Loaded Bow

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase just take the first step.  -  Martin Luther King Jr.

Lindsay Nahmiache looks to this valuable quote whenever she faces that internal questioning of deciding what she is about to do in life and career.

Lindsay currently lives in Vancouver, Canada. She went to school at The American International University of London, UK. After which she found herself working for E! Entertainment London (EMEA). Lindsay then decided to move to Mumbai, India and work in Bollywood. She moved back to Vancouver in 2007 to be closer to her family and explore the use of film for social change. Founder of Jigsaw Communications and Co-founder of the Projecting Change Film Festival Lindsay is working to blend commercial films and social activism. This upcoming month she will be working at The Toronto International Film Festival.

Loaded Bow:  After London, you moved to India to work in Bollywood.  Can you describe the environment you worked in?

Lindsay Nahmiache in Indian Dress

Lindsay Nahmiache: Hmm, words to describe working in India… “Fascinating, challenging, inspirational, endearing, terrifying, amazing.”

Whenever people ask me that question it is easy, but difficult to answer. Travelling there is one thing, but living and working there is a complete other. I was lucky to work for an Indian company that was run by two brothers. Their family basically adopted me and I got to be a part of something that was beyond what, at the time, I defined as a traditional workplace. I worked hard every day (10-12 hours/day; there was no such thing as weekends in the Indian Film Industry - likewise with most film industries)  But at the same time there was a huge emphasis on family.  When I would finish work at 10pm, without fail I would be invited to someone’s house for dinner; all the family would be waiting and we would dine together. It was wonderful.

Eating with Family- one of my bosses Aditya and his son Adiraj

LB:  How were you treated in Bollywood?

 LN: Aside from the fantastic family atmosphere, there were also some very challenging aspects to working in India. I experienced a high level of racism for being ‘White” or “gori” as they call it. People would stare wherever I went and try to test my resolve in all business negotiations. As a result I had to build up this strong exterior to make sure that I didn’t become a pawn in someone else’s game. I think that training, balanced with an ability to be compassionate and understanding has helped me a lot in sticking to my instincts and getting things done.

On a slightly humorous and challenging side, I was also constantly mistaken for a Russian Prostitute. The town that I lived in was called Andheri.  It was over an hour North of Mumbai Center.  This is where all the tourists went. At the time, Andheri did not have that many foreigners in it though it has changed a lot in a few years. While there, I was often approached by men asking if they could “buy me a drink“ or many asked outright “how much?“ At first I didn`t understand, but then one of my colleagues explained to me that over the years there had been a large influx of Russian Sex workers to that area and as a result I got to add that to my “culture shock” experiences.

 LB:  Film production and festivals are so dependant upon collaboration.  How do the people you work with affect the work environment you encounter each day?

 The people that you work with during Film production and festivals affect work environments in a huge way. During various projects colleagues become more like families than anything. You become so dependent upon others to be the best at their role so in turn you can be the best at yours. That famous expression “You are only as strong as your weakest link” is very true for both the film festival and film production industry. Since both of these fields are such high stress and high turn around industries, collaboration is imperative to getting a job done and getting it done well.

Anu’s wedding

LB:  Since your work environment is always changing, does this lead you to be unsettled or always engaged? 

 LN: Very interesting question. This is one that I have been giving a lot of thought to lately. I think the best answer for me is that it provides a bit of both. There are times that I definitely feel unsettled, but in the same respect that unsettled feeling makes me feel more engaged. I know that it sounds like a bit of a paradox, but it’s exactly how it works for me. For example, moving back to Vancouver was a very unsettling career move. I was leaving an industry (Bollywood) that I had slowly come to grips with to move back home where I knew nothing and no one in the Film industry. At the same time, by having this ‘unsettled’ feeling it automatically made me more engaged with what I was doing. The stakes were high and things weren’t going to happen for me, so I had to make them happen. To make a long story short I find the two go hand in hand and actually complement each other nicely.

 LB:  What do you bring to a workspace?

 LN: I think one of the strongest qualities you can have in this line of work is the ability to adapt. The ability to say “okay this is not working, I’m not going to waste time finding excuses for why it’s not working instead I’m just going to come at it a completely different angle and find a way to make it work.” India did a great job of teaching me that. Not only in the ability to adapt to a completely different culture, but also to see the way they improvise when things are not working the way they are supposed to. I remember being on set one day and there was a young girl who had a small part in one of that days scenes, but she got really sick and couldn’t do it. We were filming miles from the city and couldn’t afford to put filming on halt to find a replacement. The director went and found the smallest and most feminine looking crew member and dressed him up as a girl. In the final cut you were not even be able to tell that it wasn’t a girl. Instead of cursing and making angry excuse as to how it wasn’t going to work the director immediately said “Okay, how are we going to fix this?”  To me, that kind of improvisation is admirable and invaluable.

 LB:  Does being on contract work scare you?  How are you able to always ensure that you are generating work for yourself?

 It scares me every day, but at the same time I absolutely love it. It is what drives me to never get complacent and make sure I do my best to make sure there are always contracts coming in.

 At the beginning of this year I found myself with a daunting amount of free time on my hands. Instead of freaking out that no one was coming to me with work I decided to create my own work. I co-founded the Projecting Change Film Festival with a friend and ended up producing a successful event as well as generating more work for myself through off shoots. The festival is now going onto its second year and as a result of it I was introduced to Premier Gordon Campbell and worked with the two Vancouver Mayoral candidates; Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner. 

The only limits you set for yourself are in your mind. Yes, it is sometimes scary to be an entrepreneur (and a female one at that), but you don’t know how far you can rise until you push your limits.

I think Loaded Bow is a phenomenal tool for the modern woman. It is great to see such ambitious and compassionate women join forces to support each other in all aspects of their lives. Thanks for making me a part of it.

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