Project:

Ramy Katrib

// Los Angeles, United States

“They get so little attention that I wanted to show what they do in a film.”

"Most of my family works in the medical field, at places like Loma Linda CA., so my career was never meant to be creative or in Hollywood. In fact, I started my college career taking pre-med courses at Loma Linda University and then transitioned to studying political science and psychology at UC Riverside. It wasn't until an 'atom smasher' came to our local neighborhood that I wanted to be a filmmaker."

"It was at Loma Linda University Medical Center when I first started shooting documentaries. I decided to make a documentary on medical-nuclear-physics, covering the intersection of basic physics research and nuclear medicine. I endeavored to interview the main players in that arena and got to interview the most distinguished yet humblest people I had ever met, and all while I was still at college!"

"I was attracted to the gravity and importance of what these folks did for a living. Their achievements have actually changed the world for the better. They are so unassuming and yet so inspirational. They get so little attention that I wanted to show what they do in a film. I remember, interviewing Cornelius Tobias who was part of the nuclear medicine research at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory right up until the moment the Army came and unbolted the cyclotron (particle accelerator), and put it in a truck to Los Alamos where it was used in the effort to create the first A-bomb. It was amazing to learn about the connection between nuclear medicine and the first A-bomb. His untold story inspired me and seemed more important than what I was doing at college at the time"

Founder of DigitalFilm Tree, Ramy Katrib, explains how nuclear physics got him into post production. Having a medical 'atom smasher' located in his home town of Loma Linda CA was the catalyst for wanting to become a documentary filmmaker.

"I interviewed many individuals all over America including Nobel laureate, Leon lederman and American physicist, Robert Rathburn Wilson months before his death in 2000. Robert Wilson was head of the cyclotron group at the Manhattan Project which was led by Robert Oppenheimer. When Robert passed away, it got no National attention at all."

"Today this story is still untold and I'm still endeavoring to uncover and expose the amazing world of nuclear medical physics and how thousands of cancer patients have benefitted from treatments like proton beam therapy! This particular project has never ended for me, as it has continued as a big archive at DigitalFilm Tree, documenting some of the smartest minds in the whole world."

"After starting with my documentaries in 1995, I got to work at one of the industry's largest film negative conforming facilities, Magic Film & Video Works. While working there, I was introduced to Non Linear Editing systems (AVID) by Kate Amend, who was editing the “The Long Way Home,” which later won the Academy Award for best documentary. I sat behind Kate while she was editing and she explained how it all worked. I then volunteered my time to build a database and collate the massive archive footage that was coming in from historical museums and archives from around the world. I did all the telecine for Kate. 85% of the footage was B&W 16mm and super 16mm. And that's how I got into the media industry, through telecine and neg cutting.”

“Even though my company DigitalFilm Tree, has branched off into post for episodic TV, films and software development, making documentary films still remains a key passion of mine. With my latest film, 'Mardik: Baghdad to Hollywood' I got schooled on storytelling from someone who has written some of the best movie scripts ever! While working on Mardik Martin's story, he instilled in me 'that writing is research.' Mardik said to me, 'If you don't do your research and if you don't engage people and collaborate, then your story can't be real. It won't be authentic, or represent real life.'" Mardik would also scream at me “put in down on paper before you shoot anything!”

"Mardik Martin was the writer behind Martin Scorsese' earlier works such as 'Raging Bull,’ 'Mean Streets,' and ‘New York, New York.’ Our documentary on Mardik Martin, captures the early years of film school culture, where Marty and Mardik where young students and gives a glimpse of what Hollywood was like behind the scenes. For anyone aspiring to be a scriptwriter or a story teller of any kind, I think this documentary is inspirational and educational!"

"I think with the constantly changing world of production and post you have to think and behave creatively and technically in order to be successful. For me, being creative is about how differently you can see things. What sort of lens you use to see the world through, and having the ability to focus on creative and technical challenges with both a ‘wide angle’ as well as ‘telephoto’ lens for eyes. Whether it's telling a story like the Mardik documentary, or working on series like 'NCIS: LA' at DigitalFilm Tree - what we bring to each of these projects is our own multidisciplinary ethic."