Ten years ago, Joseph Kahn found himself back home in Houston after empty pockets forced the fledgling director to leave NYU film school. Yet Kahn's devotion to the image compelled him to seek funds to continue his cinematic quest. Enter some friends from a local "gangsta rap company" who ponied up $20,000 US to shoot some music videos.

"I can't reveal their name - they'll kill me if I do," Kahn deadpans. "But that's how much I wanted to be a filmmaker. If I had to hit the ghetto with guns, drugs and ass, then that's exactly what I had to do."

The celluloid-obsessed youth quickly racked up 30 videos in two years before LA beckoned. Arriving with directorial reel tucked neatly under arm, Kahn pitched his work to every respectable prodco in town. "My attitude was: 'Throw me a bone and I'll come back with a steak', and I found myself shooting videos for ridiculous[ly small] sums of money."

He came to rest at bicoastal Bedford Falls before Palomar blipped on the radar. "Looking back there was no single breakthrough video-wise. I had an invisible career on the whole, then suddenly I found myself shooting work for U2, Moby, Britney and Wu-Tang Clan."

Kahn materialized dramatically into public consciousness in 2002 when he won Video of the Year and Best Direction at the MTV Music Video Awards for Eminem's "Without Me".

Of late, the 30-year-old director has been busy shooting scenes on his first feature, Torque, the $50-million Warner Bros. flick starring Ice Cube. It promises to be a Kahn-esque affair replete with visual action - envision The Fast and the Furious on bikes.

Torque may not be Joseph Kahn unchained, but the director says he was wise to the ways of the studio. On a feature, "the smallest conflagration can turn into a raging inferno so you have to be prepared mentally. Prep heavily before every shoot day, then maneuver between the politics festering around you."

Ask Kahn about the technical aspects of filmmaking and he'll rap on the oft-neglected aesthetics of the medium. "There's no delineation between a close-up, medium or wide shot," he says. "They're just terms to approximate acamera position. Directing is something artistic, not merely technical"

Wherever Kahn lands, his passion for filmmaking will carry him along. "I feel like the most insignificant person sometimes. But the thought of raising people's blood pressure, making them laugh or cry... I wouldn't change it for the world."

Information:
Representation: HSI for spots and videos; UTA for features. Co-owns prodco unit SuperMega
Years directing: 10
Started out: Shooting booty hip-hop on the streets of Houston
Jobs per year: From two to 30
Making a movie is: Thinking heavily about character while dealing with a million questions from a million different places, then having to campaign for your vision as a director
Favorite job: That's like choosing your favorite child

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