the Middle East in general and the women of that region in particular. I was on transit at Heathrow Airport when I entered a bookstore and saw a rack of novels about Arabic women written by western authors. Each front cover showed a veiled woman in distress and on the back, a synopsis told of her attempts to flee from an abusive husband, father or brother. I was disturbed that that was the only type of lifestyle displayed for the public.

When I returned to America, I searched for books and movies that depicted stories with either influential or simply everyday Middle Easterners, stories that portrayed the healthier part of the Arab world. There were hardly any out there, especially not when it came to the women. From that point on I was determined to write nothing but true life stories of my people and culture – which includes the good and the bad, with no preference to either but rather, a commitment to a fair portrayal. Many westerners appreciated my style and subject. My former agent, Frances Kuffel, and an Iraqi book critic compared my work, my comic tone, to that of Jane Austin, who places importance on little matters—as Emma says, “on which the daily happiness of private life depends.” Ironically, years later, an Arabic reviewer made the same criticism of my work. There were others, however, who had suggested that in order for me to make the best seller, I write more marketable stories – about terrorists and honor killings.

I refused to do so because that was not part of my reality, nor the Middle Eastern women that I knew. I was not willing to write sensationalized stories for the sake of bestselling status. I refused to cater to those who preferred to see me and my characters in victimhood roles. I’m very proud of that decision now, because my work has inspired men and women everywhere. My writing style and story topics has earned me a more popular and respected status amongst the community, the writing and film industry, and the world at large.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Shooting for the film Pomegranate was scheduled for September 13, 2021. In April of that year, I got COVID and was sick for two weeks and hospitalized for five days. It was so bad, I thought I could possibly die. When I came home, I could barely walk a few steps without then lying down to catch my breath or take a nap. Ahead of me was a load of work that due to budget cuts, I had to manage on my own. My husband was working all day and as a mom of two pre-teens and a dog, I still had responsibilities at home. As the executive director of the Chaldean Cultural Center, I had responsibilities at work. I had no idea how I would be able to manage it all.

The only option I had was to still the mind (COVID had helped with that) and simply surrender to the process. I did what needed to be done through tiny baby steps. With my cast and crew’s help and by the grace of God, we were on schedule and shot the film in 14 days, going only one day over the scheduled timeframe which is a miracle in itself.

When you face death, you also face life. When I was on that hospital bed, I saw myself lying in my grave one day, and I knew that when I made it back out, I would do whatever it took to make my dreams come true.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn giving my power away to those I thought were in power, especially in the publishing and film industry, When you are born in a country with an authoritarian regime, where freedom of speech and creativity are discouraged, where women’s rights barely exist, you learn to give your power to those in certain positions and institutions. In the past, I relied on certain people and institutions to approve and validate my work. In return, they kept sending me rejections. This confused and threw off my creativity. Thanks to mentorship by amazing teachers who understood and appreciated who I am and what my work is about, I was able to realize “I don’t need them.” I looked within to find my own voice and break through barriers. This led me to discover a community of wise people who embrace my work.

Over the decades, I noticed many talented people giving away their power. Filled with doubts and fears, they rely on someone with a big name to confirm the quality of their work or the title they seek. They are paralyzed by their fear of change, or being ridiculed, or failing at their attempt to pursue their dreams. They sit as observers rather than participants, allowing their manuscripts to collect dust, their projects to pile on rejections, and their family and friends to dismiss or discourage their ideas. They are afraid of taking a risk, but what they are doing is very risky as well. They are risking their happiness and their opportunity for their work to grow and excel.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://weamnamou.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weamnamou/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weamnamou
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weamnamou/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/weamnamou
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsPR-jmBZswiqcmr5FYqN8w
• Other: https://www.chaldeanculturalcenter.org/

Image Credits
Picture of Weam Namou and Kevin Hewitt (cinematographer) by Kenneth Moss Picture of Weam Namou and Sam Sako (producer) by Lindey Lenk