In this episode of The Ajyal Show, filmmaker and educator Chaker Ayadi explores the art of seeing and what it means to turn reality itself into cinema. Drawing from Grierson’s timeless definition of documentary as “the creative treatment of actuality,” Chaker reminds us that the true edit begins long before the timeline. It begins with intent and choosing how to frame the world.

He traces the documentary’s evolution from its technical origins to its promising future. Handheld cameras, sync sound, and the instinct to “follow the action” weren’t born as stylistic choices; they were the grammar of necessity, invented to stay in step with life. For Chaker, form always follows reality: unpredictable, unscripted, and rich with human texture.

As he moves between the observational and the performative, he unpacks the filmmaker’s dual role as witness and participant. A strong documentary, he says, listens before it looks. Research means walking the streets, feeling the light, and letting a story find its own focus. Editing then becomes an act of discovery, finding rhythm in chaos, composition in chance.

Chaker also reflects on documentary culture in the MENA region, calling for new voices to “roll camera” even in the absence of perfect conditions. Because in the end, every frame of reality captured with integrity is a scene in the larger story of who we are.

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