One of the greatest thrills for me as a teacher is to follow up with former students — and I love it when they’re making waves. Change-makers are busy, so I was grateful for the opportunity to sit down with Mohammed Obaidullah earlier this year to talk about cinema & film education in Saudi Arabia.

Mo studied with me at VFS and went on to work in the film industry in Canada. As a personal side project, he produced a popular online film education series in Arabic that garnered thousands of subscribers. He has since moved back to the capital city of Riyadh where he’s now the Director of Compliance and Control for Cinema and Audiovisual Media in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — and he’s playing a key role in the resurgence of their national cinema industry.