Transcript:

My name is Eli Sokhn.

I’m from Lebanon, and I’m a director and producer. I came to L.A. in August of 2010.

I came here as a student on an F-1 visa.

Shortly after, I wrote, produced, and directed my first short film on an F-1 visa, and then this film made it to Cannes. And we’re like, okay, we’re all going to go. So we go there. We did the whole thing, came back here, and I realized my visa was about to expire.

I’m like, holy shit, what do I do now? Like, I don’t want to lose all of this hard work and just go back like nothing happened. But I also wasn’t trying to force it.

And then I was talking to a friend, and he introduced me to his attorney. And his attorney was super busy, and so he said, “Look, I’m going to introduce you to one of my partners, Lorraine, and then she will take care of you.”

And then me and Lorraine met, and we connected over her actually going to Lebanon in one of the summers, and she happened to go to the town where I was born. And I’m like, holy shit, that’s pretty cool, you know? And then we had this connection.

And then she looked at my work, and she’s like, “Your work is really good. And you’ve won this award, and you’ve done this and that. And you probably qualify for an O-1—people that have proven extraordinary ability in their fields. I think you might have a good shot at it.”

And I’m like, “Well, let’s try it.” So I go and I get a bunch of documents and a bunch of proofs that, hey, I did this, I did that—you know, awards and letters and all that kind of stuff.

And honestly, the process was—I can say I’m not good at paperwork or doing that type of work—so all I had to do was just give all this information to Lorraine and her team, and then they kind of cooked that whole case.

And then yeah, shortly after, I got approved for my O-1. And this is when I felt like, oh my God, relieved that I don’t have to walk the streets of L.A. feeling like I’m illegal or like I can’t be here.

So that just gave me more confidence that I can just go and do my own thing. I got my first O-1, then I renewed it, and then I got my second O-1.

Clearly, I built more experience and more relationships, more connections, more projects, more work.

After that, I transitioned into my green card and got my green card—same process. All I had to do was just add onto the file and the documents that I already presented, and then I applied for my citizenship.

And funny story is actually on my citizenship—Lorraine actually came to the interview with me.

I feel like I can talk to people and my confidence is good, but when you’re sitting in that room and it’s kind of like you’re being interrogated for something they’re convinced you’ve done, but you haven’t, so you have to know how to take that conversation back.

And I feel like this is where Lorraine just like—she kind of interjected—and she had to remind him of what I’ve done and how much I contribute to the American system because I run my company and I hire a lot of people—American people and artists from everywhere, I guess.

And it just gave me a little more confidence that she was there with me and had my back, because I feel like if she wasn’t there, I don’t know if things would have gone the way they did, which resulted in me getting my citizenship.