Although Marie Rouhban has been keenly interested in films and storytelling since she was a young girl, she was sidetracked for a few years,graduated from business school and then worked in the corporate world for several years in marketing and strategy positions. Her passion for filmmaking was rekindled when she was the manager of a creative team working on video content. That made her realize what her true calling was, which was filmmaking in general and directing in particular. In a very short time span, she has made a huge mark in the film industry. Marie’s dedication and creativity are evident in her work and she has only been directing since 2021.
Marie is half French and half Lebanese. She speaks Arabic, English, French and Italian. Her multicultural background has given her a unique perspective, and she is an advocate for diversity in the film industry. She is fully grounded and brings a unique blend of creative and business skills to every project she’s on. She deeply values the talents of her crews and therefore strives to create a positive and uplifting atmosphere on set, where everyone feels free to express their creativities.
Her intense passion has driven her to direct several highly acclaimed and award-winning films that have been warmly received at film festivals around the world. Marie’s first short film, Scrapbooks was selected in the Oscar qualifying L.A. Film Short festival, amongst others. And her latest one, Jean à la 13ème place, was in the top 50 finalists out of the 2200 movies for the Sens Critique Prize of the Nikon Film Festival.
Scrapbooks was written and directed by Marie and it is about a lonely young man working at his favorite hobby, scrapbooking. He finds himself longing for companionship, especially as two older ladies enter the same patio he is in and they start catching up. Scrapbooks, besides being an official selection at the LA Shorts International Film Festival, it was also chosen to participate in California Women Film Festival, Abbot Kinney Fantastic Film Festival, French Riviera Film Festival and Hollyshorts monthly screening, and it won Best script at the Asian World Film Festival. Some of the other films that Marie has directed in 2022 and 2023 are: The Bow; Suzie & Jenny and Oh Devil!. Completed in 48 hours and was a finalist in the 48 hours film project. Apparently, having passion for something can give one an enormous amount of creative energy and Marie is certainly a great example of that.
