Captain Abu Raed wins Finland's Audience Award & Distribution deal

It is very exciting to see Jordan making marks on the map of world cinema with Captain Abu Raed. While I was in Vancouver on Monday walking into the theater to introduce the film, I got an email on my phone that said Captain Abu Raed won the Audience Award at the Helsinki International Film Festival all the way up in Finland. And the exciting thing is that this year the winner gets a national distribution deal in Finnish cinemas. So if you live in Finland, Captain Abu Raed opens in theaters just before Christmas, on December 19. Thank you Finland and thank you to the wonderful enthusiastic audiences in Vancouver. I had an amazing time.

CLICK HERE for the link to the press release.

Honor Crimes in Jordan

Over the last couple of years, thanks to the blogsphere, I've been reading articles about honor killings in Jordan and the outrageous judicial system that lets murderers get away with some of the ugliest most brutal crimes imaginable. Yesterday I read THIS POST by Naseem Tarawneh, and suddenly I'm fueled with rage to write a film that deals with this mess to bring it to the forefront. So, if you have any stories you would like to share, please email them to me as I'll be researching this subject over the next few weeks. Thanks.

Abu Raed everywhere!

An update to the upcoming screenings. Captain Abu Raed will be playing every day in a different city in October. Here's the schedule. Links to get tickets are available on www.CaptainAbuRaed.com

-Filmmaker Symposium - New Jersey (Sept. 15,16)
-Ohio State University - special screening (Sept. 19)
-Helsinki International Film Festival - Finland (Sept. 20, 21)
-Vancouver International Film Festival (Sept. 25, 28, 29)
-Pyong Yang Film Festival, North Korea (Sept)
-Pusan Film Festival, South Korea (Oct. 2-9)
-Beirut International Film Festival (Oct. 5-8)
-Mill Valley Film Festival (October 10, 12)
-Puerto Rico, San Juan International Film Fest. (Oct 11)
-Middle East International Film Festival (Abu Dhabi, Special screening Oct. 14)
-Heartland Film Festival - Indiana (Oct. 17,18,20,21,22,23)
-San Francisco - Arab Film Festival (Oct 17)
-San Jose - Arab Film Festival (Oct 19)
-Los Angeles - Arab Film Festival (Oct 24)
-USC School of Cinema (Oct. 25)
-Carthage Film Festival (Oct. 25- Nov.1)
-Opening in Lebanon, Qatar and Kuwait (coming soon)
-Opening in Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Taiwan soon
-Coming in November to Cairo, Greece, and Kuala Lumpur

Opening in Los Angeles Nov 7th at Laemlle Music Hall in Beverly Hills

Captain Abu Raed in Finland, Vancouver, and North Korea

Helsinki International Film Festival - Finland (Sept. 20, 21)

Vancouver International Film Festival (Sept. 25, 28, 29)

Pyong Yang Film Festival, North Korea (Sept)

Please check www.CaptainAbuRaed.com for links to get tickets

Captain Abu Raed coming to Ohio State University

Screening Friday Sept. 19 at 8pm. Theatre 180 of Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road, Columbus, OH 43210. Parking will be available in the garage adjacent to the building.

Tell your friends.
Yay!

Captain Abu Raed goes for the OSCAR

It's official...

Click here for the VARIETY ARTICLE

FOR THE 1st TIME, JORDAN JOINS OSCAR RACE

Amman, 03/09/08 - For the first time, Jordan is officially joining the race for the Oscar’s Awards with the submission of the feature-length film “Captain Abu Raed”, by Amin Matalqa.

An independent Submission Committee, recently constituted by the Royal Film Commission– Jordan according to the rules set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, convened on the 31st of August and selected the film “Captain Abu Raed” to represent Jordan at the 81st Annual Academy Awards, due to be held on 22 February 2009 in Hollywood. The Committee, which is renewable yearly, includes eight members who are prominent players in the Jordanian film and television communities.

H.E. Mr. Munir Nassar, Chairman of the Oscar Submission Committee for Jordan, commented saying: “These are exciting times. The mere fact that a Jordanian film will be submitted for the first time is an indication that the film industry in Jordan has matured”.

Written and directed by Jordanian filmmaker Amin Matalqa, Captain Abu Raed - starring Nadim Sawalha and Rana Sultan – tells a gripping story of an airport janitor who is mistaken for an airline pilot by a group of children living in his modest neighborhood. He begins to weave fantastical stories in order to offer them inspiration and hope. The film was financed by Paper & Pen Films of Jordan and produced by David Pritchard president of Gigapix Studios along with Amin Matalqa and Laith Majali.

Captain Abu Raed has played for several consecutive weeks in Amman commercial theaters and won a number of festival international awards among which: Dramatic World Cinema Audience Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Best Actor Award (Nadim Sawalha) at the 2007 Dubai International Film Festival, Best Actor (Nadim Sawalha) and Best Actress (Rana Sultan) Awards at the 2008 Newport Beach Film Festival; Best Director at Seattle’s Golden Space Needle Award (Amin Matalqa) at the 2008 Seattle International Film Festival; Best Narrative Feature World Cinema at the 2008 Maui Film Festival, Best First Feature at the 2008 South Africa’s Durban International Film Festival and Audience Award for Best Fiction Film and the jury Award for Best of Fest Fiction Film at the 2008 Traverse City Film Festival. The film is being represented worldwide by Fortissimo Films.

Captain Abu Raed screening in Aqaba Sept 4

THE RED SEA INSTITUTE OF CINEMATIC ARTS will be presenting a screening of CAPTAIN ABU RAED on Thursday the 4th of September at 9pm, at the theater of the Great Arab Revolt Plaza in Aqaba.