Meet Hatem Shakkouf | Film Producer, Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hatem Shakkouf and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hatem, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
A habit that I feel helped me largely is overall having an appropriate attitude when it comes to collaborating with other artists. In the art world, people are always trying to help each other and open up doors to their peers. Respecting collaborators and their craft (whether you agree with it or not) really goes a long way and establish your image away from what you tell people. Good artists want to work with someone who could challenge them and open up new ideas to them, and treating artists with a respectful and professional manner really shows commitment to their craft and process.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Coming from the Middle East, it isn’t common to here the words “Im going to become a creative”, I know it’s something im am confident in being so it was atleast worth to give a shot. While in my studies here in the United States, I was appalled at how in depth and competitive the world of Film and Television is here and how formal it is, as well as how professional environment depends on the success of artists within an independent field which is something that is what the middle east lacks. This made me want to shift my focus to helping artists, eventually with the goal of taking my expertise back to the Middle East to inspire artists to tell stories and help them shape and show the images they want to create. Im learning that its only through collaboration and creating a competitive environment that a wave that pushes artists to create exists. And that is what I want to be a part of in the Middle East.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Savannah is a great city for first timers, compared to the rest of the country it certainly has it’s own touch. I have a rule for visitors who visit me for a week. I usually spend the first 2 days taking them to the very touristy areas, The areas that are most known to tourists and contain heavy traffic. These areas would be the Historic District and the many squares here and Forsyth Park. And of course, the savannah tourist experience isn’t complete without walking everywhere in the historic district with a drink in your hand. WE HAVE AN OPEN CONTAINER LAW YAY! After the touristy stuff I would spend time taking the party to the various beautiful coffee shops, restaurants and bars. Savannah is a city that doesn’t get enough credit for what it has. It always exceeds visitor’s expectations. Some of my favorite restaurants are Fox and Fig, Chart House, Common Thread and Grey. The bars are going to be The Lone Wolf, The Black Rabbit, The American Legion and the coffee shops would be Origin Coffee Bar, The Sentient Bean, The Mate Factor. All of these suggestions have their own interesting twists. Other places I would go to are, Skidaway Island State Park, Tybee Island, as well as the many small islands that surround the city. Its a great southeastern experience.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Even though my journey is still at its beginning, there are many names that with out their support i simply cannot see myself being where I currently am right now. One of the first people that encouraged me and left an impact on the decisions I took with where I currently am was Bruce Jenkins, professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Film, Video, and New Media department. A very respected professor, he opened up to me the world of creative possibilities in film at my very early days in SAIC. His lectures and conversations with me allowed me to become more conscience of art, and how it can be seen in all types of narrative storytelling. Which ultimately shaped the way I perceive films and art in general. I like to look at it in a way where he helped guide me from looking from a consumer’s eye to looking into the critical eye. I significant step in the cycle of creating an artist. Looking back today, many of what we talked about in the past are what i take seriously when I look at art.

Website: hatemshakkouf.com

Instagram: shakk_attq

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hat-shakk-294179209/

Image Credits
Allen Chen Main and Jingjing Lyu