In this episode of The Ajyal Show, Lebanese–American filmmaker and educator Sarah Kaskas explores how listening shapes what we see, and how intent, audience and context set the aperture. For her, the true mix begins long before the timeline; it begins with tuning your ear, deciding where the work will live, and letting sound and image breathe in sync.

Tracing a path from music to film grammar, she treats each project as a kind of symphony. Picture, performance, edit, music and sound holding the same tempo. Years on headphones taught her to read rooms, respect silence, and gather tone; trying many hats early made one principle stick: cohesion matters more than credit, and there’s no virtue in promising to “fix it in post”.

She unpacks a practice that listens before it looks. Research means walking the streets, feeling the light and allowing a story to find its focus. Editing becomes an act of discovery, finding rhythm in the rushes, composition in chance, while teaching refines the craft. Feel your audience, know the platform, and let that clarity guide each cut.

Sarah also reflects on long-form trust-building in the field, from the patient ethics behind ‘Underdown’ to producing ‘Beirut Dreams in Color’ and on founding Karaaj Films to hold space for underrepresented stories. Her invitation is simple: roll sound, roll camera, even without perfect conditions. Because in the end, a frame that listens first is a frame that rings true.

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