Meet visual storyteller, Rijaa Nadeem. Born and raised in Pakistan, Rijaa has been creating art for as long as she can remember. Rijaa’s inspiration comes from a multitude of life and her perspective of it. She has the unique ability to capture everyday realism and blend it with stunning contemporary minimalism. Her work strongly reflects her traditional Pakistani upbringing with a hammering modern American blend. Rijaa’s mission statement with each piece is to showcase the magic in the smallest moments in life. Before turning her focus back to her first love, Rijaa created content for an abundance of TV networks such as Reelz, Discovery, Cooking Channel, and HGTV. Her short form narrative projects have screened at some of the most prestigious and decorated festivals around the world including Cannes, Kashish Mumbai film festival, and Women Texas film festival. Rijaa’s ability to visually display genuine stories has been the constant throughout her life and she remains driven to create meaningful art in order to express her voice. I’ve excited that she wanted to sit down and discuss her upcoming projects.
Were you interested in art from an early age?
I honestly don’t even remember when I started painting. It’s always been a huge part of my life and you know when you’re younger, you start out painting in classes or it’s just something children do. I was just always really invested in it. My mom noticed that and started putting me in art classes and art contests. So as far back as I have any memory, I just remember painting.
Is it true that every portrait you have is based on real people you’ve seen or met?
Roughly, yes. I think a lot of people that I meet inspire the paintings that I create. They might be roughly inspired by it, but I do think a lot of the paintings I create, or the idea of that character comes from someone I’ve met in real life. It might be from a book or it might be from a movie. A lot of my portraits are inspired by characters I’ve seen in my life. I think there are some people that I’ve met in my life that are becoming a recurring subject in a lot of my paintings. I understand the character and I understand who they are and yeah, I think a lot of my paintings are inspired by one person, even though they might look completely different. Because when I paint, it’s not as much as capturing the person and the reality of what that person looks like, it’s more so capturing how that person made me feel and more so capturing what the vibe of that person is or what emotion in that specific painting I want to portray.
How important were mentorships in your life and how did they advance your work?
I’ve been very lucky in my life to have had amazing mentors in every step of the way. My first mentor was one of my first art teachers and she’s had a huge influence in my life. I went to study art from her when I didn’t even know that I was going to end up pursuing art as a career choice and then in high school, one of my biggest mentors, who’s had a huge influence and I partly credit her for the reason I got into art and art as a huge part of my life. One of the biggest impacts she had on me is that she made me realize that art can be my life and that it’s something I can pursue. I think the biggest thing I struggled with until recently I would say would be confidence and the belief in myself that I’m good enough to do this. And the one thing I really appreciate and I’m grateful for, from all my mentors, is that they believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and they really helped me understand my own potential. While still making art in high school, I gained valuable lessons from Mahwish Idrees and used those qualities towards my advancement into universities. Then I went on to college, where Bart Weiss and Ya’ke Smith were two of my biggest inspirations on the campus. They’re both amazing filmmakers and they’re partly the reason I’m the filmmaker that I am today. They had taught me how to tell stories and they taught me how to really understand characters. One of my biggest influences in my professional life would be my boss. Andy Streitfeld was an amazing mentor to me, and he really was the same pattern. He believed in me when I didn’t really believe in myself and he’s the one who taught me a lot about the business aspect of art and of film and of the creative field. Brad Osborne was an amazing coach when it came to a director perspective. I’m sure you’ve seen some of his stuff on TV. He’s done a lot of things and he was just an amazing person and amazing mentor and he taught me so much about what kind of director I wanted to be and what kind of a filmmaker I wanted to be.
Are there any tips you might give to a college student who’s not sure they can monetize off their artwork?
Being a creative and being an artist is a beautiful thing, but I think the reality of it is that like anything else in the world, it is a business. It’s very important to understand how to manage yourself, your creativity, and your business. I have noticed that in college people who are usually creative tend to just stay away from the business side and in the process, they don’t really understand what it takes to get your work out there. In college, I actually did a minor in business which helped me tremendously to understand the business world and that is what helped me get into the film industry. The biggest advice I would give is don’t fear it and that it can be taught. Try to understand it because you can hire managers, but I think it’s very crucial that you understand it yourself, so you understand what kind of business you want your brand to be.
Are there any major expenses in film that watchers might be surprised about?
That’s an interesting question just because I think filmmaking has evolved so much and we can create a whole movie just with our iPhone now, which is amazing. I think absolutely you need a lot of money to create big productions, but you can also create amazing work with less equipment now and I think that’s amazing. I think cost is relevant and you can have an understanding of how to use the equipment and the budget with what you have, but you would be surprised at the projects you can do at half the proposed budget. With big budgets, so much of the money goes into very miscellaneous costs.
Were there any major cultural differences between Pakistan and the United States that carried over into your films?
I first came to the US; I had no idea how to make a film. It was very overwhelming, and I had no idea how to even start. Even when I started college, I didn’t even know I could study film. I thought I was going to be part of the communication department and then I came to UTA and they said that there’s a film program and I was shocked. So that was to me that I could study film and just filmmaking as an art rather than communication because I wasn’t interested in news, I wasn’t interested in journalism. I wanted to tell stories and I wanted to do film, but all of my technical knowledge came from my professors and my college here in America. I was able to take all of that and go back to Pakistan and collaborate with amazing filmmakers over there to create that project and I think that was one of the most valuable experiences of my life. I loved working with my peers in Pakistan and there’re so many amazing filmmakers in Pakistan. They just don’t get enough exposure because America has a huge film industry, but it also has a huge independent film industry through film festivals. It’s very celebrated. It’s very available. In Pakistan, I think it’s starting to become very valuable and they’re starting to create film festivals and they’re starting to get that exposure, but it’s not anywhere near as how America has it established.
Do you think diversity is becoming more common within major films?
I think there’s progress. I don’t think it’s anywhere near what it should be yet, but I do think more diverse people are being given the opportunity. Diverse people are taking the opportunity for themselves because they’re tired of being on the sidelines and instead of waiting for someone to give them a chance they’re creating those opportunities for themselves and I think that’s amazing. Once they create that opportunity, then they want to bring on other diverse people and give them opportunities. So I think a lot of the major players in Hollywood are still not diverse and I think there’s still this stigma because they’re looking at diversity more of a token as in we need to fulfill our diversity quota in this film so that we don’t get backlash. A lot of major players are still looking at diversity in that sense. However, I will say at least it’s still giving opportunities to diverse people, which otherwise they wouldn’t get.
Has your work with production and directing changed your relationship with directors?
Absolutely. I understand both sides of the spectrum well and that’s where I come in. I think what makes me a stronger director is my thorough understanding of producing. Because if I want to create something, I understand exactly how to do it and I understand exactly what I need to do it. With creatives, I think sometimes you reach this obstacle or this wall when you want to create something, but you have no idea how to execute it. But my business side has given me the ability to understand how to execute anything I want to execute.
How many compromises or edits are done to an original script?
It’s funny, I like to say that when you write a script, it’s one story, When you shoot it, it’s a different story and then when you’re done editing it, it’s a completely different story. The script goes through so many different processes. For a TV show, it’s a little different just because you’re going into production, understanding thoroughly of what is needed. I’m talking about the TV shows that I have worked on because I worked on a lot of reality shows, but also a lot of shows that were based on true events. In those cases, there are not many modifications that need to be done. The major work is done before we shoot, because we need to research what we’re shooting, and we need to make sure it’s accurate to the facts. But when it comes to my own personal films or my short films, the story evolved tremendously. I do so many versions of the script and then when I shoot, it evolves more based on the theme, sometimes based on the challenges we might face on set and then when I edit I’ve cut characters, I’ve cut scenes, I’ve cut complete dialogues in the end result. I’ve completely changed how the dialogues are edited together.
Is it easy to form long-term collaborations with people in the film industry?
I think casting involves so much more than what a person looks like. A casting involves how a character is acting, how is the actor, and the actors bringing that character to life. But one of the most important parts of casting is how they’re communicating with me and if they can take my direction well or not. When I’m casting, I’m also trying to understand their communication with me. When you see Scorsese says stuff like he enjoys collaborating with one actor, it’s because they already have that understanding established. I completely understand why he works with the same actors again and again. I enjoy working with certain people more than others, but it really depends on the role. I’ve honestly enjoyed working with all of the actors that I’ve ever worked with to be very honest and I think part of it is because I cast them based on how they’re communicating with me, so that’s a huge part of casting.
How has your paintings and art portfolio been progressing?
As I mentioned, I’ve been doing film for the last decade. That’s what I studied in college and all my focus kind of diverted at that. I was creating short films and was in the film festival circuit and then the pandemic happened last year and the world shut down and I just had a lot more time on my hands because I was used to going out to the office or just being out all the time. I just was home a lot more. I had a lot of time on my hands, but also painting has always been my most genuine form of self-expression. So when the pandemic did happen, as a lot of people were experiencing, I was experiencing some mental hardships as well and I went back to painting because it felt like the best, most solid way for me to express myself. I started literally by just taking out my sketchbook and just painting whatever I wanted, just painting whatever I felt and then I started posting it on Instagram and it just took on a life of its own. I never could have imagined that I would be painting as much as I am now. I never could have imagined that it would turn into a business like it has, but I was just painting whatever I felt and then I started posting it and it just resonated with people and people started reaching out to me, people started commenting and then eventually people started reaching out to me for commissions. It all happened very naturally. It evolved very naturally and the more it evolved, the more I realized how much I was enjoying it.
Do you think Covid-19 would have any long-term effects on your artwork?
I think the pandemic affected a lot of the art and a lot of the artists in the world. For me personally, I don’t think COVID itself affected my style or my subject matter. I think being in the pandemic and being in a lockdown gave me the time to explore my style and my subject matters. A lot of my painting is influenced by my filmmaking education background. I never used to paint characters like I do now. Now every painting of mine is a character really because every painting almost to me feels like a still frame from a movie with a character who has a name and a story and the exact moment where they got into the scene. You might not be able to tell from the painting, but for me, I have a whole backstory for each character, a name and everything when I’m painting. It really is my film education which has allowed me to paint figures and characters like I do now.
Are there any upcoming projects you wanted to mention?
I’m always working on projects. I’m always working on multiple projects and more so about prioritizing which projects at which time. I can talk a little bit about filmmaking first. There’s this one film that I shot a while ago and I’m working on finishing it up. This one is called, “Meet Him at Noon” and it’s very close to the finish line and I’m very, very excited to finish it and I’m hoping to put it in the festival circuit soon. I’m extremely excited about finishing up this project. It’s just a very personal project for me, so I can’t wait to finish that one. On the other hand for painting; so many things are going on for painting. I’ve closed my commissions for now, just because I wanted to focus on some personal projects and some gallery pieces. So that’s why I closed off commissions but there’s one project that I’m working on. I’ll give the title. The title is “Come Fly with Me” and I’ve been working on this one for a little bit and it’s a big piece. It’s three feet by four feet.
