Rehema Imani Trimiew: Student Filmmaker Captures Perspectives Outside the Mainstream
Monday, November 6th, 2006
Grad student Rehema Imani Trimiew has already made a number of films, including Sticks and Stones which has won a number of awards. Rehema enjoys sharing other points of view, perspectives and stories different from the mainstream.
Rehema first became interested in filmmaking because “it was fun,” she says, “It was a creative and exciting way to express myself visually. Recently it hasn’t been as fun because as I learn more, there’s so much more to deal with. I can’t just run around and set up a tripod and a camera and shoot. I think that as I get used to the process, it will become fun again.”
Rehema is currently in her third year of a graduate film program at Rochester Institute of Technology. “There’s a lot I’ve learned,” she says, “and a lot yet to be learned. I’ve found that at school it isn’t good enough to be good at one thing. I’d like to be able to just focus on directing, or producing, or simply to focus on one area and work on improving in that area. However you have to have good social skills to get people to crew for your films and then you have to create the time to work on theirs. You have to know all facets of pre-production through post to direct your film to completion since you are ultimately responsible. I don’t know what the most important lesson has been. Recently I’m learning that fundraising and the business side is significantly important and I have not learned this aspect of filmmaking at school.”
Sticks and Stones is a film which shows the “psychological repercussions of racial and class disparity in the American educational system”. It tells the story of a family – Darryl, Dolores and Rehema who fight against a teacher’s misperceptions of African Americans and her stereotypes regarding her student, Rehema. It is based on Rehema Triemiew’s life story.
Rehema has also taken part in a number of festivals and has won a number of awards. She described her experience at these festivals: “The Juneteenth fest in Dallas really allowed the participants access to the professionals. I spoke with Charles Burnett for about half an hour. Jordan Walker Pearlman, Hill Harper, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Roundtree, Tim and Daphne Reid, were all accessible and friendly. The Roxbury fest had a very congenial air and the community was extremely supportive of the filmmakers. The Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Fest really allowed me to meet and bond with filmmakers with interests similar to myself. We all were making films that related to African Americans, so already, the filmmakers shared interests. I am still in touch with several of the filmmakers that I met at the fest.”
In conclusion Rehema offered the following advice to aspiring filmmakers, “Try to have fun along the way because it could be a lot of work”. If you would like to know more about Rehema’s films you can visit her website at www.rehema.com
