Turning Her Dreams into A Reality, Filmmaker Marie Rouhban
Some of us are lucky in that we have known or suspected since childhood what our life career will be. And then when it comes time to choose that path, most of us take another route altogether. In a way, that is what happened with Marie Rouhban, the French/Lebanese film director. She has always loved films and the whole idea of storytelling. Of course, as she got older, a career in business appealed to her probably because it was stable work, and the pay was quite good and steady. So, after earning master’s degrees in economics and marketing and Strategy, she worked in the corporate universe for seven years. She decided to quit that work, however, and go to Los Angeles to become a film director after working on a marketing team making promotional videos. That was a light bulb reminder that what she loved as a child, she could achieve as an adult. So, she flew to California, attended UCLA Film School, and learned the technical facets of filmmaking and directing.
Marie has been a freelance director since 2021 and surprised everyone when her first film Scrapbooks, was so well received by all the film festivals it participated in. It also won the Best Script award at the Asian World Film Festival. The film’s story is about a young man who is working on his favorite hobby, Scrapbooking. He is in a patio where others eat lunch or just sit and relax. He realizes how lonely he really is when he overhears two older women catching up at a table close by. Scrapbooks was also selected to be in the Oscar qualifying L.A. Film Short festival, and participated in the California Women Film Festival, Abbot Kinney Fantastic Film Festival, French Riviera Film Festival and Hollyshorts monthly screening, among others.
Some of Marie’s other films she directed are:
The Bow (July 2022) which had its World Premiere alongside Oscar nominated short documentary Haulout and is an Official selection at the UCLA Film Festival.
Oh, Devil! (August 2022), a finalist of the 48 hours film project and was also an Official selection at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival.
Jean à la 13ème place (January 2023) Official selection at the Nikon Film Festival and it was among the 50 finalists of the Sens Critique Prize and ranked 50/2200 films for audience votes.
Suzie (& Jenny) (September 2022) that is being released later this summer.
