Omar Farooq, filmmaker and YouTuber from Bahrain and Nadir Nahdi, the founder of BENI, a digital storytelling platform celebrating youth culture and highlighting young people from diverse backgrounds participated yesterday (Friday) in a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Sharjah International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFF).

As highly popular social media influencers, the duo stressed the need to bring passion into any work to produce meaningful and visually engaging content at the session titled ‘The cinema industry in the age of social media’.

“If you draw on something you really care about, it will show up in your work,” said Nahdi. “Growing up in London I never had the opportunity to express who I was and now I find it empowering to give voice to people whose stories you don’t generally hear.”

More than technical skills or the choice of platform that you choose to present, “the most important factor is to tell your story with honesty, sincerity and passion to bring out the message you want to convey,” said Farooq, who produces and shares videos centred on trying new things or putting himself in other people’s shoes in his #OmarTries series.

The session was moderated by Shimayel Mohammed.