Meryam Joobeur: A Few Of My Favourite Things

Picking up more than 70 awards from over 150 festivals and shows across almost 50 countries, as well as one of those Oscar nominations everyone goes on about, Loveboat director Meryam Joobeur's exceptional short Brotherhood put her firmly on the map.

Following a Tunisian family, the film explores the political and personal, and draws incredible performances out of its Arabic-speaking cast, displaying Joobeur's deft hand at emotionally powerful storytelling.

In telling us about the objects she keeps in her workspace, Joobeur touches on her Tunisian-American upbringing, a chance encounter that turned her film around and some figures that point to her feature-film future.

The Desk

A few years ago, I found pieces of wood on a curbside in Montreal and lugged them home. 

After a while, I decided to make a desk out of them and luckily had the help of friends. 

Since I spend quite a bit of time working at my desk, I’m happy there’s a story behind it. 

The Childhood Photo

Here I’m ten years old, pictured with my sister and two of my cousins. I wear the traditional clothes of my village of Sayada. Each article of clothing and piece of jewelry I wear is story in itself. 

In Tunisian culture a mother passes on her traditional clothing and jewelry to her children thus I have pieces inherited from multiple generations of women in my family. 

Ever since I can remember I loved stories, especially the folk tales my grandmothers would tell me. These folk tales were invaluable in developing my imagination and inspiring my own pursuit of becoming a storyteller. 

I enjoy having this photo on my desk as a reminder of my roots and it acts as a grounding force.

The Vinyl

In 2016 I directed my first fiction short Born in the Maelstrom. 

In the film, the spiritual hymn He’s got the whole world in his hands plays a prominent role in the first scene. 

The lead actress, Sasha Lane, happened to walk into Cheap Thrills, a famous vinyl store in Montreal, after the shoot and found this vinyl of the song. 

She gave it to me, and it’s been hanging in my office ever since. 

Meeting and collaborating with her was definitely one of the important highlights of making Born in the Maelstrom.

The Umma

This photo is of my maternal grandmother Fatma at the age of fifteen, a few days after she was married. 

My grandmother has a brilliant mind but was forced out of school when she became engaged at eleven. Not having an education is one of her big regrets. 

I feel an immense privilege to have the opportunities I’ve had and the support from my parents to pursue my passions. It hasn’t always been an easy road…but seeing this photo awakens my fighting spirit because I don’t want to betray the opportunities I’ve been given.

Umma Fatma continues to be my biggest champion.

The Award

My last short film, Brotherhood, was awarded the best Quebec short in 2019 during the annual IRIS cinema awards. 

Brotherhood won 75 awards around the world but this one is the most meaningful for me since Montreal is my adoptive home and where I started my cinema career. 

Given the fact that the film was shot in Tunisia and the dialogue is in Arabic made the award even more touching- a testament to the expanding acceptance of immigrant voices within my cinema community.

The Drawing

In Brotherhood, the cast included three brothers who are non-actors. I met the brothers by chance during a road trip in the north of Tunisia as they were leading their family’s sheep on the side of the road. 

My encounter with them inspired the story for Brotherhood and we become very close during the making of the film. 

The youngest Rayaan, now ten years old, made this drawing for me recently. Earlier in my career, I was focused a lot on the final product and failed to see the immense value of the process of creation. 

With experience, I’ve come to deeply value the process/journey of making art. 

The connections made when people come together and face the hardships and highs of making cinema are truly invaluable.