Film Festival Success: A Lovely Sight by Norah Laoui ’24

The short film, A Lovely Sight, written, directed, and shot by Norah Laoui ’24 has found success on the film festival circuit, winning several awards. Norah recently corresponded with Patrick Johnson, chair of the Film, Media and Communication department, about the process of making the film and the recognition it has received.

Patrick: Tell me about the evolution of the project. 

Norah: A Lovely Sight was created for a Cinematography course assignment to create a 30 second film that used cinematography to convey an emotion. I had brainstormed a few ideas but one that I kept coming back to was my idea of visually expressing the concept of “love at first sight”. My inspiration for the story came from a place of wanting to challenge myself to visually show two people falling for each other without the use of words. I have always been a fan of films & tv shows that show this idea that love is not always shown through words but through actions & people’s eyes; films like Pride and Prejudice (2006) and other romance period pieces that rely on creating romantic tensions through looks and emotional intimacy instead of physical intimacy. 

What were the challenges in making the film? 

One challenge was to simplify the story. My story pitch was a bit too complex and I was trying to convey unnecessary details and information about the characters instead of focusing on the “love at first sight” concept.  Another challenge was finding actors and crew. Many of the people who I usually work with were busy creating their own films and I was filming right before March break so many people had already gone home. 

Finding actors was even more of a challenge. I actually finalized my cast 48 hours before filming. I’m thankful I have amazing friends who were willing to be a part of my films.. It was a nice reminder that they see how much filmmaking matters to me and will drop stuff to help me out. 

What are aspects of the film that you’re proud of? 

I’m really proud of the cinematography itself and how much I was able to develop my skills in just one project. From learning and practicing lighting ratios to creating fake sunlight and making it look natural to using framing and camera angles to convey a character’s emotional state and creating depth in each frame. I was proud that my finished project had the look and vibe I envisioned and had pitched in my moodboard/pitch deck. 

What film festivals has the film screened in? 

Film festivals that A Lovely Sight has been screened at so far are The Shawna Shea Film Festival (USA), Scandriglia Film Festival (Italy), Shirley Film Festival (USA), Access Film Fest (USA), No Words Film Festival (Greece) and of course my favorite, Wheaton’s own Woscars hosted by Film Collective. In total the film was selected for/nominated for (as of now) 8 film festivals and has won two awards Best Cinematography (Woscars) and the Shawna Spirit Award (Shawna Shea).

It has been a privilege to engage with different film communities represented by these festivals. Each one has been an honor and has taught me a lot about how film festivals work. As amazing as these successes were, for every win there were probably three “no’s” behind each yes but I have learned that those no shouldn’t diminish those yes’s. Each yes meant a group of people liked my film and wanted to share it with their communities.

What has the reception to the film been like? 

The reception has been really great. One of my favorite interactions was with a film festival host who presented the film with an award in honor of the festival’s values (the festival was in honor of his daughter who has sadly passed away) and made a speech to the audience about how much he and others had felt watching my film and how it was a nice bit of light in the craziness and darkness of the world. 

What are you up to currently? Do you have any future film projects in the works? 

I just started a social media internship for an indie romcom film called “The Weekend on Cape Cod When Everything Changed”. This film is one project that I’m really excited to be a part of, as I get to see the whole indie filmmaking process from crowdfunding to production. The film is also helping to bring positive representation for MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) to the film industry, both in front of and behind the camera.

I also have been working as a freelance production assistant (PA) on various projects from short films to commercial gigs. I will say this year hasn’t been easy as I would have planned, mainly because the film industry across the country has been very slow due to a decrease in productions and investments. So in between gigs I’ve been using the slow periods as an opportunity to write more scripts and plan future projects with friends under my production account Laoui Productions.