The editing room at the Saint Joseph University (USJ) Engineering Department smells of freshly painted walls and movie-room chemicals. French quotations decorate the walls, and except for the sound of typing coming from behind the desk, it is unusually quiet.
Suddenly Nadine Labaki appears, in a white cotton t-shirt sliding slightly off her shoulder and in a pair of stylishly ripped, tight jeans. She is petite and strikingly attractive, with long black hair and big, hazel eyes.
We take a seat on the two big, comfortable leather chairs lying in the studio, Labaki tucking one leg under her and resting her head against her hand. I mirror her position instinctively, feeling immediately as if I am in the presence of an old friend. She is very much at ease, yet still surprisingly poised and elegant.
I apologize for disrupting her, as she is in the middle of a long session of editing for a music video that she has just directed. Although she is not able to give anyone an advanced glimpse of it (as she does not like to show her work before it is finished) rumor has it that the video is highly “innovative” and “fresh.” But then again, so is everything, it seems, that Labaki has recently been filming.
At the age of 30, Nadine Labaki has already been the talk of the town lately, having quickly earned a reputation as one of the hottest directors in the field. In her fledgling career, Labaki has directed over 50 television ads for high-profile firms and has also received awards for several of them at the annual Phenix Awards for advertising.
But it is her unparalleled, highly modern approach to
music videos that has earned her an international reputation. Working with the biggest names in music ­ Nancy Ajram, Nawal Zoghby, Katia Harb and Carole Samaha, just to name a few ­ Labaki is currently one the most sought-after directors in the industry.
She has directed over 12 music videos and is the recipient of two back-to-back Murex D’Or “Best Video Clip Director of the Year” awards, one in 2002 for her work on singer Katia Harb’s video “Ma Fina,” and one this past year, for her work on superstar Nancy Ajram’s video “Ya Salam.”
“It’s difficult to say whether I enjoy directing music videos or ads more,” says Labaki. “Each one has its own special process. But I feel I have more freedom with music videos because they are like short movies. I don’t have an agency or specific strategy. It’s my idea and I have more freedom to work in the way I want.”
“In general, I like working with people who have confidence in me … who tell me, ‘tell us your vision ­ we don’t want to interfere … It’s been a good recipe until this point. People are really appreciating and liking my work. So I figure I’ll stick to it for now.”
Labaki was born in Baabdet to Antoine, a telecommunications engineer, and her mother Antoinette, a homemaker.
Her affinity towards film began at a young age, when, she remembers, she and her sister spent many nights watching movies together.
“I think that’s why I can speak English so well,” she says, chuckling, “from the literally hundreds of films we used to watch.”
According to Labaki, she always knew that she would end up in the film industry. After graduating from high school, Labaki enrolled at USJ where she confidently began her studies in audio/visual arts, consistently earning top prizes for her class projects.
Her then-classmate and now close friend director Zeina Sfeir, says that Labaki’s immediate success did not catch her off-guard at all.
“Nadine and I were in the same class and from the work I would see of hers during school, I’m not at all surprised that she has had the success she is having,” says Sfeir. “From the beginning of college, whatever projects she would hand in would put her at the top of her class.”
But it was really her final student project in college that got Labaki noticed. In 1997, Nadine directed a short film called “11 Rue Pasteur,” that won the ‘best short film’ award at the annual Beirut Film Festival. Immediately after, she began applying for various jobs and landed one as a producer at Impact BDDO.
Two years later, Labaki became an independent agent, taking up work directing television ads for various ad agencies. It was also during this time that Labaki began experimenting with music video direction. In 1999, Labaki made a short video clip for singer Pascale Mechaalny and soon afterwards, Nora Rouhal. But it was really her work with singing celebrity Katia Harb that would land the budding talent national fame.
“It came out of a challenge to myself. I used to see what was going on in Arabic music videos and I didn’t like what I saw. So when I began work on my first clip, I soon realized that it’s in my nature to change things.”
Labaki’s sister, Caroline, also herself now a well-known producer, was in her final year of production studies at USJ when her sister was asked to work with Harb. Caroline jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with her sister on the project, and, what one can call “the Labaki team,” was born. Since then, Caroline has produced most of Nadine’s recent videos.
“Nadine as a partner is very meticulous, very picky. She’s very demanding of you,” says Caroline. “But being sisters and working together is a very good thing because it brings out the best in both of us. It’s not really a job that we do ­ it’s more than just a job because Nadine puts her whole heart into what she does.”
Labaki’s comprehensive approach to directing video clips begins even before she stands behind a camera. “Obsessed” with studying human behavior, Labaki gets to know the artist beforehand and from there, attempts to find a character that suits him or her. She then becomes familiarized with both the artist’s music and lyrics, and “pictures spontaneously begin to come to mind.” With these images, the whole story for the clip begins to piece itself together. “Even if I try to think of something else, I always go back to that first image that the song gives me. It’s more instinctive,” she says.
“Some people say that I’m very difficult to work with,” says Nadine smiling. “But I don’t think so because I know what I want and I want it to be perfect.”
Lebanese singer Carole Samaha, who has worked with Labaki on two highly successful video clips, “Talla3 Fiye” and “Habib Albi,” agrees:
“Nadine really creates an atmosphere of sensuality and freshness on the set. Her culture, her vision of life ­ it’s all reflected in her clips,” says Samaha. “She adds depth to the artist’s song ­ you can easily see her blueprints in the work that she accomplishes. As an actor and singer, I really enjoy working with Nadine because she understands my character and is really able to get the best out of me.”
Getting the best out of people seems to be Labaki’s self-declared motto.
“It’s my duty, it’s every director’s duty, to bring out the best in each artist. I don’t have a problem working with anyone because I think that there’s something good in each person you meet, and it’s always a challenge for me to try to see what this person has and bring it out.”
“In my clips, I like to be true, I like to be authentic. In Nancy Ajram’s clip “Yay,” I wanted to be true to Lebanese culture ­ to show Gemmayzeh, to shoot the Lebanese bus, to film the hairdresser’s. I like to show real people because this is how people identify with the characters they’re watching ­ this is how and why they like them. I try to experiment a lot in my clips, approach each one differently, but every time there’s something very real about the artist ­ the way they look, the way they act.”
Perhaps this positive approach to her work and this constant search for authenticity is really a reflection of who Labaki strives to be.
“Nadine is a very very real, very down-to-earth human being,” says Sfeir. “Her character often comes alive through her work ­ the characters and the scenes she creates resemble and reflect stories either of her life or of the lives of people around her.  And she manages to channel this humanity through a commercial medium.”
Although Labaki enjoys her work at the moment, she hopes to move to other challenging areas of the film industry:
acting in and directing movies, in particular.
In a recent trip to New York, Labaki performed alongside Elie Karam and Mario Bassil in an Off-Broadway play called “Middle Beast,” written by Joseph Kodeh. Labaki then auditioned for and won her first role in a short movie called “The Seventh Dog,” about an Arab couple and their paranoid post-Sept. 11, 2001 life. Labaki considers her New York experience as an exam for her acting skills, an exam she hopes she passed.
Until then, Labaki will
continue to direct music videos and ads, work on her dancing
(a long-time hobby) and is taking piano lessons, “after all,” she says “a good director is someone who is complete.” Labaki is also in the process of writing and directing her first feature film.
Labaki also hopes to travel back to New York one day to pursue this acting bug or to collaborate with local actors and directors to work on a short film. But she insists that her visit would be temporary, as she is drawn to Lebanese culture, to the place of her birth.
“I do get frustrated at times in this society,” says Labaki. “I find myself often facing quite a few restrictions. People these days feel that people in the media, women in particular, are overdoing it, in terms of what they wear, in terms of their attempts to seduce. So this is where I feel restricted, because I have to think about people’s reactions to my work: Is the artist is wearing the right outfit? is she acting appropriately? It’s frustrating because I want to create characters that are even more daring, in terms of what they’re saying, in terms of the message they send.”
“I think Lebanon is the only place where I can change things … where I can contribute in doing something better. Maybe it’s too naive of me ... It’s a place where there are so many interesting personalities, so many interesting situations. I want to talk about my country, I want to talk about my people. And there are just so many stories to be told.”