In Casting

I'm currently in the Casting process of a new film i'm a producer on. Shot this in one of the casting sessions, thought i'd share since i haven't posted any of my photography for a while. The subject is Hassan Darweesh a Jordanian actor.

Behind the Scenes of Iron Man: Brought to you by actor Jeff Bridges

I have been traveling for the past couple of months and I had a hard drive failure which made me lose a lot of work, luckily most of my photos were backed up, so no updates in terms of pictures this time around, but here is a link for a great shoot done by Jeff Bridges who was one of the actors in Iron Man, he documents the making of the film with a panoramic film camera. Interesting insight to a great film.

check the link
http://www.jeffbridges.com/ironmanbook_cover.html

"Captain Abu Raed" Jordan's offical submission to the Oscars

Jordan has officially chosen "Captain Abu Raed" as its first submission to the foreign film category at the Oscars. This is really exciting for all of us who worked hard on making this film a reality. Wish us luck and keep those fingers crossed.

For arabic speakers, here is the link to the article in Al-Rai newspaper

200th blog post special- Behind the scenes of Captain Abu Raed

As this is my 200th blog post i thought of making it a special one. I have just posted a slide show of pictures from behind the scenes of Captain Abu Raed that i took while i was on the set as the producer of the film. Some of these are being shown for the first time....so follow the link to the slide show on Uber.

Behind the scenes- Captain Abu Raed

Potrait of Editor Matt Chesse

Matt Chesse is an Oscar nominated Editor. His films include Monsters Ball, Finding Neverland, Stay, Stranger than Fiction, The Kite Runner and is currently editing the new James Bond "Quantum of Solace"
Matt is friend and a mentor and has always been there for me whenever i had a question. The picture was taken in April when i visited his editing room in London.

WE JUST WON!!!!

Captain Abu Raed just received the World dramatic audience award at the Sundance film festival!!!
I can't even explain what we went through, this has been an unreal experience.
Jordanian director Mahmoud Al-Massad also won the best documentary cinematography award for his film "Recycle."

Captain Abu Raed Portraits from Sudance

Here are some portraits taken during our official photo sessions at the Sundance film festival.

Captain Abu Raed: The Hollywood Reporter review

" Nothing is more difficult than making an honest film about a good man, but "Captain Abu Raed" accomplishes the feat."

Bottom Line: A rare film from Jordan is a humanistic triumph.

By Stephen Farber
Jan 22, 2008

Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY -- Middle Eastern cinema has been thriving recently, with strong entries from Israel, Lebanon, and Iran. Now one of the first films from Jordan to enter the international arena has its premiere at Sundance. "Captain Abu Raed" belies the inexperience of its makers, for it's a substantial, deeply moving film that has the potential to captivate audiences everywhere. If it finds a savvy distributor willing to handle it with the loving care it deserves, it could click on the arthouse circuit.

Writer-director Amin Matalqa was born in Jordan but grew up in the U.S. and studied film at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He was determined to make his feature directorial debut on a story filmed in Jordan. His protagonist, Abu Raed (Nadim Sawalha), is a widower and a janitor in the Amman airport. He has never left Jordan but dreams of traveling the world. When some of the young boys in the shabby apartment complex where he lives notice him wearing a pilot's hat, they assume he is a pilot and beg him to recount his adventures. Reluctant at first, Abu Raed eventually decides to humor the boys and indulge some of his own daydreams by spinning tales of fictitious travels. But an older neighborhood boy, Murad (Hussein Al-Sous), is suspicious of Abu Raed and eventually finds out the truth and exposes him. There is a heartbreaking moment when Murad takes the other boys to the airport, where they see Abu Raed cleaning the floor; the look of disillusionment on their faces is beautifully caught. Yet that is just the beginning of the story, for the antagonists Murad and Abu Raed eventually form an alliance that changes both of their lives.

Matalqa incorporates a wealth of revealing character details. At the beginning Abu Raed lives a narrow, sheltered life. When he hears a violent domestic dispute in a nearby apartment, he merely closes the window. The dispute is taking place in Murad's apartment. He lives with an abusive father, and this toxic environment has fostered Murad's cynicism.

Both Murad and Abu Read are gradually and believably transformed by their encounter. Abu Raed fnds the courage to take a stand, while Murad learns to trust and respect the older man. A subplot concerns a female pilot, Nour (Rana Sultan), who befriends Abu Raed. She has to contend with her parents' determination to marry her off to men who bore her. All of the characters are observed with affection and precision. Even Murad's abusive father is presented in three dimensions; we see that his own failures at work lead him to lash out at the people closest to him.

Performances are superb. Sawalha captures the dignity of Abu Raed without turning him into a plaster saint. In fact, it's clear that in trying to improve the lives of the local kids, he sometimes blunders and makes things worse. But Sawalha illuminates his humility and understated nobility. Al-Sous has a wonderfully expressive face, and Sultan radiates intelligence and quiet strength.

Working with cinematographer Reinhart Peschke, Matalqa makes excellent use of the Jordanian locations. One false note is struck by the music composed by Austin Wintory. It sounds too Western and sometimes falls into sentimentality. The film is too potent to need such underlining. Matalqa has crafted a stirring tribute to the invisible people in our world who may end up changing our lives more profoundly than high-profile leaders. Nothing is more difficult than making an honest film about a good man, but "Captain Abu Raed" accomplishes the feat.

Nadim Sawalha wins best actor at the Dubai Film Festival

Just wanted to congratulate our amazing actor Nadim Sawalha for winning the bst actor award last night at the Dubai international film festival. I have so much film to develop from this trip i can't wait to get back to Amman and get the up and ready. We had two amazing screenings and the buzz around our film has been very very positive. Bye bye dubai...next stop...sundance.

"Captain Abu Raed" competes at Sundance film festival 2008

We made it into Sundance. They just announced it officially and after a week of knowing this amazing piece of news we can finally tell people that this film that we been working on for the past 2 years is going to compete in the World Cinema Dramatic competition. This is a dream for all of us.
What is also exciting is that there is a Jordanian documentary called recycle by Mahmood Al-Massad that is in the documentary section of the festival.

Wish us all luck in Dubai and Sundance. :)

" Captain Abu Raed" gets its premier at the Dubai International Film Festival

Since the Dubai Film festival has announced its lineup of films for this year's event, we can finally announce that "Captain Abu Raed" will be competing in the Muhr Awards for best Arab feature and that it will be getting its premier at the Dubai International Film Festival.
After two and a half years and the hard work of hundreds of people, the world will soon see our film.
Stay tuned for some more exciting news very soon ;)

Captain Abu Raed gets its final mix

We are at the final stages of mixing our film "Captain Abu Raed" , this last stage of production is quite unbelievable. One gets to listen to every single sound detail in a theater like environment. Here are two pictures from the mix, we are at 424 Studios in Los Angeles, quite an amazing place, and we are blessed for having such an excellent sound post crew.

Back to Amman very soon, can't wait.

" Captain Abu Raed " mentioned in Hollywood trade papers

This week our film "Captain Abu Raed" has been mentioned in two of the most important trade papers of the film industry, Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. Hopefully this is just the beginning of the buzz cycle. There is a week left before we lock the picture editing of the film which we hope will premier in Amman by the first week of December.

Soon enough i will be posting a number of pictures i took while shooting the film which haven't been seen before so keep in tune for more Abu Raed goodies.

The filming is done

After a month of shooting (and taking a break from the blog) this is my first entry. I head to the states in a couple of days and i hope i'll be able to make use of the quick connection there to post some more pics from the set of "Captain Abu Raed"

But for now, i leave you with this portrait of actor Nadim Sawalha who did a brilliant job playing the old janitor.

Shot on ilford delta iso50, with a Leica M6 , 35mm Summicron

Captain Abu Raed Comes to Life

I am four hours away from the first crew call. Couldn't get any sleep. It's been a long journey leading to this moment. At 7:15 the first 'action' will be said, and in 28 days the last 'cut' will follow. Making a small dream written on a napkin come true is no easy task, many have worked hard to get us here. I hope everyone on the team will enjoy this experience as much as we have so far.

Some people believed, others doubted, but now its a reality, "Captain Abu Raed" is coming to life.