Filmmaker Award Update - Quote from the
Winner
From Asma Fouathia...
"Well thus far it
has been an amazing experience. Since the announcement, I've worked on some
script revisions, worked on ideas for shooting, as well as directing. I'll be
flying out to L.A. June 28th where I'll be working on locations and setting up
for shooting, and then I'll be shooting from that point on."
Sponsored in Part by:
The
Network of Arab American Professionals (NAAP) is pleased to announce
the winners of the 2005 Arab-American Filmmaker Award Competition!
NAAP established this Competition in collaboration with Emmy
Award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub and Zoom-in-Focus productions
in order to encourage young Arab American Filmmakers and provide
them with a vehicle through which to realize their goals. Given
the prevalence of negative stereotypes of Arabs in today's mainstream
media, a major objective of this competition is to change these
negative images by allowing Arabs to write their own stories and
play a pivotal role in influencing the media. In this spirit,
the winners of the first ever Arab-American Filmmaker Award competition
are: 1st
Place - MUSH By: Asma May Fouathia, New York, NY
2nd
Place - DISAPPEARED By: Nizar Wattad, LA, CA
3rd Place
- A MINNESOTA CHRISTMAS By: Alia Yunis, Santa Monica,
CA
Congratulations to the winners!
The
first place winner will be sent to Hollywood to have her film produced.
A minimum of $15,000 of funds raised from the competition
will be used to pay for her travel expenses and film production.
The Second and Third place winners are invited to aid in the
production of the winning film allowing them to gain experience
and build valuable industry relationships.
The goal of the project was
to raise $20,000 in support of the competition winners. We
still need additional contributions from the community! Additional
funds will ensure full production of the winning film and may make
it possible to jump-start production of the second place film. To
learn more about the competition and to donate, please visit: http://www.naaponline.org/filmmaker/donate.php.
This valuable community initiative would not be possible without
the support of countless donors. Please consider making a
donation and help us to take this project all the way to the theaters!
Thank you to
all 60 aspiring filmmakers who submitted screenplays for the competition.
It is truly inspiring to see such a strong response to this
competition. We were impressed by the quality of submissions
and encouraged by the degree of talent in the Arab-American community.
The decision process for choosing the winners was a very difficult
one. Good luck to all who submitted and congratulations on
taking the initiative to write a screenplay and make an impact on
the film industry.
We would also
like to give a sincere thank you to Mr. Tony Shalhoub for his generous
donation of $10,000, for the time he has spent and continues to
spend ensuring the success of this project, for attending the fundraising
gala dinners in Boston and Washington D.C. as well as the ACCESS
dinner, and most of all for having the vision for such a project
and for showing such strong support for the Arab-American community.
We would also
like to thank Zoom-in-Focus Productions and Mr. Sayed Badreya for
sponsoring this competition and for aiding in the production of
the winning film. Mr. Badreya's contributions have been invaluable
to the success of this competition.
We would also
like to thank Zahra Pictures for their generous $1000 donation.
We also sincerely thank all who provided monetary donations
for the competition.
We would like
to thank ACCESS for their generous $1000 donation and for allowing
us to announce the winner at their dinner in Dearborn, MI.
Lastly, thank
you to NAAP-DC, NAAP-NY, and NAAP-Boston for raising money and spending
countless hours organizing events to support this competition.
**************************************************************
Congratulations, the following are titles, place of origin, and
names of screen writers
that made the third cut for the first Arab-American
Filmmaker Competition:
1.
A MINNESOTA CHRISTMAS By:
Alia Yunis, Santa Monica, CA
2.
DISAPPEARED By: Nizar Wattad,
LA, CA
3. MUSH
By: Asma May Fouathia, New York, NY
4.
SAMMY PARADISE By: Eyad
Zahra, New York, NY
5.
THE COPYBOY By: Oliver Berry,
Dearborn, MI
Congratulations, the following are titles, place of origin, and
names of screen writers
that made the second cut for the first Arab-American
Filmmaker Competition:
1- DISAPPEARED
By: Nizar Wattad, Los Angeles, CA
2-
SAMMY PARADISE By: Eyad Zahra, New York, NY
3-
MUSH By: Asma May Fouathia, New York, NY
4-
THE COPYBOY By: Oliver Berry, Dearborn, MI
5-
A MINNESOTA CHRISTMAS By: Alia Yunis, Santa Monica, CA
6-
KEMO SABI By: Rana Kazkaz, Rolling Meadows, IL
7-
DETROIT UNLEADED By: Rola Nashef, Detroit, MI
8-
ANIMAL STORY By: Shamiran Samano, Santa Monica, CA
9-
FISH FACE ... I WISH I WAS By: Rania Attieh, Brooklyn,
NY
10-
MIRAGE By: Abdallah S. Omeish, Venice, C
Congratulations, the following are titles, place of origin, and
names of screen writers
that made the first 20 cut for the first Arab-American
Filmmaker Competition:
"I've never felt
that I belonged exclusively to one country, nor have I been able
to identify
patriotically with any other than losing causes."
Dr. Edward
Said
_______________________________________________________
The following
are titles, and place of orgin of all submissions for the first
Arab-American Filmmaker
Competition:
1-
MAKE A WISH, New York, NY
2- UTOPIA, Damascus, Syria
3-
A GOOD ARAB, Vaisalia, Ca
4- LEBANON, Boston, Ma
5- HOT TOWELS,
Washington, DC
6- DISAPPEARED, Los Angeles, Ca
7- AMERICAN
STORY, New York, NY
8- ARABIAN JAZZ, Los Angeles, Ca
9- BEYOND
THE... , Lebanon
10- MY NEIGHBOR'S NAME IS AHMED, New York, NY
11-
BROWNTOWN, Brooklyn, NY
12- SCRATCHES, Mclean, Virginia
13-
THE DREAMER, Long Beach, Ca
14- FOR YASMINA, Irvine, Ca
15-
LAYLA'S SAHRA, New York, NY
16- PALM SUNDAY, Santa Monica, Ca
17-
THE COPYBOY, Dearborn, MI
18- LIVE AND LEARN, Yonkers, NY
19-
WHITMANN'S DELI, W. Hollywood, Ca
20- GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION,
Los Angeles, Ca
21- THE LAST SUPPER, Atlanta, Ga
22- MEIN
ZAMAN- LONG AGO, Valencia, Ca
23- CUTTING FROM THE VINE, Hamden,
Connecticut
24- FASTER, Philadelphia, PA
25- TYLENOL, New
York, NY
26- UNITED WE STAND, Framingham, Mass
27- A MINNESOTA
CHRISTMAS, Santa Monica, Ca
28- KEMO SABI, Rolling Meadows, IL
29-
A FATHER'S DREAM, Boston, Mass
30- ANIMAL STORY, Santa Monica,
Ca
31- EAST IN WEST, New York, NY
32- THE RETURN OF ABRAHAM
ZANEY, Queens, NY
33- THE ADVENTURES OF NASSER, Queens, NY
34-
THE HONOR, Columbia, MD
35- LIVE! WITH PASCALE & CHANTAL,
New York, NY
36- THE HA FACTOR, New York, NY
37- UNINVITED,
Aventura, FL
38- BEIT BAKER (THE BAKER HOME), New York, NY
39-
TANY'S DILEMMA, Fairfax, VA
40- THE HOPE, New York, NY
41-
FUTURE PERFECT, Arlington, VA
42- SAND CASTLES, Chicgo, IL
43-
THE GRAY AREA, New York, NY
44- THE SLEEPWALKER ON CRESCENT LANE,
North Bergen, NJ
45- DETROIT UNLEADED, Detroit, MI
46- SAMMY
PARADISE, New York, NY
47- STARTLED MILK, Somerville, Mass
48-
GAS STATION, Somerville, Mass
49- MUSH, New York, NY
50- ATHENA
FALAFEL, Worcester, Mass
51- THE PEDDLER, Takoma Park, MD
52-
WHAT LINA WANTS, New York, NY
53- A DAZE PERHAPS, REDUCED, Chicago,
IL
54- KING AND I, Brooklyn, NY
55- FISH FACE ... I WISH I
WAS, Brooklyn, NY
56- MIRAGE, Venice, Ca
57- CROSSROADS, New
York, NY
58- BUSINESS AGENDA, Plano, Tx
59- POLITIKILL, Brooklyn,
NY
60- THE WRITE COLOR, Ann Arbor, MI
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