Interview by Best Actor & Director Awards – New York
VIP Interview with Joseph Karimbeik writer and director of the Short Film ‘London Gangstah’
Today we introduce Joseph Karimbeik, also known as Hossein Karimbeik, a film director, theatre director, actor, and writer. In this interview we talk about the inspiration behind his short film: “London Gangstah”, what lead him into filmmaking and a crucial encounter with nothing less than a Nobel Prize winner. Enjoy!
The director Joseph Karimbeik and a frame from ‘London Gangstah’ – www.josephkarimbeik.com
When and why did you decide to become a filmmaker?
I am heavily dyslexic so for me telling a story is more about images, my every day hobby as a child was to collect my friends in the street and tell them stories and that idea came to me by going with my father to tea houses in Teheran where they had story tellers, a kind of theatre, one man show and that gave me a lot of inspiration which made me practice on other children every day.
Can you tell us more about the movies you’ve directed so far? How were these experiences for you?
My first experience of film making was when I made a movie about fishermen in the north of Iran who were forbidden to fish by Shah of Iran as for nine months a year they needed to find jobs in other places which brought lots of poverty to people’s life and caused separation among families since the men had to go to other cities to work and some of them never came back and prostitution had become more and more common and acceptable at the time. This moved me and I had to go and make a film about that. But it was confiscated at the time. So, when I came to the UK I could not enroll to film school because it was too expensive for me and I had to work as a dishwasher but I was accepted to the London Drama Centre to become a theatre director which was a miracle because it was the most unlikely place for any student to be accepted, especially foreigners, especially with my limited English but obviously they liked my directing abilities of Othello. At the same time, I became an actor so I played in many movies, theatre and cinema and you can say London Gangstah is my first movie as a director. I didn’t find any major challenge I couldn’t handle. The only challenge was that I only had £7000 as a budget that translated in only five days shooting with less experienced talent and crew and lack of more sophisticated equipment such as camera’s, cameramen and less qualified editing and at the end my partner came to my help in editing without any prior editing experience.
What are your goals as a filmmaker?
I know I have what it takes to make successful movies especially artistically and not just one, for example my play “UNCLE” which has 29 characters, after I sent it to the National theatre in London they told me if I would edit it to 7 characters they would stage it as otherwise it would be too expensive to produce with 29 characters but I can do this easily in a movie. I have many projects that are half done, or half written because my mind just jumps from one project to another. I am just waiting to be financed or/and the right producer to start a new movie of any of them. And hopefully this is the way that producer can see a sample of my work even so I think it is still not polished enough due to lack of money and many crucial scenes were not shot because of the latter.
Where does the inspiration of “London Gangstah” come from and why did you decide to make this film?
The inspiration came from my childhood as I lived in a Ghetto. I wrote and made this movie to show that I can make different genres easily and also I care for the lack of opportunity for a female main character in movies and I think it is time that our James Bond should be female.
You started your career as an actor, do you think that acting lead you into directing or vice versa?
I always wanted to become a director. I started with acting because I could not afford to go to film school at the time.
You wrote, directed, and produced this film. How was this experience for you? Which part did you find more challenging?
Writing and directing was a breeze for me but the finance, production and editing was most challenging. I found out you have to book these editors a couple of years in advance, so I ended up doing most of the editing myself.
The crew of ‘London Gangstah’ with the director Joseph Karimbeik – www.josephkarimbeik.com
Who are the directors that inspire you the most and what are the films that had a big impact on you as a filmmaker?
A good influential film or any art of any genre will always leave its footprint in your memory and even in your character. There are so many good influential artists who make movies, so there are many of them I can name. One of the latest movies that really inspired me was “Being there” with Peter Sellers, especially of the storyline and the performance of Peter Sellers and Citizen Kane. but as a child I liked Khartoum where you could see epic sceneries and characters bigger than life portraits on a screen. These days it’s impossible you watch TV, or you watch movie at home or cinema and do not see guns or knives a few times a day. When I watched The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock showed me how easily you can scare people without blood, knives, or guns. He was a master.
Considering the recent events what do you think is the role of cinema in a world post-pandemic?
I think this is like waking up. Get up, have a coffee and start working.
What keeps you inspired to continue working as a filmmaker?
The Love of making it.
What was the biggest lessons you’ve learnt while making this film?
Don’t take no for an answer.
You must understand there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Stick to your guns.
Don’t listen to others.
Film making is an artistic expression and that is yours. You know where the route of it is, you know how to tell it and how to end it. Other people have no business trying to influence you if you don’t want it. I bet Michelangelo did not have morning seminars with anybody and van Gogh cut his own ear and then he left hundreds of paintings which are now worth millions.
Can you tell us more about the team and cast involved in the production? How was working with them?
My experience tells me that correct casting is the major skill in film making. If the casting is correct, actors will do their part easily. Every actor must require certain experience and understanding of the character in his life to portray it. And for you as a director it is to pick up actors who have the right character, understanding and background for the part and the ability to perform it. My then 5 years old daughter Yasamin Karimbeik played a child villain in my movie, and I think she did a great job as a first-time actress. This part would be expanded in the making of the feature of this movie.
How do you work with your actors? Do you like to let them improvise and see what they bring on the table or do you arrive on set with a very clear and set idea of what you want to achieve in the scene?
Film making is a collection of work of artists. You have to allow them to express themselves. My job is to guide them in the right direction.
When you travelled to Italy you had the honor of meeting the Nobel Price Dario Fo. Can you share this moment with us? How was meeting a theatre legend in his native land?
His influence was immense. I was in my mid-twenties, but I knew about him from years ago. I was nervous, it is like you were going to see the Pope or the Queen. He was so easy and full of generosity. I had the same experience of generosity when I met David Niven who came to my makeup trailer during the shooting of The Curse of Pink Panther and there were a few people around and he was hanging on to the door not to fall down as he needed crutches due to a rare muscle disease. He said he came to welcome the new artist. He saw it as his duty to welcome me. He said: good morning, I have come here to welcome our youngest actor. I want to take him and introduce him to everybody. Then he asked the makeup artist if he had finished so he could take me away. She said yes and David Niven tried to reach me with one of his hands and asked me to lend me one of my shoulders and he kept one of his crutches with the other hand and asked me to carry the second crutch and we went for a walk, and he introduced me to Capucine, Robert Wagner and a few others. And going back to Dario Fo, after talking to each other for about 3 to 4 days he recommended me to open my own theatre company and he told me he would become one of the board of directors. I was astonished with his generosity. So, I did open my own theatre company and a charity for Orphans. We produced many plays and GLC (The Greater London Council) was so impressed, they even offered me a grant for running my shows.
What’s next for you? What are you working on now?
I hope to find a producer to make a feature film of London Gangstah. I think it would be a great and very funny movie and we can make a successful trilogy of it. Hopefully a producer will come along after this festival. I have more original scripts I am working on in new genre and unusual, beautiful, interesting stories which I am open to share with producers who are interested.
Connecting to Joseph Karimbeik:
Website – Facebook – IMDb – LinkedIn – Email
Phone: +44(0)07933695567 / +44(0)7856016143
