In the words of Eva Garas: “I’m now more confident of my skills as a rising director”

After graduating with an engineering degree, Eva Garas discovered her love for film directing and decided to switch careers. However, she found it difficult to secure practical experience on sets. Once she heard about UN Women’s film-directing training, she applied immediately.

“I graduated with an engineering degree, yet I didn’t really want to work in that field, so I began a journey of self-discovery to identify my passion. At the time, I was directing a play for my church as an amateur, and it all started from there.

I decided to learn everything I could about film directing through online tools and friends in the field. However, I wasn’t able to enrol in any directing course due to financial constraints and limited access to training opportunities.

When I heard about UN Women’s trainings in the creative industries, I closely followed the online announcements and waited eagerly for the film-directing training to start. When I was accepted for the training, I felt that this step would have a great impact on my career.

I learned a lot from the training, which included intensive and valuable information. I realized the importance of the preparation and pre-production phase and its significant effect on later stages of shooting and editing. During the documentary competition organized for the trainees, I was the director on my team. This allowed me to gain the full hands-on experience of being a director – and I loved it!

After completing the training, and through its network, I was selected as an assistant director for two different film-production projects. For the first time, I was involved in the decision-making process of film production. I would openly discuss the technicalities with the director and the film crew to agree on the best way to move forward. I’m now more confident of my skills as a rising director, and I’ve become more outspoken in sharing my ideas and views.

I used to have some hesitations and doubts regarding my decision to switch careers. My family also thought it was better to focus on my career as an engineer and, if I wanted, to pursue filmmaking as a hobby. However, I’m now confident that I made the right decision to pursue what I love. In addition, when my family saw me working on several projects after the training, they started believing in me and supporting my decision.

One day I’ll direct my own films. I’m passionate about addressing several social issues, including women’s inheritance rights and mental and psychological well-being. Through my films, I want to create positive change in our communities and leave my fingerprint on the Egyptian film industry.”

The film-directing training Eva joined was part of a wider set of creative industry trainings delivered by Arascope, in cooperation with Media-Arts for Development. It falls under the regional joint programme “Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work for Women in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine,” which is implemented by UN Women and the International Labour Organization, in partnership with the National Council for Women and the Ministry of Manpower, with the support of the Swedish International Development Agency.

Eva was among the 100 distinguished women trainees who received internship opportunities. In addition, 30 selected trainees were divided into teams that produced three women-led documentaries for a competition on portraying stories through women’s eyes. The documentaries have been submitted to the upcoming edition of the Aswan International Women Film Festival.