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“When I started out, and largely for the first few years in Jordan, there were no women role models”
a refugee camp back home in her native country, Jordan. “I love that I’m able to take all the things I’ve learnt over the years and apply them at home, where I can be part of the overlooked stories that remain real issues in the region I come from, even when they aren’t covered in the mainstream media,” she adds. Marar was also a B camera operator on House of the Dragon in 2022. In fact, it was last year when she was ‘desperately looking for resources’ to help her navigate her career and the industry. However, all she could find at the time were podcasts and interviews with highly successful people, which at times felt unrelatable. “It’s nice to know that Roger Deakins has been fired from a job some time in the past, but it’s harder to relate to the story now considering he’s one of the most successful cinematographers in the world,” she says. “I wondered why there aren’t more resources focused on women and maybe on women who are in the process of stepping into new roles, or perhaps doing amazing work that isn’t on the scale of Hollywood.” Instead of sniping from the sidelines, Marar took positive action. She decided she could be part of the solution even if it meant starting a podcast amid an already saturated medium. “I started Conversations with Camerawomen , where I would chat with women in all different stages of their careers in the camera department: trainees, ACs, operators and DOPs talk about their
KNOWLEDGE FOR GOOD Via podcast, Marar uses her expertise to share relatable industry journeys
journeys and work. The focus is not on gender specifically, but on their work. If there were stories that happened to be related to gender, those are experiences a lot of other women (and men) can relate to or learn from.” Marar reserves special praise for CVP, which is helping her develop ideas on the tech side. “CVP is a group of wonderful, knowledgeable people who I know care about the industry in more ways than just business; their support of this endeavour means a lot to me,” she asserts. “Together, we are thinking about how we can grow, so watch this space.” A ROLE MODEL Despite Marar’s remarkable achievements, she’s still very much the minority in a male- dominated space. She says it’s great to see how far the industry has come in terms of the number of women, especially in the camera department, but sometimes she’s reminded there is still a way to go. “On one project, I was taking apart a piece of very specialised camera equipment
and diagnosing the problems with it, when a camera operator said to me: ‘Oh you’re a woman, but you still seem to know how to handle these technical things,’” she recalls. “As if being a woman negates your ability to be technical. But I get it, back then it might have been an unfamiliar sight. When I started out, and largely for the first few years in Jordan, there were no women role models to look up to and think – well that’s possible for me one day.” Now, Marar is an inspiration to every woman from any walk of life who harbours ambitions of a career in filmmaking.
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TECHNICAL COMMAND Marar has forged her way in a male-dominated industry, opening the path for women in filmmaking
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