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I was born in south London and grew up in a Muslim family. My father is from Egypt and my mother is Scottish. From a young age I was really into film and music, mostly UK grime and American hip-hop. Friends of mine would shoot music videos, so I would tag along and try to get involved. It’s through music videos that I discovered editing – I realised this was a form of storytelling I didn’t know existed.
I saw some great music videos from [director] Daniel Wolfe, edited by Tom Lindsay and Dominic Leung at the editing company Trim in east London. I was intrigued and was like, I need to get in with those guys. I kind of stalked them on Twitter, asking if I could come make them teas. Eventually I got my foot in the door and worked as an assistant for a few years under Tom and Dom. They ended up being my biggest mentors in editing. It opened up a whole new world for me.
I had left school at 13 and never studied film. No-one from my family came from a creative or arts background, so trying to explain to your parents what you’re doing sounds so foreign. I was nervous going into an edit house for the first time, because I did feel different. I thought, I’m just going to work really hard and go for it and see what happens. In the end it’s never been a problem for me – if anything, it’s been a strength coming from an unconventional background and bringing a different flavour.
When I started, I was thrown into the deep end and learned on the go. I discovered editing was all about collaborating with people. When you build a relationship with people, the ones who stick with you have similar filmic sensibilities and tastes. A lot of the people I still work with now are people I started out with five years ago. You grow together.
A big career moment for me was a music video for Chaka Khan, directed by Kim Gehrig. That job was all in the edit. I had to be on set, working closely with Kim, trying out stuff as we went along and crafting it together. It helped my confidence to work with such a well-known director on a project that was so edit heavy. When that came out, it went down so well that it brought me a lot of work. It was a pivotal stepping stone to becoming more established as an editor.
Fifa’s ad (pictured above) was the best example of working with a super-talented team, both in front of and behind the camera. A lot of them were from a Muslim background so it helped that everyone understood the topic. We were dealing with a real family, so it wasn’t a middle of the road, slick ad. It felt more human and closer to our hearts, and everyone was invested in pushing it and making it true. It’s good we’re seeing this kind of advertising as a norm and not just a diversity token, but there’s still a long way to go.
I recently worked on Medusa Deluxe, the first feature film by director Tom Hardiman. Exploring a more narrative, long-form project was exciting and I’d like to carry on working on those. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.
Editing was forced to change with everyone working remotely during Covid. It’s proved it is quite a good way of working and can easily be done, but I still love having directors and clients in the room. I’m big on energy, it makes the job more fun and exciting.
Nowadays everyone’s just editing on their phones, it’s so easy to pick up. All you need is a fast internet connection and a laptop and you’re good to go. It opens the door to more people from different backgrounds who have no context of film to get into the industry – similar to my story.
The industry in general needs to make an effort to hire people from different backgrounds. It does take time and effort but it is worth it, because those people have something unique to offer.
I feel quite lucky because I managed to break away and find a career in a creative industry. Anyone can do it, there are a lot more opportunities now. The support is there and people are more interested in diverse people and what they have to bring to the table. It’s been the same for a long time, but the change is exciting.
As told to Brittaney Kiefer
Fouad Gaber is a film editor who has worked on ads for brands such as Fifa, Adidas, Beats by Dre and O2, as well as music videos for artists including Chaka Khan and Mura Masa.