The film and television department at De Anza College has come a long way. And so has one of its primary founders, Zaki Lisha. His life sounds like a movie of its own. Born in Egypt, Lisha came to San Francisco via Paris when he was around 12 years old and found himself amidst the psychedelic revolution and the free speech movement.

“It was a lucky time to be in San Francisco, the city was just budding out,” says Lisha. He discovered film while attending Berkeley as an economics major. The events of the time were “infectious” and soon made it impossible for Lisha to “just sit down and study philosophy.” Instead, he started filming demonstrations and other political venues.

He said he “landed on his feet,” even though he could have easily been knocked down or arrested while filming. “You tend to take calculated risks, in hope for the best, ” said Lisha. According to Lisha, he was just “in the right place at the right time.” Because of the music of Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, and the European cinema movement, one couldn’t help but be into it and be creative, says Lisha.

He started to use every opportunity to look at films, such as Citizen Kane, which left him “basically mesmerized and stunned that a film could be that powerful.”

After studying at USC, and while still in graduate school at San Francisco State University, Lisha came to De Anza College in the fall of 1974 to start a film department. Among his priorities was to obtain more equipment, a task that he completed by “scouring around campus” for equipment no longer used, and by looking in local surplus stores. The new department started out on the fourth floor of the Flint Center. Lisha recalls the challenges of the time: “We had to cut off these beams [on the floor of the Flint Center]. They kept saying to me, ‘it’s temporary.’ Well, it was temporary for 20 years.” Lisha says the limited budget, space and equipment gave everyone a “tremendous amount of spirit” and forced everyone in the new department to be creative.

Lisha remains modest about his achievements and quickly mentions that all his colleagues in the department look for new ways to make the department better.

He says the movie media are the art form of the century. “You can’t contain [the media]. It would have grown despite what I was doing, I just pushed the ball a little bit. All I can do [after] is guide it and make sure it is nurtured properly.”

According to Lisha, the ideal approach, as an instructor, is to teach students how to bring their vision across. “To have students see like filmmakers” is one of the main purposes of his classes. “When you look at something and you focus, that’s a close-up, when you choose to hear something, that’s putting an emphasis, when you’re listening to music, that’s your soundtrack.”

Nurturing to Lisha also means not to encourage and support students with potential.

According to Lisha, this is a “delicate process,” especially when someone is young and only starting to explore a new artform. He says that, unfortunately, younger people get more easily discouraged when they make mistakes. Overcoming mistakes and self-doubt are key characteristics that will eventually form a great filmmaker, he says.

“If you just give yourself a chance, I think most people have a great way of triumphing over this, and they become filmmakers.”

Manisha Singh, a film student at De Anza, bears witness to the supportive environment Lisha cultivates.

“[His] classes are excellent. He has created a desire in me to do even better … [and] has widened my horizons. I have the will to do better. There are times when you take a class and at the end of the quarter you don’t feel you have retained a lot. After Lisha’s class, I’m not the best [yet] but I know I’m getting there.”

According to James Codeglia, a student filmmaker and vice president of the De Anza Film and Television Guild, Lisha is “filled with enthusiasm” and has much knowledge to share from his experience in the field. Codeglia says he highly recommends anyone at all interested in the art of filmmaking to take a class. “De Anza has the best film/video department you’ll ever see at that price,” says Codeglia. Lisha, who says he never rests, has already set his eyes on the next project, which is to integrate the digital revolution into filmmaking. He says it is his job to make the transition effective so that students have an even wider range of possibilities to express their visions.

Asked whether he ever regrets his switch from economics to filmmaking, he replies that once bitten by the bug, it’s impossible to get out of it. However, he acknowledges that his life might have taken a different turn, had he not been in the midst of the turbulent 60s.

“In a lot of ways, we are a product of [a] time and place and the context we make of ourselves. A lot of times, people may think things are set, and there are certain things they are just going end up with. I don’t think that’s the way it is, and if [people do think that], they tend to limit themselves. A lot of times they don’t allow themselves the potential to do something that is even bigger than they are, and chances are that when they do so they will also grow. We like to believe in safety of the future, and I don’t think there is such a formula, if you want to live your life fully.”

Lisha has done a number of documentary films and corporate productions in the past and says he is always looking for opportunities, but that the growth of the department has priority. In the meantime, he says he is still teaching and enjoying living in the Bay Area, a place he says he now considers home.