Lama Alsharhan
LA26 Industry Builder Fellow
Have you ever walked into a room of people whom you thought were more knowledgeable than you, who have seemingly better-equipped resumes, who appear to be of a higher caliber of experience and talent? You enter this room of peers, and immediately, you feel a spotlight shining down on you and all of your insecurities. The voice inside of you says that you don’t belong – that you’re an imposter. Aspiring Saudi filmmaker, writer, and director, Lama Alsharhan, knows this feeling of imposter syndrome, but her expertise is in the poise it takes to conquer this mountain of the mind.
Her love for visual media can be mapped back to childhood: “I was in the fifth grade,” Lama recalls. “There was this girl next to me. She was an amazing artist. She drew this character, and I thought, “Wow, this girl is creative. I liked cartoons, but I never imagined someone could actually [create] their own.” The possibilities started to swirl around in Lama’s head. Moments later, when the girl crumpled up the image she had just drawn, Lama waited until everyone in the class had left, walked over to the garbage can, and picked out the scribbled piece of paper: “I kept it because it was just one picture, but it told a story.” The unspoken thoughts from one person’s mind transferred to another’s effortlessly with these comic-like characters.
From a young age, Lama recognized that animation can eloquently relay deep and powerful lessons about “friendship, family, how to be a good person, and things to be careful of.” For example, “There’s this animation that taught me what harassment is. I’ve never experienced something like this, but I understood instantly.” It can convey heavy topics with a gravity that transcends the simplicity of words. “I fell in love with it,” she says. Lama knew there was a space in the world of film just waiting for her to fill.
Years later, she attended Effat University for visual and digital production. Lama jumped at every opportunity to absorb information about the industry. Her thirst to learn has taken her to Italy where she was selected for an MBC Academy scholarship to study filmmaking at the New York Film Academy, Japan for the Tokai COOL University Program, and to Spain for a program sponsored by the AFAC X NETFLIX. From each, she’s left with skills that have shaped the style of film she creates today. More than that, they’ve given her space to form face-to-face connections with other artists.
She was also selected to attend a character design program at the Gobelins Paris school in France. “I was intimidated because I felt like I wasn’t on par with everyone.” In comes the notorious imposter syndrome. But, as she collaborated with and observed the other talented animators – from Africa, the United States, and Switzerland – she realized that “They were all self-conscious. They would draw the most amazing things, and then they would cry afterwards. And I thought that was odd because I also wanted to cry.” Everybody in the room was focused on their own shortcomings. Spending time with strangers “opens your eyes up to cultures you never understood. You realize that we all have something in common. We’re all much more similar than we are different,” Lama says. What connects us becomes blaringly obvious through the lens of film. It’s complex notions like these that Lama strives to share through the disarming lighthearted nature of animation.
Her process starts with her notebook: “I write all my ideas, anything goes. I don’t judge myself. Afterwards, I try to clean it up.” She then connects all the techniques she’s picked up from her worldly education. Once she has a piece created, she seeks feedback from professionals around her; she collects advice, ideas, and perspectives, and puts it into action to better her work. She doesn’t stop until she gets it right: “I don’t give up; I can achieve whatever I set out to [do].”
In a persistent battle with imposter syndrome, the mind will try to disguise learning lessons as failures. In reality, it’s constructive mistakes that have made Lama more confident in her abilities. “Once you attempt something and you fail, there’s something in us humans where we don’t want to be labeled as the failure. We want to succeed. So, we will do it again,” Lama explains. She has enough experience to know that no matter how many setbacks she encounters, she’s always proven that, eventually, she’ll find the solution.
At times in her life, on the inside, Lama may have felt as though she was playing an imposter. But she persevered anyway. She did it scared. She did it with uncertainties. She did it with questions. She allowed her heart to push her beyond her comfort zone. Time and time again, Lama has faced her doubts headfirst driven by her love for film and her compassion for others. As a result, Lama is a successful filmmaker who marries clear artistic intentions with the ability to communicate her vision, and she creatively spars with other professionals to find the right direction for the story she’s telling. Her bold determination proves that when it comes to what someone is passionate about, there are no prerequisites that define their eligibility.
Written by Sydney Leclerc
