Circle interviews with the Alumni: Meet Rand Beiruty - CIRCLE Doc Accelerator 2024 participant.

We've asked our Alumni to share their Circle experience with us: motivation, outcomes, how

it helped them shaped their projects and what it means to be part of the Circle family along with their views on the current cinema landscape and how gender has been an asset or barrier.

Q. Please introduce yourself and your project briefly.

Rand Beiruty is a writer, director, and creative producer working between Amman and Berlin. She’s the co-founder of Shaghab Films. Portrait of A is a hybrid feature documentary that explores a young woman’s negotiation of love, betrayal, and identity within the shifting landscape of motherhood.

Q. What made you apply for CIRCLE?

I was at a very early stage of developing my personal project, which has both social and political dimensions. At that point, I felt conflicted—on one hand, I was deeply emotionally engaged, and on the other, I wanted to broaden its wider context. I applied to CIRCLE in order to develop the project further with the support of fellow filmmakers and experienced experts from a diverse international community. My goal was to strengthen its unique aspects while also making it relevant and accessible to audiences from different cultural backgrounds.

Q. As a woman working in the industry, have you faced any barriers or issues related to your gender?

Looking at it only in terms of gender might be too simplistic. But in any case, what stands out to me is the strength of the women who are transforming the industry from within.There’s a growing sense of solidarity with women and other historically excluded groups building their own platforms, producing each other’s work, and insisting on new ways of seeing. Being part of that movement is motivating and inspiring. We don’t need validation to tell our stories, and that collective effort can quietly but profoundly change the narrative landscape.

Q. What's the most challenging part of being a Filmmakers under the current world circumstances?

The challenge goes beyond finding funding or navigating the industry. It is about asking how films can contribute to real dialogue in a time when the world feels so polarized. It is easy to end up speaking only to people who already agree with you, creating an echo chamber rather than sparking real exchange. I am interested in how to make films that can both empower communities from within and bridge those divides, films that can create space for audiences to reflect rather than just reinforce what they already believe. The question I keep returning to is whether cinema can still serve as a space for genuine encounter, one that has the potential to invite change.