By Ibrahim Al-Faki

My name is Ibrahim Al-Faki and I am a new Film Co-op member. You’re probably wondering who I am and would like to know about my background. I grew up in Nigeria. Growing up, I was always interested in engineering. I was fascinated by the mechanical aspect of how everything worked especially when I saw the first Iron Man movie. The movie got me interested in robotic engineering and from then on that was my career path, at least that’s what I thought. Unfortunately, Covid 19 hit and, my parents got a divorce. It was a ferocious court battle between the two and there I was a young 15-year-old kid in the middle of all this, wondering if I would be able to achieve my dreams. Can I get through this? It was a very dark moment. I was out of school for about two years due to the lack of money because of the divorce court cases. My daily routine was waking up and watching Law & Order or Bones, until I was finally enrolled in school. It took some time to adjust but I got my groove back.

It was evening time around 5 pm I was bored, so I picked up my laptop and opened Microsoft Word. I was just playing around writing gibberish until an idea stuck me. It was about a young detective investigating a rundown town called the Everglades where paranormal activities were happening. Then I began writing and you won’t believe it but it just took an hour to write my first 5 pages with this imaginary character. The next day I showed it to my English tutor and he couldn’t believe that I had written it and told me to finish it and if I kept on writing, I could consider making the story into a book. It was at that very moment that I fell in love with writing and I started watching movies to get ideas which resulted in me falling in love with film. The lighting, composition, and suspense; just made me fall in love with it even more.

Then, in 2023 when I arrived in Canada for high school, I started creating short comedy skits on Tiktok. I made my first one in late March 2023. At first, I was shy being on camera but then after I gave it some time, it got to a point where I didn’t even need to write scripts anymore. As soon as the camera came on the words would flow out of me like a river. After that, I started watching movies with a more creative lens and writing with an introspective view.

Then, January hit, and it was time for me to go to University but all the ones that I applied to were closed for winter admission, except for the University of New Brunswick which I applied to and and was accepted into. I was not expecting anything from it, because Fredericton is a small place with not too much going on and that is where I was wrong. New Brunswick is filled with many creative individuals each with their own unique talents. Upon further research, I found out through my major (Media Arts and Culture) that there is a place called the New Brunswick Film Co-op. I was backlogged with school so I couldn’t check it out until this summer.

More recently, I walked into the Film Co-op studio where I met Cat who is a very friendly and welcoming person. She gave me a rundown of what the organization is about and, she got me excited when she said I could get involved and someday make a film. I signed up immediately and now my film journey has begun. Along with the help of the Film Co-op member community, I hope we are going to accomplish amazing creative things together.