Burnout or crisis can often lead us down challenging paths in life and into worlds we didn’t know were possible. In 2015, after her father passed away, Myriam Sidikou did some soul digging and decided to take a sharp pivot from her career as a practicing lawyer to embark on a career in the arts.
After realizing that being a lawyer was not connecting to her values in the way she had hoped it would, Myriam turned to filmmaking and screenwriting, work that she once only considered as a side hustle.
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Born and raised in Niger, and now living in France, Myriam was often told she didn’t look like a lawyer, but that she did look very much like an artist. Perhaps everyone knew something she hadn’t quite tapped into yet.
Myriam’s journey into the arts has gone from curating talent shows for emerging artists in Paris, creating Culture Loft; a non profit association focusing on urban arts and diversity, graduating from Parisian filmmaking school Kourtrajmé, to her most recent work as writer and director of her short film Octagon.
Octagon is a fictional film inspired by Myriam’s friend Djihene Abdelillah, a French North African world champion of grappling, a side of MMA (mixed martial arts). Myriam believed that her friend’s story was important and Djihene wanted to practice acting, so first they set boundaries around how to best share the story and then got to work.
Played by Djihene, Octagon follows the main character Siham (which means arrow in Arabic) as she navigates the misogynistic world of MMA, in hopes of becoming a champion, all the while suffering from endometriosis.
Endometriosis has been classified as an invisible handicap. It is a chronic disease associated with severe, life-impacting pain during periods, sexual intercourse, bowel movements and/or urination, chronic pelvic pain, abdominal bloating, nausea, fatigue, and sometimes depression, anxiety, and infertility…There is currently no known cure (World Health Organization, 2023).
Now that she has released the Octagon teaser into the world, Myriam wants to travel to the United States to interview promoters, fighters and others in the MMA industry, in hopes of nourishing the story.
Creating value is top priority in Myriam’s new media arts career with stories like Octagon; stories that center around strong women and invisible handicaps, both things that she feels are important to highlight.
Speaking of strong (and incredibly talented) women, Myriam wants to take a page from great showrunners and directors like Ava DuVernay, Shonda Rhimes, and Issa Rae who have created some of the most iconic, entertaining tv/film work in the past decade. It is not lost on her that there aren’t currently any French equivalents to the aforementioned black female directors, so Myriam intends to become one.
She looks up to these media moguls, but Myriam is also fearful of getting too formatted by following the usual directing manuals and what everyone else has already done. She wants to develop her already skillful writing practice, to be above average and through that resolve; find her distinct voice by making work that truly represents her.
Although she may be out of the corporate world, now embracing storytelling and social justice, it feels important to note that Myriam doesn’t fully reject her past life as a lawyer. She says it has helped her to have discipline in writing.
Taking that hard pivot in her career was an important step for Myriam so that she could explore more of what she truly feels passionate about. I, for one, am very excited to see what she does next.
-Adobuere E.
You can follow Myriam’s instagram page for updates: @myriam_cultureloft & to check out the teaser for Octagon. Her second instagram page is: @mixfactoryparis
Earlier this year I met Myriam in Paris to discuss her work. You can view the conversation below.
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