our next speaker how do you say this how
old do you have to be to start doing
things when do you start where do you
March ahead with your ideas our youngest
speaker here at TEDx Dubai Dubai a boo
boo who
okay babyhood a ninth-grader 13 years
old what in the world can I possibly be
doing as a speaker at TEDx Dubai
I personally am confused but don't judge
me yet she is just 13 what could she do
this is the type of thinking I want to
change on people and this is why I'm
here to prove to not only you the
audience but to the entire world that
age is a fact nothing but a number and
if you look at it in a much more logical
aspect it known as that your age is
existing is nothing but a mere proof of
how many years you have lived on planet
Earth and after my perspective do you
still think that age is a fair factor to
be judged upon certainly not okay so
growing up I've always had this ambition
and dream for filmmaking and animation
and my number won't go in and up to this
date is to get an Oscar I want to be the
first Arab to ever win an Oscar and so
this dream like everyone has who ever
knew me knew this and so one day I
remember going to my parents and I was
like I want to win an Oscar I want to be
director and obviously they were very
supportive but they told me three things
you need to get an education I need to
have experience and obviously you need
to grow up
again with the numbers so I was an
obedient child and I listened to them I
waited for two years till I was about
ten years old and I got fed up honestly
and so I wanted to appear and my brother
came up to me one day and he offered me
lessons on animation and you know how to
just basically do a short animation and
from there I did my first 30 second
animation and honestly at that point I
felt like I was queen of the world or
something you know I did something I
didn't have to wait till after college
and so
okay so I remember the Oscar dream yeah
when I've always had as I said I was
want to be an Oscar but one day I was
hit by reality and realized that I don't
have the Oscar winning idea you know and
that's a shocker so so I went up to my
room one night and I was just so sick
and so tired like I wanted that idea and
it just hit me I had the scene of a
skeletal Green Man and I had no idea
what it was I had no idea what the
backstory was I just knew that if I did
if I developed a story from there that
I'd get it and I did for two months I
just kept on writing and write things
like this 80-page stack of 80 pages of
ideas and it was started of Gallagher
Liam don't get me started on the name so
then as I kept on writing my sister one
day came up to me and she told me about
this girl film festival and she said
that you know it's film festival you
submit your movies they get screened you
know it's a chance to meet other
directors I was like really you know is
there an age limit and she's like I know
psychics forget about the age limit is
there a deadline like here 12 days I was
like hey I'm gonna finish a movie in
five days and she just looked at me
blankly and she was like are you sure
you're gonna finish a movie in five days
I was like yeah she's like but it's
impossible the only response I had for
her was watch me you know so I did
actually I finished a movie in 12 days I
finished the script I finished the
animation the voice everything I
finished it in 12 days and send it off
to media City without checking the age
limit so few months later I got her a
reply from the Gershwin festival that I
was accepted and just for five blank
seconds I act when I read the email
I just forgot about from pasta obviously
and I went there I showed up there was
this red carpet in my movie got screened
it was like these directors and I was
just happy to be there and on the
closing night I figured out that I was
UAE s youngest animating director at the
age of 11
and I have no idea who did it but some
newspapers did research you know took
the subject and few weeks later I
realized that I was Middle East's
youngest animated director
let me think director yeah so obviously
I didn't stop there I didn't you movie a
much more longer movie at 7 minutes much
longer for sort of stewed and a half so
obviously and at first I participated
with it's the second Food Festival uh
yeah this was me getting the award yeah
forgot that side yeah and this was the
second festival I still learned up to
this date on the title obviously okay so
a second thing what I tried to portray
through my book through you know my work
and my movies is something I like to
call tradition and probably most people
know as tradition so it's something
valuable to me because growing up I've
always read books I'm such a bookworm
and I've always watched movies and all I
learn is about this American heritage
and you know just English heritage and
not once I've have I come across a book
or a movie that sort of has this Marathi
setting that I can actually relate to so
through my books and through my movies I
portray that so the message is we've
been learning about you it's time you
learned about us oh yeah so obviously I
have no idea where the road takes me I
there's obviously no stopping me at this
point and and and it's like it's about
the surprises I want to get a book out I
want to be you know I just want to be
the first you know I just want to do
something and like till I reach college
I would have like a list of stuff so
there's one thing that I want to say if
there's one thing that I learned from
you know my past experience is
to get something you know whatever you
want to do you can do it as long as you
believe like believing is the key and I
prove of that is if you look back two
years ago who would have expected me to
you know enter film festival do a movie
be here say speech actually you know and
it's it's all great honestly so the key
to everything and what you do is
believing
okay so summing up I'm just gonna tell
you a short incident that happened to me
not long ago I have this Facebook group
where I update my friends and family
about my latest work and so a girl came
up to me one day from my school girl
whom I don't really know a lot of about
came up to me and she was like you know
you're writing a novel they're like yeah
and she's like what do you like what
terms do you have right that's like I
want to publish it you know now this age
she's like but before I walked away
before I walk away from all you people
she said but you're 13 the only response
I had for her was exactly I am 13 and I
am gonna do it and no one can stop me at
this point
there's this quote that I want to share
with all of you that really has inspired
me it's by Abraham Lincoln he once said
and in the end it's not the years in
your life that counts it's the life in
your years
thank you thank you thank you very much