Promotional image for the Film Festival held 3/09, of which Ashraf participated
In my interview with Hena Ashraf, a rising filmmaker and graduate from the University of Michigan, I discovered what goes on in the mind of a young, progressive muslimah filmmaker.
Tell us a little about yourself?
I was born in London and my parents are from India. We moved to the States from the UK a long, long time ago, to Detroit,Michigan of all places. I have two older brothers.
Did you always know you wanted to be a filmmaker?
Growing up, I never ever wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, anything like that. Ever. I had a mild interest in journalism and that was pretty much it. I also wanted to be a DJ and/or a music producer. When I was around 16 my family was encouraging me to figure out what I wanted to do for a career. Somehow, I thought of "filmmaker". I still remember that moment, sitting in my bedroom, and "filmmaker" popped into my head. And it just made complete sense, I can't explain it. It really seemed like, ok this is it, this is what I should do. I didn't really know why I wanted to do it. You can imagine how my parents reacted - "filmmaker" was not something they had been hoping for me to say, in response to them encouraging me finding out what I wanted to do. Now of course, I'm 22, and I have developed a strong sensibility of advocating for and making independent media, and so I want to make films to be a part of that movement and strengthen it. But when I was 16, all I knew was that I wanted to be behind the camera and not be in Michigan, but I didn't know why I should do it.
How did you get into film?
My high school offered only one media-making course, and I took it. I eventually enrolled into the University of Michigan after realizing there was no way I could afford NYU, despite trying so hard to get in. I know now though, that I probably was accepted at NYU only because I wasn't another white boy who wanted to be a director. Anyway, I went to U of M but never once did I regret it or looked back. One month into my freshman year I declared my major as Film & Video Studies. U of M's film program is just like anywhere else's - you get out of it what you put into it. It was a great learning experience for me; I met amazing people and did some interesting work that was a good learning curve. I spent a summer in NYC interning and then went to London for a year and made a film there. I definitely think that my university experience was a good, solid, foundation. I am lucky enough that my parents pretty much let me do whatever it is I wanted to do, or begrudgingly accepted it. Even when I heard "No" multiple times, I was still stubborn and did what I wanted to do. That's how you need to be - extremely stubborn, and motivated, if you want to go into a creative field. But my folks were still pretty great - they saw how stubborn I was and knew there wasn't much point in telling me "no" anyways. They realized after a while that the filmmaking thing wasn't just a phase.
Who do you admire in the field?
I really admire other independent media-makers. That includes journalists, musicians, filmmakers, etc. Because it is damn hard doing this kind of work, making independent media, and for people who are doing it completely independently, i.e. outside of the studios, outside of corporate money, it is not easy. So I really admire people who give it all they got and make amazing, profound, and insightful work.
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