Yasmine Tohme

About Yasmine

From a young age, I have been captivated by the power of stories. Pages of a treasured book, scenes from a favorite film, or the evocative memories of past generations have shown me the magic ability to connect us across the globe, across time and cultures. As a child concerned about climate change, I wrote a story about a climate refugee whose island was destroyed by hurricanes and submitted it to the Secretary General of the United Nations. In middle school, I made a film documenting my amazing grandmother’s story of displacement and exile to honor the unbreakable bond she has to the country and home she left behind. My passion for storytelling began to grow and led me to create another documentary about a farmer’s market-turned-restaurant using food to reunite war-torn communities, celebrate culinary traditions, and promote sustainable agriculture. And as a garbage crisis in my country exploded, I shadowed a prominent “eco-pioneer”, Ziad Abi Chaker, who proposed creative alternatives to the disastrous “solutions” of burning or dumping waste to turn our problems into an opportunity. I then wrote an article in which I described this activist's relationship with waste as “a garbage love story” and it inspired me to create my own love story with my home country and our environment. Moreover, at my international high school in UWC (United World Colleges), global stories of cultural heritage, shared by classmates, inspired me, deepening my understanding of the world. While at Connecticut College, I was given the opportunity to carve my own path across interdisciplinary work. I was able to study away in Prague at FAMU, one of the oldest film schools in the world. Following that experience, I went to Italy for my internship. Combining my intermediate language proficiency with my Film major, I worked in Rome at a film production company named Anele, where I participated in the making of a documentary written and directed by Italian filmmaker Davide Ferrario, "Italo Calvino nelle città" ("Italo Calvino in the cities"). The documentary is a journey into the life of Italo Calvino, one of Italy’s greatest writers of the twentieth century, and focuses on his 1972 novel "Le città invisibili" ("The Invisible Cities"). Both hands-on experiences were a baptism of fire of small budgets, tight schedules, and working in foreign languages, but also critical lessons in effective teamwork and best practices in film production. I acquired thorough knowledge of the art of visual storytelling in both an academic and professional setting. Overtime, I began fine-tuning my individual story and weaving my narrative with others, strengthening my approach to becoming a storyteller. My hope is that my visual storytelling promotes intercultural understanding, widening viewers’ outlooks and triggering conversations around difficult subjects, like the short film I made with my team this semester on the alienation and isolation experienced by students of color in predominantly white institutions. Moving forward, I plan on pursuing my career in filmmaking with the primary goal to tackle themes of migration and war and eventually join the community of Levantine artists. My passion for stories continues to fuel my curiosity and creativity, and it is through filmmaking that I am committed to harnessing the power of storytelling as a force for positive change. When I think of my future trajectory, post-graduate life, I feel a strong responsibility to employ the film medium as a form of storytelling and help contribute to intercultural dialogue in today’s political climate. Using storytelling as an approach to appeal to wider audiences, can aid in closing gaps between cultural identities and build bridges between communities to foster meaningful connections. My generation owes it to the next to utilize our skills to navigate a world in crisis and steer it to a more just and empathetic place for all.

Skills & Experience

Education