I use my eyes a lot to make decisions
composition lighting color atmosphere to
bring a picture together
or to tell a story now what I’m saying
the story it comes with a lot of
experience from what I have experienced
not necessarily yours if I bring 20
people here and we mesh those 20 people
and turn one body with 20 brains we’ll
have a very different picture because
there’ll be 20 ideologies 20 visions it
could be absolutely disastrous or it
could be something absolutely out of
this world now it’s very hard because in
our brain when we’re seeing we don’t
really see what we do is 90 percent we
think and when people tell you think
outside the box
no see outside the box and I’ll tell you
why in a second so reprogramming the
human mind and search for the truth
I would love to get a vacuum cleaner put
it in your ears and suck all your
thoughts out and start from a clean
slate and that person who might appear
from the other side who’s really you
might actually scare the living light of
you out of you because you might end up
seeing the truth and that’s the scariest
thing you can actually go through now
this is a very simple example of an
apple when we were kids they teach us
how to do a banana and apple and the
first thing you do is if I bring an
apple and I want you to please
experiment this tonight okay get a piece
of paper and start sketching an apple
that time 16 18 seconds very scary I
don’t want to see that okay so you have
a just because I get very distracted
with anything that moves so you see an
apple you try to sketch it and you will
automatically not see the Apple you will
use your memory and start sketching so
you will be doing this and then take a
glimpse maybe if you feel like it and
then you go back so what are you doing
is use it using your memory so my
teacher when we used to do that should
be like see look at the Apple should be
very aggressive about it I’m like what’s
wrong with this woman like fine so but
it was the most important lesson I would
say one of the most important lessons in
my personal life which I want to share
with you
now if you slice that how Apple in half
now that’s not a very familiar shape as
a child when you’re drawing right so if
you actually take this exercise and you
do the apple slice at home I guarantee
that look maybe the sketch would be
absolutely horrible but the sliced Apple
would be a bit more accurate than the
actual Apple why because you will use
your eyes not your mind because it would
look more alien to you so you will need
to get the information that’s out and
not the information that’s in here now
everyday life when we’re making
decisions what we’re doing we’re using
information from here and not from your
eyes and that’s why we have racism
different ideas pre notion you know
preconceived notion and whatnot so maybe
perhaps next time you have an idea you
think of it as a sliced idea so you can
look at it differently and and a whole
new perception can come out now
I know this is a horse syndrome and I
tell you this is a horse and everybody’s
lucky you have to pop enough pills to
really actually see a horse but it’s a
chair and to a lot of people it could be
a horse maybe the shadows a horse who
knows you know so sometimes it’s about
seeing and this is a chair why do you
think this is a chair because we were
taught as kids that this is how a chair
is you sit on one makes you relax yeah
the idea my grandmother said a story to
me once that resonated really well she
said and she was saying this in Arabic
you can never do the same thing in
English she’s like you know there’s a
bunch of women they’re really old
grandma here’s like 70 plus and it was
funny and she’s like well you know they
saw their first plane and they all went
down and they got this big basket of
food and they rushed to the plane and
they’re like oh the poor creature must
be really hungry and they actually did
this I think was somewhere in Sharjah
they went to start feeding the plane
gives it the first plane and you know
you might think this is absurd that
laughing at the concept but they were
actually generally wanting to feed the
plane not because they’ve never seen a
plane before that’s why to them it was
simply a creature now we might laugh at
that but we have some ideologies that we
have learned to know and memorize and
believe in them because we were taught
not because we wanted to because the
idea of not believing in them it’s so
scary and
you look at the word believe in the
middle of that word you’ll find the word
lie interesting okay now I have to sound
really smart here the cognitive
dissidence trust me I took me time to
pronounce okay so to make it very simple
and baby in baby terms which is I always
like to say things like that because it
just breaks it down it’s easier so it’s
when you’re inside is not aligned with
your outside let me just like more
complicated what I mean is that you are
dying to have that piece of donut right
and you know you’re like 20 kilos
overweight but you’re like you know if I
had that one donut it’s not gonna like
put on another kilo on me so what you do
is you make yourself feel better but
kind of lying to yourself by saying you
know if I had that one piece of donut
it’s not gonna make me fatter so what
happens is that you find an excuse to
let your internal imbalance of decision
make making feel better and that’s what
leon festinger’s social psychology is
one of the wonderful writers if you
study psychology and his next book which
is when prophecy fails it’s pop
psychology if you’re interested in
psychology and you want to read a book
that’s really fascinating about how
people think whether it’s conspiracy
theory whether it’s ideologies this is I
really recommend this book when
prophecies fail so anyway so let’s go to
the UFO example so there was a group of
people and he noticed that they were
they were very convinced it was it was a
cult probably and they believed in
doomsday and they wanted to tell the
world at December 20 or 21 is the end of
the world and they believed that because
they were so special and they had a
message from some alien dude writing
that message that they’re gonna be safe
the an UFO will come and save them so on
a particular day they all went and
waited for this UFO to come and save
them but guess what happened Nia for
never came they don’t do very much once
they understand the UFO never came and
you would think that they would actually
question their belief system and say
well maybe then they don’t exist or
maybe you know this is just an ideology
and it doesn’t really happen but their
belief and the UFO became stronger than
ever that’s very interesting and
explains it thoroughly in the book she
stopped the time by the way
so the UFO didn’t come and there believe
got much stronger why it goes back to
the to the idea that they did not want
their inside and outside not to be
aligned you know so they got more angry
and they didn’t want to believe that the
last ten years if all their work and
their life means nothing that is
shattered imagine you wake up sixty one
years old and he discovered that
everything you ever believed in is not
real that is a very painful thought it’s
a very scary idea okay so the man with a
briefcase now I want to give you some
examples from my life and how these
ideologies have impacted my life now I
started my business I was twenty five
and a half almost twenty six nobody
wanted to give me business in the city
no one I mean I don’t blame them but
still I was young I didn’t have a very
extensive portfolio and I was when I
went to meetings and I’m like there must
be something that I could do that can
change the perception their ideology now
why wasn’t I being trusted with business
I’m very young maybe a moment I’m not
sure I’m not gonna be biased but who
knows I’m tiny
without heels okay I’m really tiny okay
thank you no and I just they just didn’t
click with it and I don’t know if whose
Arab here
well Michelle okay you have you heard of
the white man syndrome okay I’m not
being racist here but you know someone’s
like yes I agree so let’s let’s pick on
someone here you know white males down
why oh there you go what’s your name sir
Alex Alex how much do you make an hour
don’t tell me just come up with a number
this is a dream you could make anything
you want 15 $1 an hour he’s really
actually giving a real number fine not a
problem
okay how about if I give you $100 per
hour
will you show up with me in a meeting
and just nod your head and be happy with
me not a problem that’s all you have to
do sit drink coffee and be good looking
good
yes see see if I get if I told him at $1
he wouldn’t do it why because his
insight won’t lie to the answer but
because the price went up he’s willing
to lie he’s willing to come with me good
good stuff
so uh so so the man with a briefcase is
what I did I needed to find my Lois name
again yes so I had a Steve a real guy
called Steve and he was my high schooler
actually college teacher and I said you
know what are you making he said this
much as a fine I’ll double the price
just have to come with me hold a
beautiful-looking briefcase right wear a
suit and just walking with so much
confidence and we did it and magic
happen we walked in the client sat down
they were all very impressed with Steve
although Steve had nothing to it
filmmaking and you know we had to talk
about we I had to train him a little bit
and he did great because he’s English
teacher they do acting so it looked very
natural and I closed my first account
why because he was all the things that
we spoke about
he was evidence that there’s insurance
they feel comfortable he had his opinion
so they felt really good and he will and
I wasn’t a threat anymore that the work
might not be as good as what they think
because there was Steve in the room
although his absence would not have
mattered it would have been the same
result because he didn’t work on the
project they never even asked where
Steve was after which was quite
interesting as long as they had you know
that that comfort I was like oh yeah you
know like the UFO people they had their
doomsday it’s a comfort zone so it
aligns with my ideology so I feel good
happy happy have one doughnut now
okay so this is another one which is
very interesting here my father my
father just like a lot of UAE national
dads they weren’t very thrilled when I
said I’m gonna study film and he’s like
why film like you know like he was
devastated I’m like you are a film
collector what did you expect you know
that’s I’ve been watching hundreds of
since I was a kid in your house and and
he wasn’t happy so he never ended up
watching any of the films I’ve made
which make me which makes me sad a
little bit and then I said okay I’ll do
a test let’s see if he actually sees me
in a different light if I change the
context of things so what I did I played
one of my latest films and I fast
forward the credit and I started at the
first frame of the film without showing
him that it was me and he laughed and he
giggled and he was at a great time and
then the credit came on it was like
written by an idol ha genuine his whole
demeanor changed like he was so angry
like I’m like you were laughing a minute
ago but why it’s because in his mind
women maybe shouldn’t be doing this it’s
taboo its controversial whatever it is –
you know his ideologies didn’t match but
as long as I wasn’t attached to the film
it was fine he was enjoying it very much
it’s very interesting when he put your
mind and attached ideas behind that
artwork suddenly you’re not impressed
with the artwork anymore so sometimes we
have to really see outside the box and
hear culturally creative now this is one
of the toughest things that we filmmaker
space and I’m sure if anyone’s in the
media or painters or artists you know we
live in the Middle East and we have
challenges of how controversial can you
get with your work so this is
interesting when I when I shot my first
film at Urbana I applied for the script
it got rejected because sometimes when I
describe something on a piece of paper
and I film it and I said before you can
have 20 people and 20 people film in 20
different ways now the guy who’s
censoring it’s probably using his
ideologies and he’s saying oh god oh
that’s no I can’t and I was no no no I
am gonna make this film and the more you
say note to me the more I want to do
something and my husband’s okay
so I shot the film and the same guy two
years later gave me an award for the
same film the one who did the censorship
so it’s very ironic I know but that’s
because I used symbolism exactly like
the script but the thing is when you
write something it could be very graphic
because you’re thinking of it in a
certain way but I might shoot it in a
way that’s not offensive at all so it’s
very interesting that this is a
challenge that we face as filmmakers
here when we are submitting scripts so
sometimes you have to maybe write them
according to what they might think so
you can at least get the approval and
then do them the way you want to do
please do not copy
I did not say these things okay I want
I know it’s a lot to take right now but
as he said freedom hurts because you
have to get outside your comfort zone
we’re usually when we when we want to
believe something we believe in a group
it makes us feel very comfortable which
is called actually a term called ship
ism like think but when you leave
that you get isolated sometimes you
might people might fight you for our
ideas they might even hate you for your
ideas I’m sure you’ve had a friend or
someone who did something so outside
your own ideology they’re like oh god I
don’t to be associated with that person
not because that person is bad or good
because your ideology your thoughts
might not align where there’s anymore or
the reverse you see someone in a very
bad light and suddenly they’ve become
aligned to your beliefs and thoughts and
suddenly they’re your best friend
so our projection in life is always
reflected to what we are thinking and
that sometimes can be dangerous because
you’re living in a comfort zone and
you’re really stepping outside the box
and seeing from a different perspective
you know so I would like to end this my
presentation by asking you what would
you change in your life and think of one
strong belief that you have that you
can’t absolutely live without so it can
be something like I’ll wear
blue t-shirt tomorrow yeah it has to be
something deeper and something that
could really shake your being
I’m not converting anyone I’m just
saying think of something that you can
definitely not live without and try to
do it for one day
you might not be able to do it but if
you do maybe something might emerge
something that could completely look at
you look at life in a very different way
that you would have never imagined and
maybe that will change the rest of your
life who knows try it and I would like
to give you this to think about which I
really like for yourself some
imprisonment of your own limiting
beliefs and prejudices thank you very
much [Applause]