Captain Abu Raed wins Grand Prize at Heartland
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"Captain Abu Raed," a Jordanian drama about a janitor who pretends to be an airline pilot, took the top prize at the 2008 Heartland Film Festival on Saturday night. Writer/director Amin Matalqa won the $100,000 grand prize for Best Dramatic Feature, the largest cash award given by any U.S. film festival. The film stars Nadim Sawalha as a humble but wise man who is mistaken for a pilot by the children in his neighborhood, and delights them with fictional stories of his adventures. "At Sundance, we won the award for world cinema. I was so excited, and got up on stage and said, 'I think we can make movies that make a difference.' And I felt like such a doofus, because it was such an idealist thing to say," Matalqa said.
"And here we are 10 months later, and I feel like we're being appreciated, and there is a place where these movies are here to make a difference. It feels like it's just the beginning."
posted by Amin Matalqa at
7:21 AM
5 Comments:
I saw your movie at the Ridge Theatre in Vancouver during the Vancouver Int'l Film Festival. You introduced the film, and had a question/answer session afterwards. At the end, I went past you, I was going to stop to tell you I think you have made a beautiful thing in making this movie, but you were talking to someone already. You looked back at me over your shoulder, but I could not stay. Your movie is easily the best film I've seen at any of the VIFF screenings I've been to, in any year. Congratulations.
you know how indie films have the awards they've won in between these golden wreaths on the dvd cover...i think you're going to need a bigger cover :-D
mabrook!
Thank you. We have even bigger news to announce next week. :-)
Well that's exciting and everything, but what we really want to know is: "Are you coming to the Claddagh tonight?" ; )
Congratulations again from everyone at Heartland!
Amin
Great job !
Sorry we couldn't hook up when you were in town - maybe next time !!
I know your target is to get the "statue" - we're all pulling for you.
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