Meet Gigi Hozimah

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gigi Hozimah. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gigi below.

Gigi, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

My experiences as a young woman where I was born in old Saudi Arabia between the years 1982 and 2000 embedded a deep resilience within me. I’ve lived through societal restrictions that seemed to constrain women’s potential at the time, and where many of my female role models were torn down by these traditions, I felt differently and learned to question them. I was one who challenged assumptions and pushed boundaries, and ultimately my refusal to accept things as they were led to my resilience and independence as an artist and filmmaker. Between then and now, I’ve endured many hardships, like losing both parents during childhood and leaving Saudi Arabia for the UK to pursue an education in filmmaking without speaking English or knowing anything beyond the world I grew up in.

From my dreams, I learned that my greatest support came not from others but within me, and so I persevered. Now 23 years after leaving the country, I have written and directed 4 feature films through my own production company. Recently, I was welcomed back to Saudi Arabia recognized as a successful film director. My last two features “That Abandoned Place” and “It’s Always That Feeling” each won a Golden Palm Award at the Saudi Film Festival. The films that I have made so far carry pieces of my life experience, and this sincerity has resonated well among my audience. Although I can never truly return home because of all the people and family that I’ve lost in Saudi Arabia and the isolation I’ve sometimes felt while abroad, I’ve found a home in cinema and experienced joy in reconnecting with a new vision of Saudi Arabia that I am very proud to be a part of.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

My newest feature that just I finished filming “And Then Comes Winter” is a narrative drama of two married couples navigating their relationships in an American war scenario. It was shot and edited by my longstanding creative partner Christian J. Pinto and will premiere at the end of 2025 in a city soon to be announced.

In this film, I decided to examine the effects of war on our relationships and relate it to the internal wars we sometimes experience interpersonally, and also how these conflicts can shape the human condition. This is the second of my films that the talented Maritza Vives has starred in, and it’s among her best work as an actress. It’s an interesting topic considering the current global climate and I feel my audience will strongly relate.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Number one, risk-taking. Two, being stubborn. And three, not comparing yourself to others. Relatedly, the advice I would give is not to wait for the greenlight from anyone and just get started yourself. But before you do anything, you need to understand what you want, and if you don’t know then you need to learn more about yourself first. And lastly, be kind to yourself and others, and think about the company you keep. I wish somebody told me that.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I am always open to collaborate with people who have the same passion and sincerity to make films for the love of filmmaking, on a forum in which we can exchange knowledge and ideas. I can be reached on Instagram @gigihozimah or submit an inquiry to Look At The Wall Productions at www.lookatthewall.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lookatthewall.com
• Instagram: @gigihozimah
• Other: Imdb:

  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7433520/

Image Credits

look at the wall productions

Photographer Marwan Al Baheet
Saudi Film Festival