Monday, May 21, 2007

My First Movie




It's midnight here in Jordan. In less than five hours the production van will come and pick me up to go to our first day of shooting. Our first day of filming Captain Abu Raed. I don't know if my excitement will allow me to get any sleep tonight. I've been working towards this moment intensely for the past four years. And here were are. A crew of 60 people, a cast of 40, and some 300 or more extras. We're making Captain Abu Raed.

I've spent the past week rehearsing and exploring the material with the incredible actors with us. From the amazing wise man, Nadim Sawalha to the stunning beauty, Rana Sultan, to the incredibly raw kids and all the supporting cast members who have committed to the characters with a passion to explore who these people are, where they come from, how their relationships develop, and what drives them to take the actions they take.

I feel that we are going to create something very very unique and special. I pray and hope that everything goes as planned. We are the first film shooting on the Arri D20 Camera in 4:4:4 mode. We are using the best film lenses in the world, have an amazing cast and crew, great locations, and a story I've sweat my heart into.

In a few hours this dream will begin to become real. We're getting a lot of behind the scenes video footage, but have not edited anything for the video journals yet.
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9 Comments:

Blogger kinzi said...

SO exciting!! Sounds like neither you nor Laith can sleep. I'll be praying for great success.

2:11 AM  
Blogger joladies said...

good luck to you. It is lovely when a dream is realised. By chance I was at the Citadel this morning with some guests and saw your film crew working. Am looking forward to seeing the film when it is finished. How, and who is going to distribute it?? T

2:58 AM  
Blogger Isam said...

Good luck man ...

i would of offered help if i was in jordan ... maybe in ur next movie ...

Peace !

4:29 AM  
Blogger reem said...

Woooohoooo!

6:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good luck Amin. I hope your hard work will come to fruition.

2:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey, remember me? well, I'm in the states now
but I just finished reading about the film preparations on the ALGHAD website. I'm so jealous, so excited, happy that someone finally did it and sad I wasn't there when it happened.. but i assure you I will see you guys very very soon.

GOOD LUCK AMEEN AND LAITH AND EVERYONE ELSE. WOOHOOOO

8:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

is it ok for one to come for a couple of ours and watch behind the scenes, one in salt actually (and take a few pics)?

8:06 AM  
Blogger Norman said...

I've been following on Flickr. It looks absolutely amazing. But we knew that would happen, right?

Congratulations on approaching the end of production. Now the fun happens.

Norman

10:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read an article about "captan abu raed" like a year ago.. and heard recently about it from a friend.. few months ago it happened that i was in "jabal el nadeef" for work to visit a center for orphans.. and i saw people with cameras and a guy with a long hair.. a friend told me that this is Amin Matalqa and Laith Majali looking for settings to shoot the movie "captain abu raed"..
i'm glad ur baby is born now.. i just checked out the website.. it's really impressive.. but what took me in a journey was the things ur wrote.. it was very inspiring.. allow me to say that you are one talented young man and im sure u know it and proud of it.. I will be waiting for the movie to come out and i will be very eager to watch it.. if the writer of the words that I just read is the same writer of the movie I'm sure the script is brilliant.. And I think the director and the producer will be another story ;)
good luck..
cheers

10:09 AM  

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