Emir Kumova Discusses His Filmmaking “War of Colors” Starring Diandra Forrest

Emir Kumova was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. He moved to Los Angeles in 2011 to attend Pepperdine University, CA and graduated in 2015 with a B.A. in Film Studies. Emir worked as an editor in Ad & Branding companies in Los Angeles.

His personal works have been screened in festivals such as LA Shorts, San Diego International Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Izmir International Film Festival to name some. War of Colors is Emir’s third short film that he wrote, directed, produced and edited.

indieactivity: Why filmmaking? Why did you get into it?
Emir Kumova (EK): My mother gave me her little video camera when I was, I think around eight or nine years old. I don’t know why, I fell in love with the idea of a camera, recording things. I started recording everything around me. Going to movies a lot when I was little had a sort of an impact on me, and I started making very amateur short films, more like short clips, 1-2 minute videos with stories, when I was at that age. I would cast my brother and friends and myself.

War of Colors – Official Trailer (2022) a short film about Albinism

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I didn’t know the concept of computer editing at that age so I would try to put the shots together on the camera while filming. I would film one person, and then I would stop recording and turn the camera to the other person to record them. And back and forth like that. Another thing that inspired me so much was the power of music behind beautiful cinematography and how powerful music can carry moving images.

I also love the power of films: They can take you back to moments, historical figures, time periods, and locations that are impossible to visit and experience in the present moment and I love being able to experience that through movies

Talk to us about your concept of collaboration?
Emir Kumova (EK): I would collaborate with people who I had good work chemistry with over and over. Once you catch a specific rhythm with certain people, you know you will create good work with them again. When it comes to themes of the films, it is very important to collaborate with the people who the story or the theme is about. That way, it is helpful when writing the stories, and making sure the film does not mis-represent a person, a community or an incident.

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How do you find the process of filmmaking as an indie filmmaker?
Emir Kumova (EK): It has its pro’s and con’s. When you are independent, you have so much more control of the creative work and can be more flexible throughout the whole filmmaking process. However, there is the problem of limited budgets and logistical preparations becoming harder in my experience.

Why would you choose an actor, writer or producer? What do you look for?
Emir Kumova (EK): Style and knowledge is very important when it comes to writers, how they screenwrite a specific story and be able to tell it. It is easier to work with producers who are well seasoned in their field, who have enough of a network to put a good crew together that can execute what needs to be done. Also producers play a big role in getting filming permits in a timely manner depending on where you want to shoot and being able to execute such things for a production is crucial. Not to mention budgeting; with a good producer you can avoid unnecessary expenses that one might overlook.

Describe your most recent work, or film, take us through pre, production and post production?
Emir Kumova (EK): War of Colors is my most recent work. It tells the story of a black woman with white skin due to Albinism struggling to fit in with society. Pre-production took about two months after the script was completed. Production days were for four days. Post-production lasted for couple months. The film was written, directed and edited by myself.

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I also produced it along with Jason Quan and Donald Nguyen from Los Angeles. The film was shot by Christopher Brendan Kistan, South African cinematographer who I worked with on my previous film too. We had David Gutel as assistant director who is also a very talented director from Los Angeles. The music was composed by J.M. Quintana Camara from Spain, who also scored my previous film. The make-up was done by talented Los Angeles based Carla Rosso.

Cast; the lead, Diandra Forrest, actress, model and activist from New York. Curtis J McDaniel is the lead supporting character also based in New York. Daniel Fitzgerald, Wil Santiago and Adam Mendez Jr. are supporting characters, very talented Los Angeles based actors.

How did you put the crew and cast together? Did you start writing with a known cast? What was your rehearsal process and period?
Emir Kumova (EK): For this film, I put the crew together from different networks of people, the majority of them from my previous film. A lot of the crew came together from our cinematographer’s network. For the lead, I wanted to cast an African American person with Albinism, and I found Diandra Forrest during my research and reached out to her before starting the script. After her interest in the project and our conversations, I started writing. 

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Rehearsals took place over Zoom, with Diandra and Curtis, separately, as they were both based in New York. Because we didn’t have too much time, I was only able to rehearse in person for a day with Diandra when she came to Los Angeles a day before shooting. Fortunately she was very passionate about the project, she rehearsed herself a lot on her own time during pre production and memorized a four minute long speech. Daniel Fitzgerald, Wil Santiago and Adam Mendez Jr killed it in the audition, therefore I was confident enough not to rehearse with them and they executed their parts beyond my expectations.

What and how long did it take to complete the script?
Emir Kumova (EK): I wrote the script. It took about two months. I consulted Diandra about it after to make sure there was nothing mis-represented and that everything was in the limits of what was being said and stay true to the topic and the incidents that take place in the film. The speech was written by a mixture of people. I wrote some of the lines that are about discrimination. Rest of the speeches that are about the Black experience were written by two African American female writers. I wanted it to be authentic and respectful since the speech is about the Black experience and I thought it had to be written by black individuals who go through such experiences.

A magician goes to a secret show – and performs the trick that changed his life | Dream of Aces

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Did the tight shooting schedule make it harder or easier? How did it affect performances?
EK: The tight schedule made everything harder in terms of logistics. We had unexpected incidents during shooting, the main one being the camera breaking down mid shoot (it was malfunctioning and was not recording). And we had to get a new camera to the set and lost so much time. Another big obstacle we faced was with our child actress. She had a hard time taking directions as she was five years old and had no acting experience. She was sweet and laughing around, however that caused us to lose time on a tight schedule on her scenes and we couldn’t get %80 of the shots we needed with her.

What other films have you written and made?
EK: Christmas Tree (2017), and Dream of Aces (2021). You can watch Dream of Aces on Omeleto

What do you hope audiences will get from the presentation of your film?
EK: I hope for this film to be received as an eye opening story since ‘color’ is one of the major issues that societies face, and to really realize to focus on a person’s values rather than the pigments of their skin. And not to sound cliché, but to end the war of colors. And hopefully to educate people about Albinism and make the community’s life easier.

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