Hello Contra — I'm Ima, an Egyptian filmmaker and author. My films have travelled the world's fes...Hello Contra — I'm Ima, an Egyptian filmmaker and author. My films have travelled the world's fes...
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Iman Kamel
• Jul 23
Hello Contra — I'm Ima, an Egyptian filmmaker and author. My films have travelled the world's festivals; my book found readers across continents.
Right now most of my work lives on the Nile. On a Nubian island called Heissa, a community and I are turning a steel boat into Merysai — a floating home where the Kenzy language is spoken aloud, songs are shared, and children learn from elders.
Something I learned there that changed how I work everywhere: A language doesn't die when the last speaker dies. It dies much earlier — when it stops being useful. When there's no reason to speak it, no place where it belongs, no one to speak it with.
The same is true of a story, a brand, a person's voice. Nothing survives on its own beauty. It survives on having somewhere to live.
That's what I do for the founders and creative leaders I work with — build the place where their voice can actually live. Usually it starts with someone who knows what they carry but can't yet say it out loud.
I've been on this platform a short while, and I already feel at home among so many people making things. Glad to be in this highly creative space.
Tell me what you're building. — Ima
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Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started