Book of projects Interchange 2010 by TorinoFilmLab

book of projects 2010 Interchange Programme

with the support of

Filmmaking can be a place where stories still explore the infinity of possible worlds and experiences. This exploration takes time and faith that it will not be in vain. Phases of solitude, and maybe even loneliness, can alternate with phases of intense collaboration. We tell ourselves our stories, we share them and see them become through this process. Being able to nurture ideas, in the working together with other filmmakers, story editors, creative producers can help to bear the weight of the whole process, and bring it to a gratifying conclusion.

TorinoFilmLab Interchange Programme

TorinoFilmLab was born in April 2008 with a precise aim: linking training, development and funding activities. We want to support filmmakers from all over the world at their first or second feature, following them, as far as possible, from the beginning to the end of their path. This process needs a vision that has to be shared, first of all, with the Institutions that support all activities: Ministero per i Beni e le AttivitĂ Culturali, Regione Piemonte, CittĂ di Torino, the EU MEDIA Programme and MEDIA International. We want to thank them for believing that TorinoFilmLab can, in time, help develop the Italian and European audiovisual Industry through a close interaction with the rest of the world. Interchange is the first Programme that Torinofilmlab has designed together with the Dubai International Film Festival and EAVE, specifically dedicated to linking the European and the Arab filmmaking worlds. We want to thank our partners, because they have made our working experience not only extremely productive, but also gratifying and fun!

Savina Neirotti, TorinoFilmLab Director

Seven years ago the Dubai International Film Festival was launched with the mission to celebrate excellence in cinema, using it as a medium to promote open dialogue between cultures and nations; to nurture and develop local and international talent; and to accelerate and foster the growth of the industry. The Interchange programme speaks directly to this intention. In creating Interchange the Festival has developed relationships with two leading training providers in Europe - TorinoFilmLab and EAVE - and with support from the MEDIA Mundus has opened up new opportunities for filmmakers from the Gulf region and selected countries in the Middle East to benefit from this rich source of experience. Filmmaking is an international business and filmmakers need to acquire the skills to be able to interact in this environment to raise finance and to reach out to audiences around the world. Interchange provides a forum for filmmakers from Europe and the Arab region to come together to exchange ideas, experiences and expertise to help each other explore new opportunities in these markets under the guidance of highly experienced teachers and industry professionals. One of the greatest assets the participants will take with them after the course is finished is the network of international contacts and friends they will establish during the programme - and the open dialogue that will continue into the future and result in new collaborations.

Jane Williams Dubai Film Connection & Film Forum Director

Index 8

Tutors

Projects 12

Nostalgia - Zaid Abu Hamdan

A Personal Obligation - Haifaa Al Mansour

Khsara - Suha Araj

Heaven Sent - Wissam Charaf

Beirut, I Love You - Zena el Khalil & Gigi Roccati

Kawthar - Samer Ghorayeb & Firas Khnaisser

Smile! Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in Jeddah - Ahd Kamel

Habibi99 - Mousaed Khaled

A Gaza Weekend - Basil Khalil

A Plane For My Soul - Maythem Ridha

This War On Love - Hind Shoufani

Staff

Tutors Jacques Akchoti - France

Roshanak Behesht Nedjad - Germany

Antoine Le Bos - France

Gino Ventriglia - Italy

scriptwriter

producer

scriptwriter & story editor

After his studies at NYU Filmschool, Jacques Akchoti worked in different areas of film production with directors such as R. Bresson, JJ. Beineix, L. Von Trier.

Roshanak began working in the film-industry as a festival coordinator and production manager.

Antoine Le Bos is a French screenwriter and script-consultant, with more than 25 feature scripts delivered under contract as a writer or co-writer, and the experience of over a hundred feature projects followed as a consultant.

Born in Naples, 1954, he works as a script consultant for cinema and television production companies (Rai Cinema, Lumiere, Studio Canal Urania, Tao2, Cattleya, Sintra, Eagle Pictures, Grundy, Filmmaster, IDF, Istituto Luce, Italian International Films, Bavaria).

He then became a screenwriter and script consultant, and headed the development of many French and international films for cinema and television that obtained selections and awards at major film festivals. Most recently, A Screaming Man by Haroun Mahamat Saleh, Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He directed a feature film for television and has written several screenplays. His latest script, Don’t Look back, a film by Marina De Van featuring Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci was part of the Official Selection of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Jacques has been teaching writing and directing at the Femis (National French Filmschool) since 1988 and has facilitated many international screenwriting and development workshops, among which EAVE, Sud Ecriture, DV8 films, Vision Cinema, Ekran, Interchange, etc.

In 1999 she started her company Flying Moon, together with Helge Albers and Konstantin Kröning. Since then they have been producing audience-oriented films (feature films as well as documentaries) with an edge and a strong focus on international co- productions, with partners from countries like Ireland, UK, Turkey, Iran and many others. Films by Flying Moon were screened successfully at festivals and sold around the world, among them are award-winning projects like Havanna in Amor German National Film.

After a first life as a sailor and an interrupted PhD in Philosophy at the Sorbonne, he graduated from the CEEA in Paris (the French Conservatoire for Filmwriting) in 1996. After directing short films and on-stage experiments - theater, contemporary opera in Paris and Prague, he co-created the 3D animation series Ratz, shown in more than 20 countries, and created the ciné-écritures workshops in Paris in 2002. Soon he discovered a deep taste for dramaturgy. He then worked as a consultant for the Moulin d’Andé (CECI, France), tutoring their 2005, 2006 and 2007 rewriting sessions, as well as European short Pitch 2007 to 2010 sessions, and teaches screenwriting at Brest University. He won the Gan Foundation Prize as a writer in 2005, and works with among others the Afghan director and Prix Goncourt winner Atiq Rahimi. Since 2007, he has been Artistic Director of Le Groupe Ouest, European center for film creation in Britanny (France), and he recently co-created the Cross Channel Film Lab between France and Great Britain. He’s been a tutor for Script&Pitch Workshops and TorinoFilmLab since 2007, as well as for Interchange in 2009 and 2010.

For cinema, he co-wrote three movies. For television, he wrote and developed a number of tv movies, tv series and long series. He teaches drama theories (Corso Rai-Script, Scuola Holden, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia). He edited the books Three uses of the knife theoretical writings by David Mamet, Dancer in the Dark by Lars Von Trier, and Alternative Scriptwriting by Ken Dancyger and Jeff Rush. Since 1994 he has been a member of the editorial staff of the quarterly magazine Script. He got a Fulbright Fellowship and achieved a double Master of Fine Arts in Directing and Screenwriting at the USC - University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Tutors Sibylle Kurz - Germany pitching expert

With an academic background in media & communication science, psychology, sociology, Sibylle Kurz set up her own consulting company in 1995 as a Pitching & Communication Skills Trainer. Her experience in “The Art of Pitching” results from more than 15 years’ experience in acquisition, distribution and co-production of theatrical, video and TV films for an independent company in the German-speaking market. Focus of her work is intensive pitching training, project & personal presentation, proposal development for people working in “arts, media & culture”. The workshops and personal coachings enable creatively working talents to hone and time-tune their projects prior to pitching as well as to gain insight into their own professional practice.

Ic Interchange Programme

She works all over Europe and further abroad for the following group of clients: Producers, Writers, Filmschools+Institutes, Publishers, Artists, Composers, ...basically all creatively working people with strong ideas to be brought to life! She has published numerous articles and books about her main subject: e.g. Pitch it! Die Kunst Filmprojekte erfolgreich zu verkaufen (2000, 2008); Low-Budget-Filme. Marketing und Vertrieb optimieren (2006) – both UVK Verlag Konstanz. She is a member of EDN-European Documentary Network, DK.

script & intention Being a man growing up in the 80s and 90s in the Middle East, one of 4 brothers and having no sisters in my family, I always wondered. What if we were 4 girls living under the same conditions? Would my 3 brothers be as happy as they are? Would my parents still be happy about me being a film director in Hollywood at 28, or is a married daughter with children more appropriate at this age? “Tradition” & “freedom”, how are these terms defined in the Middle East? Despite all revolutions of the world to overcome tradition, a part of us still wants to stick to tradition; a part of us indeed feels safer with it; while a part of us still yearns for freedom. In general, women in the Arab world have gained more freedom & independence within their cultures. After the sisters in Nostalgia were no longer under “oldschool” domestic authorities, freeing themselves from what tradition dictates as “good & bad”, they changed. Yet, how significant was that change? Are traditions completely non-existent in their new lives? In Nostalgia, I intend to tell my story using a realistic family, the MiddleEastern stubborn and always worried “father of the girls”, including the pressure that comes with it and dissolves with age! Through many clashes, the sisters express their strengths, fears, hopes and talk about men, sexuality and love, all as products of tradition. I want to explore how tradition is reflected onto their behaviours and decisions, and thus onto ours, regardless of how “liberal” we might think we are. As the plot of the story will be driven by the effect of tradition and culture on shaping the sisters characters’, what this effect made of them will mainly instigate the comedy of 4 completely opposing and overcharged Middle-Eastern characters, meeting again at the base of their traditions.

Nostalgia Zaid Abu Hamdan

Jordan / UAE synopsis Hani, a 75-year-old blind widower runs an antique bookshop in old Amman. Years taught him to identify every item in his shop by smell and touch. Out of his 4 daughters, only the eldest and unmarried, Zainab, stays behind dedicating her life to him. Zainab is a secret writer awaiting a big break to change her life. One day, Zainab is granted a scholarship in Europe, but before opting to move on, Hani disappears! As her dream vanishes again she calls her sisters in, to find their father, urgently. After years, the sisters reunite again, yet only physically. They grew into complete opposites, a prefect formula for disaster. Cold Rihab, fiery Ruba, stubborn Lama and frantic Zainab are now trying to team up again. Yet, bickering and throwing blame at each other was their only common ground! Countless fights pass until they suddenly discover a way to find their old man, by going back to look at his old books! With their problems unresolved, the sisters run after each clue, until they find their old man at the same time, on a hilltop, waiting! With no further blame or apologies, Hani tells his daughters a story, making them feel blinder than he is. They reconcile with a smile then rush to catch Zainab’s flight to Europe!

A blind man, four fanatic daughters, and a hundred books to unite them...

I aim to continue writing a screenplay that is organic and reflects to the West our fun, simple and loving nature as Middle-Eastern people, by tackling serious issues in a stylishly comedy context. Yet at the same time, a film that will be a mirror for us to take a moment and think… how did tradition shape my life? How did my tradition affect my sister, daughter or even my neighbour’s life?

Zaid Abu Hamdan writer & director Born and raised in Jordan. Actor from age 5 and dazzled by the magic of storytelling, quote: “Sinbad & Superman are still my heroes!” Holder of a BA from the Lebanese American University/ Beirut, majoring in Film-TV and Theatre (2005), and an MFA in Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy, Hollywood (2010). Zaid travelled internationally working as an Assistant Director, Line producer and TV reporter. He produced International Red Cross campaigns and worked as first Assistant Director/writer for the Jordanian version of Sesame Street. In 2006, Zaid landed a Continuity Producer/Script copywriter job for MBC Action, part of the lead pan-Arab TV network, Middle-East Broadcast Centre. In 2009-2010, Zaid’s short film Baram & Hamza won several awards at international film festivals and he is currently completing his new short film Love…Older, shot in Los Angeles and Beirut. Also, Zaid’s short film Bahiya…& Mahmoud is officially selected for the Arab Muhr competition at DIFF 2010. In May 2010, Zaid’s first feature Nostalgia was selected for development by TorinoFilmLab, DIFF and EAVE.

budget & financing

distribution & sales

production notes

Zaha Productions was established in Amman, Jordan in 2009, focusing on fiction projects for film and television.

Arab women have gained independence within their families and cultures, but what does this mean? And what is the man’s role in this new and complex world? Nostalgia is a drama told in a comedy context. It is the story of an Arab family, representing typical individuals in the region. Each character of this film, from the old stubborn Middle-Eastern father to his daughters, age 29 to 42, will appeal to a large demographic in our audience. I believe that the director’s choosing to use comedy moments will extenuate the impact of the film on our audience, who will be able to relate to the film as it reflects a truth in the life of Middle-Easterners: the struggle between modernity and tradition.

production company Zaha Productions 7275 Franklin Ave, 404 Hollywood, CA 9USA T +1-323-600-3524 Zaid@zahaproductions.com

Zaha Production’s archive contains internationally awarded short films like, Baram & Hamza that won several awards like World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic - Van Gogh Award - Amsterdam Film Festival. In addition, Baram & Hamza was nominated at several international film festivals and is still in circulation around the world. Zaha is in its final stages of completing its new short film, Love… Older, which was shot in Los Angeles and Beirut and has won an Award of Merit for its scirpt at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood.

Zaid Abu Hamdan

Jordan / UAE

Nostalgia is our first feature film, and we intend to produce it with partners from the Middle East and/ or Europe or the United States. Our plans are to shoot our story in the Middle East. In order to determine an effective budget, we are currently looking for co-producers and commercial investors in the Middle East. Production logistics such as equipments, crew, film stock, processing and telecine have been determined and agreements are pending due to the script development phase. While our company is young, our experience in the Arab world’s film industry is extensive, and we can leverage our strong relationship with various production companies for the success of Nostalgia, by pooling various resources available to us in order to improve the production value of our film.

total production budget We are currently looking for associate producers in the Middle East to build a solid budget. production status script development

Nostalgia

Zaha Productions have so far built very successful relations not only with well-established media production-service providers but also with companies such as Animation Art (Dubai, UAE), Gamma Engineers (Dubai, UAE – Beirut, Lebanon) and Film Equipped (Dubai, UAE).

co-producer Zaha Productions Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Bin Zayed city United Arab Emirates T +971506629151 Hebamusaed@gmail.com

We believe that Arab cinema is evolving not only in the world but also domestically, due to the great interest from companies around the world that are adopting indigenous projects, producing and distributing a variety of films. Our understanding for the world cinema industry ensures that the elements of our film will attract our audience: the story, film style and most importantly the cast, to find the perfect actors who can improve the appeal of our project. Zaid is a promising and awarded director who has proven with his shorts that he is able to tell stories that not only relate to a domestic but also an to international audience. Due to a growing interest in Middle Eastern authentic and social stories, especially with young and emerging directors, we therefore believe that we are able to find a suitable distributor for our film.

Heba Abu Musaed producer Heba Abu Musaed is a Palestinian-Jordanian Film/TV Producer and Director, born in the United Arab Emirates. In 2002, she earned a Bachelors Degree in mass-communication, majoring in producing / directing for TV and radio, with philosophy. Between 2002 and 2007, she worked as an Assistant Producer for the current Affairs department at Al Arabyia News channel. In 2007, she moved to the Creative Services department at MBC, as an Associate Producer for MBC1. In 2009, she was hired as Programme/ Drama Producer and Director for “Baynounah Media Group”, and got her diploma in Filmmaking from New York Film Academy Abu Dhabi. She wrote, produced, and directed her first short film Nafaq. In June, Heba flew to Los Angeles to serve as the Assistant Director on the Baram & Hamza film and she decided to become one of the Executive Producers. In 2010 Heba produced the short Love, Older. Heba is currently working closely with Zaid Abu Hamdan as a producer to his first feature Nostalgia.

script & intention A Personal Obligation, or Fard Ayan in Arabic, is the story of three idealistic young people who have come together in Afghanistan for very different reasons and motivations. Khalid, a young Saudi Jihadi, has set off in search of a struggle, believing it is a personal obligation of his faith to fight against injustice for those who are able. Mariam, his obedient Saudi wife, has left the comfort of her middle class upbringing to follow her husband and contribute whatever efforts he asks of her. When Khalid is taken captive, she tries to free him by working with Brian, an American CIA agent who sees Afghanistan as the perfect playground for his imperialistic pursuits. The film focuses on the many people of my generation who were enticed to sacrifice their lives to the romance of Jihadi stories in Afghanistan and Chechenya. Some of the volunteers from my hometown never came back. Many of them went on to shape the twisted ideology of Al Qaeda and form many of the other militant groups lead by Arab fighters. However, the vast majority of them returned home with broken dreams and nowhere to go, led astray by a faulty ideology, false hopes and misguided ideals.

A Personal Obligation

As Mariam begins to experience life outside of her husbandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s realm, she transforms from a devoted, loving wife into an independent renegade. Her fears of challenging her ideologies break down as she emerges as a new woman.

Haifaa Al Mansour

Saudi Arabia synopsis When Khalid, a young Saudi Jihadi is detained in the mountains of Afghanistan in the 1980s by a tribe hostile to Arabs, his devoted wife, Mariam, vows to free him. She completes his dangerous assignment of delivering communiquĂŠs across Afghanistan to an Arab camp in the North. She hopes that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll help her get him back. Instead, they arrange to marry her off. At the first opportunity she escapes the camp with Brian, a CIA agent training the Mujahideen. Her ideology and sense of self is transformed by the independence of the journey across the vast war torn country. She meets Khalid as a new woman and she finds herself disgusted by his radical views that once captivated her. She is also angry that he feels dishonoured because she has come to him with a foreign man. Instead of the loving reunion she longed for with Khalid, she ends up killing him before he can kill both her and Brian in an act of revenge and a crime of honour. Devastated and with nothing to look back on or hold on to, she discovers an incredible inner strength. She decides to return home alone to create a future of her own.

In 1980s Afghanistan, the wife of a young Saudi Jihadi is trapped in a dangerous world of war and twisted ideologies, but decides to escape it all.

Conversely, the film explores the influence of Western adventurism in Afghanistan and the strange bedfellows that resulted from the American and Saudi support of the mujahedeen during the SovietAfghan War. The actions, motivations, and aspirations of the central characters of the film will serve as a reflection for the larger sociopolitical actions that lead Afghanistan into the tragic and devastating path it is on. However, it is more of a human story than a political one, told in a large part from the perspective of one of the many Arab women who joined their loved ones on their journey to the battlefield. Although the ideologies of their movement prevent them from being central figures in forging their destinies, many of them were fervent believers that they were a part of a larger, greater movement. The sad reality of their broken lives has been swept over in the annals of history, but must be examined as a counter balance to the fabricated and glorified tales of martyrdom that proliferate across the Arab world.

Haifaa Al Mansour writer & director Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia. She studied comparative literature at the American University in Cairo and completed a Master degree in Film Studies from the University of Sydney under the Endeavour Award. She has participated in multiple exchange programs through various international institutions, including the US Department of State, Georgetown University and the Royal Library in Copenhagen. She began her film career with three shorts, Who?, Bereavement of the Fledgling, and The Only Way Out, followed by her award winning documentary Women Without Shadows. Her film endeavours inspired a new movement of independent filmmaking in Saudi Arabia. Whether through her films, her talk show Women and More on LBC, or her weekly column for Al Watan Newspaper, Haifaa is famous for penetrating the wall of silence surrounding the sequestered lives of Saudi women and providing a platform for their unheard voices. Her first feature Wajda is currently in preproduction between Germany and Saudi Arabia.

budget & financing

distribution & sales

production notes

The budget will be around 2 million USD.

I plan on working with a world sales company that can offer a minimum guarantee of being part of the financing and taking the project to the international market. Additionally, I would like to secure a presale of the Middle East rights. The dialogue will also be multi-language, primarily English and Arabic, giving it additional cross-over potential.

original title Fard Ayan

I would like to find a European production company to work with Middle Eastern financing partners to create an international co-production. I believe it is important to bring in partners from outside the region to complete the project. Not only because they bring in a technical and creative talent, but also because I believe that the themes of Western and Eastern influence coming together in a foreign landscape are best explored by a team made up of members from both regions. I believe that both perspectives are important and want to create authentic representations of each.

As stated previously, the spirit of the film focuses on diverging perspectives, and I hope that it will be accessible to audiences around the world. Without accusation or condemnation, I would like audiences from all walks of life to see in it a chance to explore their own experiences with the tragic loss of youth to broken ideologies.

total production budget $ 2,000,000 production status currently in development. I would like to structure finance as an international co-production between Europe and the Middle East.

A Personal Obligation Haifaa Al Mansour

Saudi Arabia My first feature film Wajda, a coming of age story of a Saudi girl determined to express and experience the joys of her childhood, is currently in pre-production. The film has been positioned well in its development internationally.

The experience of Mariam as one of countless young Saudis who were enticed through their youthful idealism into a deceitful and exploitive revolutionary movement is comparable to any simple and personal loss of faith.

It is a co-production between Germany and Saudi Arabia and filming is set to take place in Spring 2011.

It is a story for anyone who set out looking for answers in a religious or political movement and found only empty platitudes and simplistic beliefs, or hateful rhetoric and angry slogans. But mostly it is a story for anyone who followed a friend or loved one off of the well travelled path looking for a less ordinary life, only to find themselves lost and estranged, longing for the stability and tranquillity of the provincial lives they left behind.

production company High Look Productions P.O. Box 85277, Riyadh 11691, Saudi Arabia T +966 (1) 472 1121 F +966 (1) 474 7196 www.highlook.com haifaa.almansour@gmail.com

Brad Niemann

Amr Al Kahtani

co-writer

producer

Brad Niemann, originally from San Clemente, California, has worked in Public Relations and Cultural Development projects across the Middle East, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Amr Al Kahtani has owned and operated the High Look Group Production Company for over ten years. The High Look Group has produced programmes for several well-known international clients, including BBC, LBC, MBC and Al Jazeera Media Group.

He also worked for several Non-profit Organizations in the Washington DC area, including the Arab American Institute and Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIESC). He has a Masters degree in International Relations from Villanova University and is currently finishing a two-year program in Arabic language for work in Public Relations in the Gulf region. Capitalizing on his knowledge of the Middle Eastern region, he is developing several projects exploring the theme of ‘clashing civilizations’ with his wife, Haifaa Al Mansour, as a co-writer on her first feature film Wajda and second film A Personal Obligation. He is also the artist of their graphic novel Marriage of Civilizations.

He has produced over one hundred and fifty documentary films, more than eighty commercials, as well as several public service programs and talk shows. He has also produced television series in the Saudi Kingdom and across the Gulf region, including Akhwan wa Ahkwaty (Brothers and Sisters), Imraah la toshbih Al Kamar (Women don’t look like the moon), and Mako Fakah (No Escape). He has been recognized by Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz for the training and supervision of recent university graduates, the Ministry of Social Affairs for his work on the campaign against poverty, and Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz for his work on a series focusing on the Quran.

script & intention I am inspired by Mira Nair saying, “We must tell our own stories.” Growing up the Arab girl in a small town in Ohio led to many comic misunderstandings, but as I got older I came to appreciate living between two cultures and attempting to do so without going crazy. I am among many who live on the edge of culture. Very few of us had it figured out, but the joy was in the journey to find the balance and where we fit in, or more accurately, did not fit in. Through the universal truths of these experiences I hope people can laugh and quite possibly understand one another. The tone of the film is intimate, colourful, and humorous, weaving the dichotomy of being American from an Arab standpoint and Arab from an American standpoint. This is a timeless story of a woman creating herself, tripping the whole way, but landing on her feet.

Khsara Suha Araj

Palestine / USA synopsis Nisreen, a blissfully innocent 29-year-old Arab American with modern sensibilities, lives with her parents in San Francisco. Straddling an Arab and an American world has never been easy; thankfully her boyfriend Nizar, a Palestinian émigré, brings her closer to her culture. But when the couple is poised to marry, Nizar reverts to tradition: He ends the relationship as they have already slept together and he feels obliged to marry a virgin. Unlike Nisreen, for him love alone is not a reason to marry. Nisreen is lost, devastated, and under pressure from her mother to freeze her eggs before they expire at the age of 30. Her father confirms his unconditional love while her sassy cousin Gina, who recently left Palestine for a modern life in the U.S., finds the same old traditions in her new home. Gina initiates the Khsara (expired) club for her unwed cousins to bond in their outsider status; believing that there is more to a woman’s life than her status. Nisreen is not convinced. Only after she seeks what she is missing by dating other men, both American and Arab, does she slowly realize the only way to become happy is to find herself.

Nisreen’s struggle between two opposing cultures is the timeless story of a woman creating herself, tripping the whole way, but landing on her feet.

Khsara is a word in Arabic that simply means “too bad” or “what a shame.” Culturally, it takes on a different meaning when referring to an unwed woman. Too bad, she is decent looking, educated, professional, from a good family. But if she is not married, she becomes a shame. Being an unwed Arab woman of a certain age inevitably leads to many questions and concerns. Non-Arab women seem to understand the same phenomenon; women of any race or culture understand that society views them differently if they are single. The key characters in the story find modern sensibilities in both Palestine and the U.S. just as they find traditional beliefs. Each character experiences what it feels like to not fit in where she was born; the main character born in the U.S. and her cousin born in Palestine. Both women flounder between Arab and American culture and eventually find the place that works best for themselves. After numerous mishaps and mismatches, Nisreen does not find a man, but she finds her own voice, her passion, and a new home. The theme is about modernity vs traditionalism not only in Arab countries but also in Arab communities. This universal conflict will resonate with audiences in every country adhering to the “act locally, think globally” school of thought. The only way to please everyone and reconcile two worlds is to create your own. This is a story about an Arab girl who doesn’t get married in time and perhaps never will.

Suha Araj writer & director Suha is often found overhearing, watching, or telling a story. As an artist and filmmaker she has focused on the displacement of immigrant communities. Her short film, I am Palestine screened at festivals internationally and is used as an educational tool. She served as a story advisor to the Sundance selection, SlingShot HipHop and produced the short, Fruition. Installation (Displacement, Inshallah Falasteen, Buried in Michigan) and acting (Chocolate in Heat, Suitcase) have inspired her storytelling in new mediums. Her latest feature script, Khsara: Expired, explores the humour created from the contrast of cultural expectations and has also been supported by the Royal Jordanian Film Commission’s RAWI screenwriter’s lab with the Sundance Institute. For seven years she was part of the film selection committee of the Arab Film Festival in San Francisco and has also served on the LunaFest Board of Advisors. She is a co-founder of DivineCaroline.com, a publishing platform for women.

budget & financing

distribution & sales

production notes

Fresh Booza Productions is a New York–based production company focusing on unique stories from the Arab world. Our goal is to reshape Arab images in the West and to offer fresh perspectives of everyday Arab life and social issues that have existed for generations.

Nisreen, Khsara’s main character, is a 29-yearold woman caught between opposing worlds. Seemingly she is a liberated Arab-American woman working as an archaeology professor living at home with her family. She comes face to face with her culture as her modern Arab immigrant boyfriend diverts back to traditional culture when marriage is on the table. She finds herself stunned that ancient cultural rituals still apply to her relationship. Our target audience is a 25-plus woman who can identify with the quest and conflict of Nisreen, who also understands or has experienced her own web of opposing cultural expectations. Khsara not only represents a conflict of cultures but also divides within cultures.

production company Independent Producer Monique Peterson 527 8th Street, 3D Brooklyn, NY 11215 M +0119178366158 monipeterson@gmail.com

Khsara: Expired offers audiences a view into the life of a modern Arab woman being pulled between cultural roles and her own goals, straddling the traditional culture she was born into and the modern culture she lives in. Setting the film in San Francisco and Palestine allows us to speak to the many audiences caught between two worlds and opposing traditions, both in the old world and the new.

Fresh Booza Productions LLC Rumzi Araj 3403 36th St 2nd floor Astoria, NY 11103 M + 0116462677263 rumziaraj@slingshothiphop.com www.slingshothiphop.com

total production budget € 1,490,000

Khsara

production status in development

Suha Araj

Palestine / USA Suha has a unique perspective within this experience having lived in both of these worlds and navigated between the different cultural constraints. It is the writer’s humor and story telling abilities that allow this film to have a genuine voice. Shooting locations include San Francisco exteriors and interiors, and exteriors in the Middle East. It is also possible to shoot some of the film in Michigan where there is a tax break for film productions. There will be a need for at least two units of crew, one in Palestine and one in the U.S. The production budget is 1.49 million Euros. We are searching for a co-producer in the U.S. that can help secure equity financing. There are various companies we would like to work with, starting from Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films to Mira Nair’s Mirabai films. The focus of the autumn will be to find co-producers and a production company that can take on the film full time. We are also looking for a co-producer in Europe or the Middle East to secure the other 50 percent of financing.

Modernism and traditionalism exist in the old world and the new world communities. Fresh Booza is encouraged by the success of films like our own Slingshot Hip Hop as well as Amreeka and Caramel. More broadly, comparable films such as the Namesake and My Big Fat Greek Wedding offer genuine insight into different cultures and a very real experience. With Khsara, Arab women, ethnic women, and all women will be able to identify with the film. Strategically speaking, we would like to start the festival journey with the big North American independent festivals such as Tribeca, Sundance, Telluride, and Toronto. We seek to find a sales agent that would be able to distribute the film in the rest of the world including Europe and the Middle East. We strongly believe this film will relate to every country where there is still a conflict between a modern world and traditional, Latin America being a great example of this. Places where social norms are ingrained in the culture and in opposition to them often leads one to be ostracized from the community.

Rumzi Araj

Monique Peterson

co-producer

producer

Rumzi Araj is a producer and lawyer based in New York. He produced the multi-award winning feature documentary Slingshot Hip Hop, an official selection in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Monique’s experience spans twenty years as a writer and producer of film, books, and new media. Her partnership with Suha Araj began in 2006 when they launched DivineCaroline. com, a premiere web 2.0 destination for women. After hours, they wrote screenplays and consulted during the development of Khsara.

He was also a producer on the Sundance short Planet of the Arabs. Outside of film, he has worked in event production and with the Tony award winning playwright/actress Sarah Jones

Monique began her career as a broadcast journalist in California’s Napa Valley in 1989, covering the wine industry and local politics. After graduate study in history at Ohio University she pursued New York publishing in 1994. She has since authored titles on film, science, food, sports, and culture for The Walt Disney Company, National Geographic, Discovery, and Random House. Her film-related writing led her to jobs as script supervisor, producer, and talent. She has optioned two TV projects about incarcerated pregnant women and urban bee keeping, and produced a pilot for a comedic web series about modern parenting. She is now developing films about maternal health and urban farming.

script & intention This film is about two brothers who rediscover each other’s identity: Omar and Samir. Omar looks after Samir, who comes back from exile in a state of fragility. Omar becomes aware that his brother is not an extraordinary man. Still, he helps him to get forged identity papers. But Samir is unable to pay back his brother and behaves like a heartless being towards Omar, and sinks into regression. Once confronted with the fact that, whatever good he does for his brother he is not being paid back, and whatever love he tries to give, Rayan is rejecting him, Omar will commit a desperate act. And once confronted with Omar’s act, Samir will finally become conscious of his sense of responsibility, help his brother and become his hero once again. What becomes of those who have fought in a war? and how do you find the roots of your identity again after you have gone through a civil war? Those characters live “normal lives”, to all appearances. But beneath the diaphanous shell of their existence lurks a “malformation”. It’s ill-being that characterizes and unites these brothers. They both struggle for their masculinity. Omar represents the fragile side of it, while Samir represents the violent side. But in fact, everything about them is derision. For them, handling weapons or talking about war is a desperate children’s game. With their muscular bodies, they often verge on the burlesque, teetering on a tightrope between comedy and drama.

Heaven Sent Wissam Charaf

French / Lebanese synopsis Samir and Omar are brothers: Samir is a militiaman who has fled to Brazil after the Lebanese civil war. Omar has stayed in Beirut and become the bodyguard of Rayan, a punk singer, the daughter of a politician. Her father’s death has made her inherit his political empire. Omar and Samir’s mother dies and Samir heads home for her funeral. They meet after 15 years. Samir sees his old friends and gets his passport stolen. He is stuck in Beirut, waiting for a new passport. Omar attends to Rayan. He is in love with her but too shy to tell her. Omar, who helps Samir with his passport, slowly finds out about the bloodstained past of his older brother. And Samir, who had become a drunkard, is slowly getting back to his dramatic past in Lebanon. Rayan rejects Omar’s love, as she is attracted to more “macho” men. She falls for Samir’s profile. Omar discovers their relation, but isn’t able to react. He pretends to kill Rayan while she is addressing supporters in a rally. Omar is shot and ends up in hospital. Samir, regaining his sense of responsibility, kidnaps his brother and flees with him to their old family house. There, they two brothers will face their destiny together.

How do you find back your identity after having gone through the experience of a civil war?

They find themselves in a society where singers can become politicians by heritage, and where a forged passport can be obtained in a few days, even for a killer. Two Arab males in their own country. Two brothers, one snake biting its own tail: Samir is the future so longed for by Omar, who is Samir’s warrior past. My story combines a realistic and crude tone with another more poetical and burlesque style. The violence is often defused by comical elements providing a sense of incongruity: things are never absolutely dry but presented through deadpan humor. A tone also found in my previous short movies, Hizz ya wizz and An army of ants. In these films, I depicted, respectively, post-war boredom in a young man’s universe, and pre-war emotions slowly invading a person’s existence. In Heaven sent, I tried to project those two situations fifteen years later: The young, bored, love-starved man becomes a bodyguard to feel some action again, while the pre-war kid who discovered weapons is now a war veteran forced into exile.

Wissam Charaf writer & director Born in 1973, Wissam CHARAF is a Lebanese/French director, cameraman and editor. In 1998, he moved to Paris, France, where he began to work with the French/German network ARTE, as a news cameraman, editor and journalist. He has since covered major conflict areas ranging from Lebanon and the Near East to Darfour, Afghanistan, Haiti or North Korea and worked with programs such as ARTE Info, ARTE Reportages, Tracks, Metropolis. He has directed 3 short films: Hizz Ya Wizz, A hero never dies, and An army of ants. This film competed in the Locarno Film Festival, and obtained the Jury prize in the Lunel Film Festival in France. Wissam CHARAF has also worked as an assistant director on films with Danielle Arbid as well as on music videos with French director Henri-Jean Debon for artists such as Noir Désir, Sinead O’ Connor, Asian Dub Foundation. Today, he is directing Entertaining minds a 52-minute documentary and writing his first full-length feature film, Heaven sent.

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Aurora Films is an independent Paris based company established in 2002 by Charlotte Vincent producing long-feature films as well as shortfilms and documentaries. We’ve completed two long-feature films, The Wound and Domain that were selected in Cannes and Venice, as well as numerous award winning short films and theatrical documentaries.

The script is currently being rewritten and will be completed by the end of 2010. Casting should begin at that time and our goal is to approach distributors and sales representatives with a complete screenplay, the main cast and foreign co-producer/s already in place.

original title Tombé du ciel

The project Heavent sent is in the development phase. It’s the first long feature film by a Lebanese director, Wissam Charaf, whose previous three short-films we produced. All the shooting will take place in Lebanon, being managed by the company ..né.à Beyrouth with whom we already have

Following two brothers who rediscover each other’s identity and brotherhood, the film is a portrait of contemporary youth in Lebanon, and how they learn to live again with the consequences of the civil war. Wissam, through his previous short films, has developed a specific tone, that is sometimes crude but with poetical style, bordering on the burlesque.

Heaven Sent French / Lebanese

current financial need € 850,000

The drama and violence is often defused by comical elements providing a looming sense of incongruity, which means that things are never absolutely dry and serious but presented through the bias of deadpan humour. The film’s structure and aspect are unconventional and very creative. Given the financial structure, we’ll need to find a distributor in each of the coproducing countries and a sales agent who has experience in dealing with art-house features. Based on the treatment, we already had interest from different companies. Previous short-films by Wissam having been selected in prestigious festivals (Locarno, Rotterdam, Cork, Clermont-Ferrand, Belfort, etc.), we hope to have a major international festival for Heaven sent, which would give the film a label for the media and the market.

Charlotte Vincent producer

co-producer ..né.à Beyrouth Pierre Sarraf Rue Chucri Assli Immeuble Boustanim 4e étage Achrafieh, Beyrouth T/F +961 1 203485 pierre@neabeyrouth.org total production budget € 1,000,000

Wissam Charaf

successfully cooperated on Wissam’s short films and we both wish to continue this fruitful collaboration. The film will be a co-production between France, Lebanon and a possible third country, which could be Germany or Belgium. The total production budget is estimated around one million Euros. Our financing strategy in France is to target funds (Fonds Sud, Fondation Gan, Francophonie), broadcasters (Arte France, Canal +, Orange) and theatrical distributors. ..né.à Beyrouth will apply to the Dubai Film Competition, Gothenburg Film Fund, the Global Film Initiative, and look for funds and investors in the Middle-East. Production is set to start in autumn 2011.

production company Aurora Films Charlotte Vincent 16 rue Bleue 75009 Paris T +33 (0)1 47 70 43 01 F +33 (0)1 47 70 43 91 charlotte@aurorafilms.fr

production status development

Charlotte Vincent, after graduating at HEC, founded Aurora Films in 2002. Since then, she has produced short, documentaries and feature films. The company made its debut with the short film Hizz ya Wizz (2003), by director Wissam Charaf. The company’s first feature film production was La blessure (2004) by Nicolas Klotz, which was selected for the Director’s Fortnight at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and received the Grand Prix at Cinessonne Film Festival. Pork and Milk (2004), a documentary directed by Valérie Mréjen, received the International Prize for Best Documentary and RAI Sat Premium Prize in 2005. In 2008, Charlotte Vincent produced, among others, Valvert, a new documentary by Valérie Mréjen and Domaine, the first long-feature film by Patric Chiha which was selected at the Venice Film Festival. This year, Aurora Films is currently finishing two first long-features: In town by Valérie Mréjen and On the plank by Leila Kilani (a French/ Morocco co-production). Charlotte Vincent is member of the ACE network.

script & intention GGR: When I first read Zena’s memoir, I thought it was the best portrayal of my generation I had ever come across. Global, uncompromising, compassionate, brave and urgent. While reading, I was imagining the film. A metaphorical bridge between East and West on the line of prominent conflicts, in the dusk of the second millennium. Between tradition and rebellious growth, between classical beauty and pop culture. The style of the film matches the point of view of the character. We see the world through the eyes of Zena, a Lebanese artist whose journey is marked by a city in conflict, a clash between two worlds, a need to understand her identity, and a quest to save her best friend.

Gigi Roccati director

Zena: It’s also a story that comes from love; the love for my best friend and for Beirut. Although the later is more of a love-hate relationship! Within a few years I experienced the 9-11 attacks in NYC, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and the loss of my best friend to cancer. I almost died with Maya, but, I chose to live. More specifically, to write. What people liked about my blog was its honesty and poetry; I explained everything the way I was seeing it- I would like to continue this with the film. Witnessing is a strong form of resistance.

Beirut, I Love You Zena el Khalil & Gigi Roccati

Lebanon synopsis Beirut, May 2000 – Hezbollah officers are interrogating 2 young women: Zena, an artist overly dependent on her inhaler, and Maya her best friend, gracefully wearing a wedding dress. Suddenly they are set free – the Israelis have withdrawn from the south of Lebanon. In the chaos of post-war Beirut, the girls live like there’s no tomorrow. On a visit to Zena’s family home used by the Israeli army as a prison, the two friends are overwhelmed by the destruction and Maya unexpectedly collapses. They move to NYC to pursue better lives away from war, only to be confronted by the 9-11 attacks. In a time of pain and suspicion, Maya discovers her cancer and Zena has to overcome her fears to keep her alive. She begins to have visions of her ancestor Asmahan, the great diva murdered in WW2. Nostalgia takes over; choosing risk over fear, the girls return to Beirut. However, under the bombs of the 2006 war, Maya loses her battle to cancer and Zena is left alone with her demons, struggling with her sanity. Reality slips into dream. Beirut is drowning, doomed like Asmahan to an endless cycle of violent rebirths. But Zena’s destiny is to write her own story. “A woman never dies in a wedding dress.”

If war were a disease, it would be cancer. If love were a person, her name would be Maya. When my soul found a home, it was in Beirut.

G: The film, like the book, has a key that becomes a stylistic approach to the visuals; “There is a thin line between reality and dreams.” The idea of the film is to combine fiction and documentary, actors and real people, narrative storytelling and art, to achieve a sort of magic realism. The use of original home movies from Zena’s family and archives from the Lebanese civil war is combined with the script, staged by the actors. Also, Beirut becomes a character of its own, breathing the life of its faces and broken buildings. Against the everpresent threat of war, are Beirut, Zena and Maya. Z: I am Druze, and we believe in reincarnation. I feel a strong connection to Asmahan, a Diva from the 40’s. In the script, Asmahan plays an important role in helping Zena embrace her culture, finding strength in where she comes from. She relates to Asmahan; both are artists with a strong need to express themselves, both come from conservative backgrounds, both live through a global meltdown. A decade ago, no one cared about Arabs and we were always portrayed as aggressive and dim-witted. Today the world is listening, so it’s important, now more than ever, to take the responsibility to tell our beautiful stories. The script is currently in development.

Gigi Roccati, director, holds degrees from the London Film School and the London Metropolitan University. His graduation short, Chloe Travels Time, won him an internship at Universal Studios in LA, and his short films have shown at the Venice and Rome Film Festivals. Roccati has worked on documentaries taking him from Afghanistan and Russia to Cuba and Lebanon. In 2007, he wrote and directed Road to Kabul for RAI. His first photojournalistic book was recently published by Contrasto.

Zena el Khalil writer Zena el Khalil, born year of the Dragon, has lived in Lagos, London, NYC and Beirut. A visual artist, holding a MFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC, el Khalil exhibits internationally exploring issues of violence as well as gender. During the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, she kept a blog that was highly publicized on news portals such as CNN, the BBC, and The Guardian. In 2008, she was invited by the Nobel Peace Centre to present a lecture and soon after, she completed her memoir, Beirut, I Love You.

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Having a strong background in art-house documentaries, in the past couple of years, Vivo film has expanded its targets to the production of challenging feature films that explore new territories. We are particularly interested in that strange gap between narrative and reality, between fiction and life, a place we love, a place where maybe only a movie can bring you. Beirut, I Love You will take you to this space: when we met the explosive creative energy of this couple of talents, we had no doubt to start our adventure with them! The project is at a mid-development stage and we’re starting to put together concrete elements of its feasibility.

Thanks to the great interest the story of Zena el Khalil has raised all over the world, we nourish a deep trust concerning the potential of a film based on her memoirs. This tale of war, love, despair and hope has the strongest international appeal; it touches directly on some of the hottest conflicts contemporary society is facing nowadays, as it deals with the nearness and distance between East and West, with the unsolved contradictions both of the West and the Arab world. From quite an early phase, we would like to build a marketing oriented project. We will focus on Zena’s and Gigi’s versatility as artist and filmmaker, working on events connected to the book and on a series of art installations that could precede or go with the film’s release.

production company Vivo film Via Alamanno Morelli 18 00197 Rome, Italy T +39 06 8078002 F +39 06 80693483 info@vivofilm.it www.vivofilm.it co-producer Les Films des Tournelles, France

producer total production budget € 1,800,000 max current financial need 90% production status mid-development

Beirut, I Love You Zena el Khalil & Gigi Roccati

Lebanon First target now is to come to an outstanding script, able to exploit the great potential of the story at best. Writing is also being creatively oriented to the budget issue. We are working on a max. 1.800.000 € film. The idea is of integrating a richer cinematographic syntax with a lighter asset, meant to explore the chances opened when you deal with reality. We have started the productive design granting the project an international co-production. AnneDominique Toussaint (who has produced, among others, international successes such as Caramel by the Lebanese Nadine Labaki) has confirmed she will to be on board. Next step will be to possibly enlarge the team of producers with partners from the Middle East and / or UK or US. On the Italian side, talks are underway with RAI CINEMA. Moreover we foresee to apply to the MIBAC for first works in 2011. Last but not least, a share up to 15% of the budget might be granted by the regulations concerning tax credit, if Italian Government is going to confirm them. We plan to fund 55 % of the budget in Italy and the rest abroad.

We also intend to produce a presentation booklet and a trailer, which we plan to show to selected multipliers of the film industry. It’s essential to convey to our possible partners the idea of a film that is meant to speak to wide audiences, involving their sensitivity and memories. In Italy - as far as distribution is concerned - we are in touch with Cinecitta’ Luce, who have already shown a strong interest in the project. M.me Toussaint, as a co-producer, will take care of providing a good French distributor for the film. Once the script’s final draft is ready, our main target will be to grant the project a great sales agent. We expect Beirut, I Love You to be a visually outstanding and strongly emotional film able to target urban art house audiences all over the world; in this perspective the sales agent is a key role and from the Dubai meeting onwards, the hunt is open!

Marta Donzelli Marta Donzelli was born in Turin in 1975. She lives in Rome, where she is currently head of the editorial secretariat at Donzelli Editore. In 2004, together with Gregorio Paonessa, she established Vivo film, an independent production company for documentaries and art-house films. Vivo film’s productions include works by Guido Chiesa, JeanLouis Comolli, Michelangelo Frammartino, Chiara Malta, Pippo Mezzapesa, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Nelo Risi, Corso Salani, Daniele Vicari. In 2007 Il mio paese by D. Vicari won a David di Donatello as Best Documentary and in Locarno, Imatra by C. Salani was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Filmmakers of the Present Competition. Le quattro volte by M. Frammartino, awarded by TorinoFilmLab in 2008, was premiered in Cannes 2010 within the Director’s Fortnight, winning the European Cinema Award. Since then, it has been sold in more than 40 countries, and is travelling around all the most prestigious international festivals, receiving countless awards.

script & intention I have fond childhood memories of having a maid around the house. The foreign maids that have lived with us in Lebanon were usually very caring and loved me like I was their own son. I always grew attached to them, and when they left I would be completely devastated…until the next maid came along. Reflecting on the subject of maids, I couldn’t help but notice the many roles they played in our family home. Some would act motherly, some sisterly and others would get carried away and act like the lady of the house. I always wondered how they felt after they left, when they were faced with their new reality, often as foreigners in a strange land. I later learned that the most excruciating realisation maids make when they leave a family in Lebanon is that they also leave their identities behind. Being Lebanese, I know for a fact that in order to be accepted in society I need be associated with a group of people. This could be a familial, territorial, religious, social or political group, but I must absolutely be seen as being part of one. Why? Because everyone else is. In Lebanon, we identify ourselves by our groups and our affiliations, before we identify ourselves with our flag. The reasons for this? I believe it is because we have no consensus on national identity and because groups offer the support and protection that the country’s institutions fail to provide. Consider: when a maid belongs to a family she falls under their protection. While she is with them, they offer her security and stability, but when she leaves she loses their sponsorship and with it she loses all the privileges she earns from being part of the family group. She becomes an outcast.

Kawthar Samer Ghorayeb & Firas Khnaisser

Lebanon / Georgia synopsis Kawthar, a Syrian maid of a bourgeois Christian family in Beirut, is now 33. She was 16 when she became the mistress of the manipulative patriarch Pierre, in his fifties. She now governs the house and the family as if they are her own. She’s like a mother to his children, both in their twenties, but she yearns to have kids of her own. Her world crumbles when Pierre’s wife Nawal, newly recovered from a long bout of depression, exposes Kawthar and Pierre’s affair to the children, by playing them a steamy conversation of the two she’d recorded. Devastated, Kawthar has no choice but to leave yet she’s stunned when Pierre offers her a flat and promises to marry her. She loves her new flat but she starts feeling lonely as Pierre’s visits become scarcer. She misses the children. She desperately tries to reach them but they reject her. She seeks the help of family friends but they refuse to assist her. She feels abandoned. When she realises that Pierre’s reason for giving her the flat is to maintain a sexual relationship, she feels used and betrayed. Ashamed of who she has become and determined to let go of her miserable past, she leaves the flat, never to return.

You can take a maid out of the family but can you take a family out of the maid?

I empathise with the maid. I too am shut out from society but for different reasons. I choose not to identify with a particular group, but like the maid I too want to belong: she to a family, and me to my nation. Her goal is tangible, whereas my struggle is with something more abstract. I have to figure out how to belong to a nation. that suffers from a multiple identity disorder. The maid’s issue is resolved when she finds a new job, whereas my search has just begun…

Samer Ghorayeb Firas Khnaisser writer & director Firas and Samer have collaborated together for the past 12 years on various multimedia and short film projects. This duo is especially known for its original visual style and its fearless approach in tackling delicate social issues in the Middle East. Samer worked in communication before fully devoting himself to film. In 2008, he wrote and directed the short film, Le Petit Cahier Noir, which earned him wide acclaim in local and international film festivals. Samer has built a name for himself in the area of documentary production; he is commissioned by prominent NGOs. He is currently working on a film about the demolition of Beirut’s architectural heritage. Firas Khnaisser was born in 1979. He is currently an MA student of screenwriting at Edinburgh Napier University. He wrote and directed Swansong, a short on the violence of nature, in April 2010 and is currently developing a short about abandoned railway stations in Lebanon, scheduled for production in early 2011.

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Gemini Producing Centre is based in Georgia and is mostly involved in international co-productions. Looking at opening a branch in Beirut, Lebanon, dedicated to the project Kawthar which is set to be a Georgian-Middle Eastern-European coproduction.

I understand the difficulties of marketing a director’s first feature film, but I am sure that both Khnaisser and Ghorayeb’s outstanding visual style and their passion towards their homeland will allow us to create a moving experience for worldwide audiences.

production company Producing Center Gemini Tinatin Kajrishvili 7 Svanidze str. Tbilisi 0179, Georgia T +995 97 20 25 50 gemini@gemini.ge

The budget of the film is 600,000 Euro. The project is in the early development stage and is scheduled for release in 2012. We plan to find support from International funds: Fonds Sud Cinema, Visions Est Sud, Hubert Bals, World Cinema Fund, Goteborg Film Festival fund and also from local private investors.

The main character is Kawthar, in her early 30s, she’s a maid in a Lebanese family. She shares the fate of other maids, staying unnoticeable during her job, but one occasion changes her life and the life of the family, which leads her to be finally alone. As our film will be executed on a low budget, we can’t really count on a stellar cast, our main selling point is the story, its genre and the country, which will charm audiences with its unique atmosphere.

Kawthar Samer Ghorayeb & Firas Khnaisser

Lebanon / Georgia We hope to start fundraising in 2011. Assuming that it will take one year to get the budget together, this means we could start preproduction in early 2012. We are applying to different co-production markets in Europe and Asia to find co-producers and refine the project together with international experts, which we hope will help to develop our project and market the film. The main part of the shoot will take place in Beirut (all exteriors), but interiors can be shot in other countries. We will work together with an international crew and cast, who have been involved in some of our outstanding low budget film productions.

I believe that this film will join the rank of a handful of Lebanese films that do not discuss the Lebanese civil war but rather focus on the inner conflicts of its people. The so called “conflict zones” have given us some of the best stories, filled with inner tension, passion and a struggle for existence. Bringing together Georgia and Lebanon, two countries with many conflicts, and making them do a film together is the most charming part of this project which will prove to be even more attractive as we get closer to the release. Based on past experience, I always try to have a sales agent involved at a very early stage of development. Their advice, while working on script, helps us in marketing the film at a later stage. We are currently looking for co-producers, sales agents and TV pre-sales worldwide.

total production budget € 600,000 production status in development

Tinatin Kajrishvili producer Tinatin Kajrishvili was born in 1978 in Tbilisi, Georgia. She attended the State Theatre and Film University and attained her qualification as a film director. After graduating, she shot several short films and a feature. She also studied scriptwriting in Morley College, London, 2002-04. In 2006, Tinatin established “Gemini Producing Centre”, through which she has produced two short films and three documentaries. She also developed several feature film and documentary projects, which were selected at international festivals, namely Cannes Producer’s Network in 2010, B2B, Connecting Cottbus, Sofia meetings and Molodist. Her contribution at B2B earned her the best project award. Tinatin has taken part in several workshop programmes. In 2007 she took part in a workshop for project and script development organised by IFASC (Independent Filmmakers Association in South Caucasus), as a producer. Then in 2009, she participated in EAVE’s workshop for script and project development, also as a producer.

script & intention SAUDI ARABIA: BEYOND THE VEIL When people hear that I am a Saudi woman, stirring images of oppression and the black veil come to mind. The oppression I face in my society is very real but it is only part of the story. Of course there have been moments when I have had to fight for my choices but equally opportunities and support have come to me from my traditional community. Saudi women of my generation do have a choice and know how to stand up for themselves to overcome monumental challenges. Smile! You’re in Jeddah will reveal a richer and more nuanced Saudi society. It’s a story about three women’s choices, regardless of what they are, and the price and responsibility they bear with them in this traditional world. “Jeddah is different” is this Saudi cosmopolitan city’s current motto and home of the prominent and traditional “Al Hejazi” family. Salma Al Hejazi is a resigned typical teenager, who witnesses her aunt, Ruba, boldly defying the family and deciding to marry her American boyfriend and the opposition she faces from her grandmother, Ammra, the matriarch of the family. As the story unfolds, we discover three rich and complex characters from different generations struggling to find harmony between their society’s traditions and the modern world and how the family dynamic plays a huge part in making their choices. How will the traditional family survive the challenges brought about by the needs and aspirations of its young women? How will the men handle it? Does family transcend tradition?

Smile! You’re in Jeddah Ahd Kamel

Saudi Arabia / USA synopsis Salma Al-Hejazi is a Saudi teenager, resigned and cynical with a rebellious streak. She is unmotivated in spite of her intelligence and potential. The only thing that’s on her mind these days is Hattan, her first love. Salma witnesses in shock as her aunt and sister figure, Ruba, the rebel, is grounded in Saudi because the family wouldn’t grant her permission to leave for New York, her home for the past 7 years. Although unhappy for her aunt, Salma takes advantage of the lack of supervision in the house and goes on a secret date with Hattan. Ruba cuts a deal with the family and temporarily returns to New York to pack up and return to Jeddah for good. Salma enjoys being in love and the thrill of dating secretly. She shares her experience with Ruba, who is now boldly demanding to marry her American boyfriend. Salma is terrified when she is caught dating Hattan. She is forbidden to leave the house. Inspired by Ruba she considers marrying Hattan to hold on to their relationship. The trials and tribulations that follow define these women’s roles and test the resilience of the family. Ruba gets what she wants and marries her boyfriend while Salma is jilted and tends her first broken heart.

Jeddah is different and so are its women!

Being Saudi, having lived in New York City for the past 12 years and briefly marrying an American, I can draw from my own personal experience to bring this story to life. By peeling away the layers of the audience’s preconceived notions about Saudi society, I will reveal the humanity, strength and power of these women and their families. My approach is to address the topic in a subtle yet powerful and humorous manner and in turn appeal to a broad audience worldwide with the message that sometimes, even against the odds, if one follows one’s heart one can successfully embrace both tradition and modernity. For a price of course!

Ahd Kamel writer, director & Producer A native of Saudi Arabia, Ahd Kamel is an award-winning filmmaker and actress based in New York City. The Shoemaker, her short film won 1st prize at Beirut International Film Festival and 2nd prize at the Gulf Film Festival and competed at over a dozen international film festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. In her acting debut Razan, she won the Golden Gate Award for Best Actress at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Alla Fein, Kamel’s production debut also competed at several international film festival including Rotterdam and Slamdance. Working in Hollywood and alongside Peter Berg on The Kingdom, Ahd’s roles included set assistant and technical advisor. In 2008, Ahd received the Cloeween Connection award from the ADACH for an emerging Middle Eastern filmmaker presented by Spike Lee. Ahd studied acting under the tutelage of William Esper at the Esper Studio and received her directing degree from the New York Film Academy. She has a BFA in Animation & Communication Design from Parsons School of Design.

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Based in New York City Odd Camel Films is a production company committed to making socially conscious themed films. We produced and sold Ahd Kamel’s award winning short film The Shoemaker which competed at over a dozen festivals all around the world including Clermont Ferrand, Brussels, Beirut and Dubai International Film Festivals and won 1st prize at Beirut International Film Festival and 2nd prize at Gulf Film Festival. With ties all around the globe in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Europe we bring a unique and global flavor to our films.

Worldwide, there is a lack of films that deal with stories from the Arabian Gulf region and hardly any films about women and their lives. Smile addresses that demand using a family story that mixes drama and comedy to invite the audience into the sheltered world of women in Saudi Arabia. As there are no movie theatres in Saudi we will devise a viral marketing strategy to tap into the market to distribute and promote the film.

original title Abtasim Anta fe Jeddah

Smile! You’re in Jeddah is Ahd Kamel’s first feature length film. It is currently in development and set to

We aim to secure famed actors from the Middle East to even further its appeal in the region: so far Amr Waked has been attached to this project along with an up and coming Saudi actress to play the role of Salma. Internationally,

production company Odd Camel Films 15 West 20 Street, #4B New York, NY 10011 T +19176400847 ahd@ahdkamel.com www.ahdkamel.com total production budget $ 1,2000,000 production status in development

Smile! You’re in Jeddah Ahd Kamel

Saudi Arabia / USA shoot in the Middle East and Europe with a budget estimated at $1.2M. To obtain financing for Smile, Odd Camel films will use a number of potential options: approximately 25-35% will be financed through private equity. Odd Camel has very storng ties with private individuals comfortable with film investing. 25% through development grants and funds such as: (Sanad, UAE/ Women in Film, USA/ Hubart Ball, Netherlands/ Adrienne Shelly, USA). We are also seeking to collaborate with an established European or American co-producer to secure the remaining funds. Finally we aim to secure a sales agent in Middle East and Worldwide to help sell the rights for the film.

Smile stands as a unique story with the potential of appealing to educated people with a keen interest in current affairs. From all over the world, movies like Monsoon wedding (India, USA), Caramel (Lebanon, France), Amreeka (Kuwait, USA, Canada) have made a profit and have had significant market impact. The main characters of the story are female figures of varying ages who deal with universal issues that reflect on women globally all over the world. This will attract female audiences too as they will recognize part of their lives reflected in these characters.

Smile, has proudly been supported and selected by the Dubai film Connection 2009, TorinoFilmLab Interchange program 2010.

script & intention I have always been amazed by the methods young male adults use to engage romantically with their female counterparts in Kuwait (not to mention elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf region): from tracking groups of girls in shopping malls while “peacocking” to showering mobile phones on female drivers stopping at traffic lights, young men go to ridiculous lengths to grab and hold the attentions of potential girlfriends-to-be. Surprisingly, some of these unabashed attempts to connect with the opposite sex lead to the beginning of so-called “relationships”; whereby a “couple” will end up spending close to 95% of their time with one another in conversation on the telephone (talking, texting, BBM-ing – sometimes when even in the same restaurant or room) or else chatting and interacting online using fake identities or avatars. The other 5% of the time might find them actually talking face-to-face – but most likely in the back corner of some café, out of sight from nosey passers-by. Though it is actually taboo for a guy to admit he has a “girlfriend” amongst family, the opposite holds true where his male peers are concerned. In fact, when a guy is out with his buddies, claiming to have a girlfriend dramatically increases his social standing within the group. And the more girlfriends a guy appears to have the more respect he gets. It is real-life phenomena such as this that provided me the premise for habibi99 - a story written with a light and humorous touch about dating culture in a society where segregation is commonplace.

Habibi99 Mousaed Khaled

Kuwait synopsis 26-year old Aziz is the business brains behind habibi99 – a social networking service in Kuwait that provides romantically challenged males with digitally customized “VRPs” (Virtual Relationship Packages). When Aziz and his pals decide to create a premium “fake girlfriend” subscription, auditions are held to find the perfect voice for the service’s pre-recorded audio messages. As a cover, they pretend to represent ‘Words of the World’ – with unsuspecting applicants being told that their voices will be utilized for a Kuwaiti dialect dictionary-App. The job goes to wannabe pop singer Nada: mid-twenties, attractive and in need of cash to produce a demo reel. Soon after Aziz finds himself enchanted by Nada and imagining her as a potential ‘real girlfriend’. But as the two become better acquainted, Aziz becomes anxious about his deception and - unable to confess - he tries to ignore his better conscience. When Nada accidentally uncovers the real nature of Aziz’s business he is forced to decide between holding onto everything he has built up against the feelings he has for her. In the end, Aziz pulls the plug on habibi99 and – begging Nada’s forgiveness – finds that she still has a place for him in her heart.

When digital dating is taken to its absurd extreme, all’s well that ends...real.

As with young males everywhere, habibi99 recognizes that this Middle Eastern demographic has the need to “fit-in”, to “be cool” and to acquire the latest gadgets and games, cars and clothes. Appearing to have a girlfriend then becomes the cherry on the consumerist cake. As the usage of social media, mobile technologies and AR (Augmented Reality) play an increasingly intrinsic role in the lives of its subscribers, habibi99 taps into and exploits this fascination with social media technologies to create an interactive experience for them that fantastically feeds their needs. Stylistically, documentary and mockumentary elements will be incorporated - such as character interviews and ‘man on the street’ vox pops - plus special FX that simulate on-screen Instant Messaging and real-time vlogs. Animated avatars will speak to the characters during the film – like thought bubbles – and urge the characters to make decisions that they may both benefit from or…regret!

Mousaed Khaled writer Writer and filmmaker Mousaed Khaled holds a BA in English Literature and Language from Kuwait University and is a member of the Kuwait-based independent filmmaking group AKS. Parallel to writing his own blog, Mousaed has been regularly involved in local film and video productions as a production manager of TV commercials, an actor or producer on more than 15 short films and as Assistant Director for the 3rd season of The Abu Qutada and Abu Nabeel Show – a highly popular 3D animated TV show in the Arabian Gulf region. As a performer, Mousaed has studied acting, mime and musical theatre. He has had two of his short stories published in Kuwaiti newspapers and has directed the short film Tired and co-directed Mousaed In Screen: Three Shots and a Half – both of which screened at the Gulf Film Festival in 2008. Mousaed Khaled was a board member of the Kuwait Cinema Club from 2007 until 2009.

budget & financing

distribution & sales

production notes

Linked Productions is the production label of Kuwaiti producer Talal Al-Muhanna. Working closely with filmmakers and storytellers of Middle Eastern and Arab descent, Al-Muhanna seeks to bring bold, imaginative and fresh projects to the international marketplace through the development of original works of fiction and documentaries of exceptional artistic quality. As an Arab producer based between the GCC and Germany, Al-Muhanna also seeks to introduce select Arab talents to the European film scene and to bring projects from the MENA region into European co-production focus. Finance for habibi99 will initially be sought by submitting the project for development support at regional film festivals in the MENA region.

The GCC has one of the fastest growing populations in the world – a majority of which are under 25 and carrying new social attitudes as the result of increased access to education, the international media and new technologies. In spite of this, there is a lack of “Khaleeji” (local-language) content that is appealing and relevant to their daily lives. In film and on TV, narratives rarely reflect their interests, concerns or experiences.

production company Linked Productions c/o Section 3, Avenue 311, Villa 3 Hateen District - Kuwait T +965 2522 0651 (Kuwait) M +965 5501 7200 (Kuwait) M +49 176 63 65 67 68 (Germany) contacttalal@hotmail.com www.linkedproductons.com www.talmuhanna.com

With the proliferation of smartphones, the iPad and other new media-compatible devices, regional youth are now able to interact with devices and content that challenge and defy traditional methods of access and consumption.

Mousaed Khaled

Kuwait

In Abu Dhabi, the script will be submitted for the $100,000 Shasha Grant and the project will be proposed as a co-production with an Arab TV. Some European co-finance may also be sought to fill any gap. With a film production budget of between $250,000 to $350,000, we are confident that this project can be developed as a highly innovative project with strong box office potential and little downside for investors.

production status script, finance The light-hearted comedy habibi99 is intended to be shot as a lowbudget HD production in Kuwait and the UAE. For investors and businesses willing to invest in a project with the possibility of promising returns on investment if exhibited on digital screens in the GCC, we aim to deliver an innovatively-shot, entertaining and youth-oriented film with strong cross-media potential.

Habibi99

Negotiations to secure pre-sales from regional distributors will be matched with strategic pitching to potential media and telecommunication sponsors in Kuwait and elsewhere in the GCC. As part of a cross-media project intended primarily for local/regional audiences, the prospects for securing sponsorship via product placement are extremely good.

total production budget $ 350,000

The casting of an Egyptian film star – to widen box office appeal in other Arab territories – is also being considered as a route to increasing investor appeal and Arab viewership outside the GCC. By developing the script as part of an overall strategy to create a cross-media project, Linked Productions seeks to tap into this new media ‘zeitgeist’ by creating a socially relevant and culturally authentic film that comes alive across multiple platforms. Consequently, the revenue streams generated by cinema-going, gaming, interactive entertainment, mobile/online retail shopping and social networking will form part of a 360° approach to promoting the film. While our target audience are Arab males and females aged 15-35, we anticipate a broader viewership where the actual film itself is concerned. Kuwait leads the GCC region in digitalization with 10 screens. Overall admissions in Kuwait run at 2.2 million annually and box office prospects for a project like ours are strong. Potential sources of pre-sales might include Kuwait National Cinema Company (also a provider of content to Orbit Showtime Network) and Front Row Filmed Entertainment (UAE). In active talks with NY based outfit, BoomGen Studios - a potential partner in developing and implementing the cross media strategy around the project.

As part of the marketing of the film, a habibi99.com website will be set up. Potential film viewers can join the site in order to create their own profiles/identities; to purchase non-recoupable shares towards the making of the film; and for possible casting and documentary archival purposes. Opportunities for commercial advertisers to place ads on the website will also be available.

Talal Al-Muhanna producer Talal Al-Muhanna is a Kuwaiti producer with over 10 years experience curating, managing and producing a wide variety of media and cultural projects internationally (incl. in Germany, Ireland, Finland, France, Holland, China, India, Kuwait, the U.K. and United States). Current projects include the creative documentary Beit Sha’ar/Nomad’s Home by Egyptian filmmaker Iman Kamel (World Premiere at DIFF 2010) and acting as a line producer in the GCC for the upcoming music documentary series Next Music Station (dir. Fermin Muguruza, for Al Jazeera Documentary Channel). In addition to film and cultural production, Talal has also been an editorial contributing writer for Dubai-based Media Production magazine - for which he has interviewed Arab screenwriters and directors and covered regional film events in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai. He holds a BA and MA in Film & Moving Image Production from Leeds Metropolitan University in the U.K. and a Certificate in Fundraising from New York University.

script & intention Being half Palestinian, half British and brought up in Israel I was always able to look at the Israeli-Arab issues with different eyes. I was able to experience both sides of the argument and learned to respect both people as human beings and for who they are. From what I see, that mutual respect is what both sides lack, these days. Seeing the other side as an equal human being isn’t popular anymore. A Gaza Weekend is an action comedy film set in the non-specific near future. It embodies a sense of humour the people of that region have honed, similar to that of the ghetto humour of the 1940s. In my opinion, it is about time the world saw a wider range of films from the Middle East, and this is the perfect opportunity to break out with something new and refreshing, a comedy with a heart. I want this film to be snappy, engaging, thrilling and most of all I want this film to display that the idea of opening doors of understanding will lead to a better future and will work for everyone. This won’t be an observational report on the suffering of the people in Gaza, nor will it pull cheap punches at the awful situation they live in. This is Waleed’s story, and the little problem he is facing when he gets stuck with a bunch of Israelis in his basement. It just happens to be set against the backdrop of Gaza’s isolation, and Israel’s sudden fall under a fast-spreading mutant infection that is causing hysteria around the country.

A Gaza Weekend Basil Khalil

UK / Palestine synopsis A new epidemic of a mutant virus breaks out in Israel, and the country is cut off from the rest of the world by land, air and sea. As a result Israel is in a state of chaos, and the people stranded there are willing to do anything in order to get out. The Gaza strip however, is the only uninfected place due to the separation wall. Waleed, an unsuccessful Palestinian shoe salesman from Gaza, accepts a small fast-cash job smuggling some rich Israeli Jews into Gaza, through the same tunnels that are used to smuggle weapons. The cunning plan is to then put them onto an aid boat leaving from Gaza’s port. This small job turns into a small disaster when the boat is delayed and he is stuck with three Israelis in his basement. Waleed is somehow expected to come up with an epic escape plan to smuggle these Israelis (whom he has learned to love… almost) over the 100 metres from his house to the port in time to catch the next aid boat out of Gaza, but it isn’t long before the gossip of hidden Israelis gets out onto the street. Eventually Waleed plucks the courage to become the hero of the family by getting the Israelis out but not without dragging his depressed wife and bossy mother, two sworn enemies, into a series of bizarre close-calls with the militants.

Israel’s borders are sealed off due to a new epidemic virus and the only way out means spending a weekend in Gaza.

I am a strong believer in thought-provoking and entertaining films. I could not think of a better combination to bring out in this story, A Gaza Weekend, which blends humanity and comedy together. I enjoy the challenge of pushing the boundaries of storytelling, and in this film I plan to deliver a story where the characters’ human side shines in the absurd world they live in. In times of hardship and despair, there will always be people who will put their differences and personal gain aside to help their fellow human beings, and learn that they’re not all that different after all.

Basil Khalil writer & director Basil was born and raised in Nazareth, to a Palestinian father and an English-Irish mother. He studied in Edinburgh, at Screen Academy Scotland, obtaining an MA in Producing & Script Development, and in 2006 Basil directed his debut feature documentaries Replay Revenge which toured international film festivals and Game of Death & Survival for AlJazeera English. He also produced and directed a number of fiction and documentary short films including the award-winning film Shooter. Basil is currently living in London where he works as a freelance assistant producer on international television productions with known artists such as Jamie Oliver and Ricky Gervais and has also co-written a 25-episode kids TV series for AlJazeera Children’s Channel. A Gaza Weekend took part in the 2010 RAWI screenwriters’ lab in consultation with Sundance and will be Basil’s first feature project. Basil has three other screenplays in development, one of which as a producer.

budget & financing

distribution & sales

production notes

The budget is $ 1.5 million USD. This has been put together by our Palestinian partner, Ehab Assal of Yellowdawn, who will be also be the line producer. He is currently line producing Gerafada and was production manager on Elia Suleiman’s The Time That Remains so he is very well connected in the region.

A Gaza Weekend has the potential to appeal to festival as well as indie-cinema audiences due to its original, humorous and ironic take on the region. With all the bad and quite often patronizing press that we are bombarded with from Israel and Gaza, the last thing people expect is to see a comedy action film that sensitively balances on the edge of pathos and humour without overtly delving into the politics. This will be the unique selling point of the film and as such it should generate quite a lot of interest. Casting could also escalate interest in the film as there are particularly strong roles for two leading actors - an American Israeli and a Palestinian Arab. Also there are some wonderful supporting roles for female cast from the region.

production company S Films Ltd 3rd Floor 101 Wardour Street London W1F 0UG Tel +44 207 494 4049 Fax +44 207 494 4056

We have potentially secured approximately 30% equity through a UK EIS fund. We are looking for European and Arab co-producing financing partners to help complete the budget. We anticipate approaching British and European broadcasters and distributors in due course.

co-producers Yellowdawn Productions (Palestine) total production budget $ 1,500,000 current financial need we expect to have 30% of the financing from the UK production status financing

A Gaza Weekend Basil Khalil

UK / Palestine Once we find our European and Arab partners we will strategise as to which routes of financing work best for the film. Some possible European funds like Fonds Sud, Fondation Gan and broadcasters like Arte France or ZDF, Canal+, Orange, Cinecinema could be potentially applied for, as well as the Arab Fund for Culture & Art. Additionally, regional funds could be explored in more depth, particularly in France and Germany and also local tax credit breaks in the appropriate region or indeed from the UK.

We have been in contact with a powerful casting agent and will be soon approaching star actors. This may well lead to us securing MG’s in certain territories. A sales agent will be attached before we go into production and a very careful festival, then theatrical, release strategy will be aligned. A platform release in the Middle East should be followed by a European/US release to maximize on the publicity buzz. Sales to English speaking regions will be helped by the fact that the film is mainly in English, as this is the common language between the two worlds. To keep the film authentic, Arabic and Hebrew are also spoken. This also increases the comedic situations. The film should be marketed in the Middle Eastern region as a glossy commercial/ action/comedy/caper and as such should appeal to a youthful Arab audience who would normally be attracted to much larger budget Western films. In Europe and the West the film would be seen as a refreshing alternative to the majority of films coming out of this part of the world. It will probably appeal to a more mature ‘arthouse’ audience and thus it should be marketed and distributed as such.

Maha Assal

Christopher Simon

co-writer

producer

Maha graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem with a double MA in Arabic and English literature. Maha has successfully completed writing a feature length screenplay for the post-apocalyptic film Existence that is to shoot in Palestine, and also directed a number of shorts including the documentary Within These Walls and the award winning short Oranges.

Based in London under the banner of S Films, Chris has worked over the years alongside British producers such as Simon Channing Williams, Sarah Radclyffe, Simon Relph and for the last five years, Cat Villiers and Andy Paterson. He is now also a producing partner at Embargo Films. Christopher has most recently produced Boogie Woogie starring Charlotte Rampling, Gillian Anderson, Heather Graham, Christopher Lee, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård, Danny Huston and Alan Cumming. He is in post-production on political war drama Kingdom of Dust set in a hostage cell in Iraq. Other notable titles he has produced include The Proposition for director John Hillcoat, written by Nick Cave and starring Guy Pearce, Danny Huston, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson and John Hurt, and Après L’Océan starring Marie-Josée Croze. Christopher has also produced micro-budget films such as The Trouble with Men and Women for the IFC, starring Kate Ashfield, picked up by The Weinstein Company, and Photo Finish, which stars Aidan Gillen and James Purefoy. He has produced a multitude of short films including The End, directed by Joe Wright and written by Kathy Burke, and Love Story, written & directed by Nick Love. He has also been an actor and a film production accountant. 47

Maha has also lectured at screenwriting workshops and worked as a script editor for a number of writer/directors such as Mai Masri. Maha’s many other creative skills also got her involved in other feature productions such as set decorator on Elia Suleiman’s The Time That Remains and as casting director in Jerafada which is to shoot in Palestine March 2011. Maha lives in Nazareth with her two children and husband, a cinematographer and producer.

script & intention As I watched the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the chaos of the most recent war, people constantly asked me about my thoughts on Iraq and if I was pro or anti war. These felt like simplistic questions that I was not able to give a simple answer to. As an exiled Iraqi my emotions were always mixed; on the one hand Saddam had imprisoned and killed many members of my family and forced me and my parents into exile like many other Iraqis yet on the other hand, no one wants see their country being destroyed. This film is an attempt to answer that question on how I feel about the country I grew up in and love. For me the heart of the question cannot be approached from the perspective of international politics but lies in the effects of war and tyranny on the ordinary Iraqi, which is often forgotten. I want to present an Iraq never seen before, an Iraq of my childhood at the end of its “Golden Age” before the wars. I feel a need to portray my experience of the country and its people; their love of culture, ideas, books and poetry, all of which shaped me and my generation. Through this film I want to show how the rise of Saddam affected our ordinary lives and relationships and irreversibly changed our destiny. How as children we lost our childhood and became political weapons. How we were used by the regime and sometimes coaxed into informing on our parents, this became known as the “stealing of tongues”. It turned the natural order of things around where adults became scared of their own children.

A Plane For My Soul Maythem Ridha

Iraq / UK synopsis It’s Baghdad 1979. On his rooftop 9-year-old Ali flies kites competing with his best friend Khalid and cheered on by Selma, his childhood sweetheart. Ali doesn’t understand the fuss the adults make of the events on TV; a young and ambitious Saddam Hussein seizes control of Iraq. Soon Ali notices subtle changes; his family starts behaving secretively around him especially when Khalid joins the Saddam Youths. Ali witnesses Khalid telling his class that Selma’s father spits at Saddam whenever he appears on TV. It’s when Selma’s father disappears, that Ali realises something more serious is happening. Ali and Selma suspect Khalid is responsible. When Selma vanishes too, Ali is furious and confronts Khalid. During their fight Ali sees Khalid’s remorse and reluctantly accepts his help in finding Selma. Journeying through Baghdad, Ali discovers a harsher, more politically paranoid city that Khalid seems to know well. Ali is overjoyed to find Selma but this is short-lived as he discovers that his family needs to flee. He finally awakens to the threat of the new regime. As Ali escapes he realises that he is leaving both his country and his childhood behind. He sees children flying kites and remembers the plane he made for his soul.

Welcome to a land where a child’s innocent words can condemn his parents

As an exile I watch what is happening to my country. This film is my way of addressing the wounds of ‘exile guilt’ felt by all Iraqis outside Iraq. My hope is to inspire people to re-question their perspective on Iraq by taking them on a journey through the soul of the country and telling a story about childhood friendships, love and loyalty that resonates through all cultures and time. The story is based in an area of Baghdad where I grew up. The characters are based on individuals in a warm and tight knit community who inspired and intrigued me as a child. A Plane For My Soul is a way to honour my childhood in Iraq by remembering the loved ones I left behind.

Maythem Ridha writer & director Iraqi filmmaker Maythem Ridha spent his formative years in Baghdad before fleeing into exile. He works between Europe and the Middle East making award-winning drama and documentary projects. His lyrical style is inspired by Eastern cinema and poetry. Maythem wrote Iraqi Tales, a body of stories for film, at the National Film & Television School (UK) before being selected for the European Regards Croises programme. Drifting On The Wind (ArRuh Ala ArRih) was chosen by over 20 international film festivals, winning the Director’s Award at Hearts & Minds. Al-Baghdadi won the Gold Prize for Best Foreign Language Film at the International Filmmaker Festival. A Plane For My Soul was selected by Breakout (UKFC), Berlinale Co-Production Market and featured in Variety magazine. Winner of Al Hambra Award (UK) and a Takreem Prize (Iraq), Maythem was chosen for the British Film Institute’s TSD programme and Dubai Film Connection. He also works as a consultant on film, television and media projects for several international clients.

budget & financing

distribution & sales

production notes

7th Heaven Films is a UK based production company. We have completed numerous awardwinning documentary and drama projects for film and television for a broad range of broadcasters including BBC, Al-Jazeera and ART. Our projects have attracted national funding from UK Film Council and from regional agencies such as Screen East. They have succeeded in festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Sao Paulo and Tehran and have been distributed theatrically by Cineworld. A Plane For My Soul is the first feature length film from “Iraqi Tales”, a successful series of stories written and directed by the Iraqi director Maythem Ridha. The two previous shorts were Al-Baghdadi and Drifting On The Wind (ArRuh Ala ArRih) both of which were award winners.

Iraq’s exposure on our screens over the past decade has been one of war and turmoil and the soul of the country and its people has been lost in our minds. A Plane For My Soul brings audiences back to the human side of this country and takes them to an Iraq that is not often seen.

production company 7th HEAVEN FILMS Seventh Heaven Productions Ltd, 14 Annandale Road, Chiswick, London W4 2HH UNITED KINGDOM T +44 (0) 208 816 7878 F +44 (0) 208 560 4039 M +44 (0) 7956 559 126 Company@7thHeavenFilms.com www.7thHeavenFilms.com

Telling the story through a child’s perspective presents the audience with an innocent and non-judgemental view of how ordinary lives were affected by the rise of Saddam. By capturing the world through the child’s eye the audience are taken back to their own childhood emotions, through a universal story of friendship,

Manda Popat Associate Producer (UK) for Seventh Heaven Productions Ltd.

A Plane For My Soul Maythem Ridha

Jehan Yehia Associate Producer (International) for Seventh Heaven Productions Ltd.

Iraq / UK A Plane For My Soul is provisionally structured as a European and Middle Eastern co-production. Shot with an international cast, in the Middle East and Europe, the budget is estimated at $ 1.5 Million US dollars.

loss of innocence and loyalty against the backdrop of a historically accurate account of this important period in Iraq’s history.

The project is in the development phase. 7th Heaven Films expects to secure 35% of the finance from the UK through available national and regional funding, tax incentives and post-production finance. The remaining finance will come from a second European country and the Middle East. We seek an established European and a Middle Eastern co-producer to secure the remaining 65% financing as well as arrange for sales and distribution specific to their regions.

Maythem’s ability to tell a simple human tale can be observed with his previous work. Through the subtle treatment of characters we are able to relate to their experiences through universal themes that cross all boundaries. The international audience will see a new world that they know little about and the more familiar Middle Eastern audiences will appreciate an authentic depiction of their own collective memory and experience. Strategically this will maximise the film’s domestic and international audience potential in both art house and mainstream.

Following on from the success of the project at Berlinale Co-production Market, Breakout (UK Film Council) and the London International Film Festival, we are now pleased to be working with Torino Film Lab and the Dubai Film Connection in order to attract partners and close financing in 2011.

The film will have an international cast and we expect it to premiere at a major international festival. We believe in the great distribution potential of this picture and seek to build long-term relationships for this as well as other projects from “Iraqi Tales”.

producers Maythem Ridha Head of Seventh Heaven Productions Ltd

co-producers co-producer for Europe (currently seeking) co-producer for Middle East (currently seeking) total production budget $ 1,500,000 current financial need we currently expect 35% ($ 525,000) finance from UK we need the remaining 65% ($ 975,000) from Europe & Middle East production status in development

Manda Popat

Jehan Yehia

associate producer

Manda began working with 7th Heaven Films in 1997 within the team responsible for the financial management of our award-winning productions and our slate of projects currently in development.

Jehan was born in Cairo and moved to the UK at the age of 12. She gained her Master’s degree in Sports Medicine and was involved in managing large teams, including leading the Sports Medicine Team for the Great Britain Kayak squad to the Beijing Olympics. Her passion for cinema has driven her into transferring these management skills to production.

Manda is a tax specialist. She was a tax partner in Halpern & Woolf that merged with Casson Beckman and Baker Tilly and was responsible for Asian clients, entertainment industry and specialist projects. She has acted as a financial advisor and consultant on Hollywood and Bollywood film productions such as JungleBook (live action filmed in India), In the shadows of Kilimanjaro, True Vengeance, Sinbad (filmed in Jordan), The Good Life, Bloodsport series, Sambar salsa, Distant Mirage. She was UK financial consultant on Rajiv Rai’s Pyaay Ishq Aur Mohabbat. Manda has also been involved in a number of cross-border transactions in Denmark, Sweden and Japan. She has successfully raised funds under EIS and the Collective Investment Scheme.

Since joining 7th Heaven, Jehan has been working on both creative and logistic aspects of our productions including funding, casting and marketing on a diverse range of film and television projects in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Growing up in both East and West and having travelled extensively, Jehan has a global perspective on life and an innate awareness of cultural diversity. Her understanding of the Middle Eastern mindset and the importance of storytelling to the culture has enabled her to contribute significantly towards making A Plane For My Soul and other stories within “Iraqi Tales” appeal to both Middle Eastern and International audiences.

script & intention In 2006, I left NYC for Amman/Beirut. The Levant had shifted to more conservative religious social structures, affecting women, which disturbed me. Then the ‘06 Israeli war on Lebanon shocked us, ruining families. I heard of several tragic Arab interfaith love stories from friends. It felt, all around, that alongside the global War on Terror, there had been an undeclared War on Love launched in my home. It was time to write a film. Crushed between overbearing family, different Gods, and the loss of a homeland, how can a concept as fragile as love, survive? Or bloom? As a secular refugee from a Christian Palestinian family, it is important for me to shed critical light on minority rights, gender roles and disillusioned revolutionaries. I found that a love story that’s subtly humorous in its exploration of two contradictory Arab families is a good vehicle for interpreting those themes. The subtext is unique to the region. It delves into backdrops of patriarchal systems, censorship, interfaith marriage taboos, secondclass refugee citizens, Israel, and religious hypocrisy causing constant wars. But also, despite dead ends, many young people remain activists for humane ideals.

This War On Love

English comprises 60% of the film, and Arabic 40%, with traces of French. The film will be shot in a gritty, visceral manner where NYC, Beirut, and Amman are treated with different cinematic looks, as evidenced in films like Traffic. Amman is a washed out grey, ominous, stagnant camera and mood. Beirut has vintage classy, vibrant, intimate deep colors of old postcards, a beautiful sea. NYC is flashy pop colours, travelling shots, laughter and sex, a whirlwind of emotion, unrooted. The war footage is to be sourced from real events in 2006.

Hind Shoufani

Palestine synopsis Yasmine and Ahmed, Palestinian refugees in NYC, are in love. She’s an atheist from a Christian family, he a believer from a conservative Muslim merchant family in Brooklyn. He‘s moody, while she’s impulsive and emotional, both struggling with careers. He proposes but she’s unsure, which hurts him. They fight. Suddenly, her father, a leftist PLO leader, dies and she returns to Beirut. Ahmed, missing her, follows. Love reignites in her wild and upper-class Beirut world. But Ahmed is shocked. He‘s insecure, surprised by the liberal scene and now sees Yasmine differently. He leaves to Amman, where his brother is meeting a traditional bride. There, Ahmed breaks it off. Miserable, she follows, only to find his family pressuring him to marry a Muslim. The Israeli war of ‘06 starts and Yasmine is stuck, a refugee. Ahmed declares he will marry her, in NYC, if she converts. Yasmine considers it, now desperate. But they find themselves alienated, constantly fighting, in opposing worlds in Amman. In the end, Ahmed marries a stranger. Yasmine, mourning, flees Amman to a desert. Back in NYC, Ahmed is resigned to a cold marriage and a merchant life he didn’t want. Yasmine finally writes her book, commemorating her father’s work, in hope of resistance for a homeland.

Two Palestinian lovers battle refugee pasts, erratic cosmopolitan lives, diverging families, a brutal Israeli war and personal demons to stay together. Can love survive?

I hope to create a dramatic film with a strong independent Palestinian female lead, one that deals with arranged marriages in a unique context and a courageous manner. There is a generational conflict between youth raised on American individualism mixed with Arab heritage, and the older generation who resist this global cultural takeover. This dichotomy is clearly manifested in wedding issues. Socalled liberal people show prejudice where religion, race, and family name become of utmost importance. The film is also a self-directed critique of the Arab world relapsing into religious fundamentalism after the secular swinging ‘Seventies died, killing any noble aspirations the PLO had. It also exposes the current complex lives of Palestinian refugees- and lovers- in various racist Arab cities.

Hind Shoufani writer & director Hind Shoufani, a Palestinian filmmaker/writer, born a refugee in ‘78, has lived in many Arab cities. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to NYU’s MFA program in Filmmaking. She directed several shorts and one feature-length NYU thesis titled Carencia and is the author of More Light than Death Could Bear and Inkstains on the Edge of Light. For the past 14 years, Hind worked as a freelance writer, producer, director, editor and on-screen reporter. She also taught filmmaking at LAU for 2 years. She founded the Poeticians, a free space where poets perform in Beirut/Dubai. Hind is currently directing the first art house personal documentary on the radical leftist factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 70s and her politician/writer father, to be released in spring 2011. Interested in films that change her environment, a free and secular Palestine, regional female liberties, bonding with like-minded artists, she also loves dancing, Leonard Cohen and shiny Indian bindis for her forehead.

budget & financing

distribution & sales

production notes

We want to produce This War On Love with a modest budget of about $ 600,000. This is a realistic amount which we believe we can raise in the near future, from a variety of sources interested in our unconventional topic matter. This War On Love is set in three diverse and visually captivating cities, Beirut, Amman & New York. Therefore, we are looking for co-productions in each of these cities.

Hind Shoufani just completed a powerful 3rd draft of This War On Love. We expect the final draft to be ready in January 2011. From then on, we can actively look for suitable distributors in the Middle East, Europe and an international sales agent.

production company Desert Door Productions Dubai Media City Thuraya Tower 2 8th floor, Office 40 PO Box 500 717 Dubai, Uae www.ddprods.com dima@ddprods.com

We expect to get the basic financing ($ 200,000) in the Middle East from mainly private equity investors. We also aim to get $ 100,000 from Arab/American private equity investors in NYC. For the remaining $ 300,000, we will try to raise that from European

Hind’s current film, A Journey in Exile, an art house PLO documentary about her father, will be distributed in 2011 by the US based company ArabFilm, who are considering the same for her debut narrative feature. The taboo-breaking courage of the story, combined with the universal themes of lost love, religious hypocrisy and war torn cities, encourage us to believe that This War On Love will appeal to a

Hind Shoufani

Palestine

Our goal is to finish financing and start preproduction the the autumn of 2011, and to start principal photography in the spring of 2012.

broad international audience, not exposed to such straightforward portrayals of the Middle East. The film deals with real people, real life challenges and problems, including sub-plots such as homosexuality, belonging, activism and sexism, which are all universal issues attracting a wide range of viewers. We understand that a big name actor/ actress makes it easier to secure the budget, but we believe that the main role of Yasmine requires a brave trilingual Arab/American fresh-faced actress. We want to cast bigger names of Arab actors for the secondary roles. We realize that it will not be easy to find a strong sales agent for a feature debut by a young filmmaker, and actor/actress; but we believe the budget to be small enough to make the film, hoping to impress distributors at festivals and after the first cut of the film. The film will mainly be 60% in English with 40% in Arabic, which will help distribution. We hope to approach distributors at Berlin Film Festival & Cannes Film Market in 2011 and then again in 2012 after principal photography is done.

Dima Alansari

total production budget $ 600,000

Dima Alansari was born in 1977, in Beirut, Lebanon. She is a Palestinian/Kuwaiti Filmmaker and currently lives and works in Vancouver, Canada. In 2004, Dima completed a Diploma from the New York Film Academy from King’s College London and continued with a Chevening Scholarship from the British Embassy in Kuwait to obtain an MA in Feature Film from Goldsmith College, University of London. Dima has produced numerous shorts, documentaries and TV projects, amongst them, the documentary Storm from the South, which provides an intimate glimpse at the six critical days before the first Kuwait elections where women were allowed to participate and run for office for the first time in their history. The film was nominated for the Al Muhr Award for Excellence in Arab Cinema at the Dubai International Film Festival, 2006. Her latest work includes the internationally acclaimed Journey to Mecca a 2D IMAX® featurelength docu-drama, distributed by The National Geographic, filmed in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. The film tells the story of Ibn Battuta, the legendary 14th century traveller, explorer and writer, and paints an unforgettable picture of Islamic civilization, culminating in his first Hajj.

production status looking for co-producers, third draft of script completed, casting process started.

This War On Love

film funds and hope to secure the input of distributors in the Middle East, Europe and possibly an international sales agent.

co-producers Palestine / Lebanon / Jordan / US / Kuwait

producer

Ic Savina Neirotti Project Director Jane Williams Director of Dubai Film Connection & Film Forum

Staff

Alan Fountain Head of Studies Mercedes Fernandez Alonso & Laura Marcellino Project Coordinators Sandra Pappas Assistant Manager, Dubai Film Connection & Film Forum Trupti Ashar Coordinator, Dubai Film Connection & Film Forum

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