It's been just over 10 years since we released @thesebirdswalk@oscopelabs and @dctvny are hosting a special event screening in NY on July 1st. @curry_crayola and I will be there for a Q and A, with Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah) kindly moderating the Q and A. Come out one and all. Tickets in the bio.
Last year, my directorial debut « Finding Alaa » was released on BBC / CBC. The film premiered at Hot Docs and the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, and went on to win a number of awards including Best Documentary at the Academy Award qualifying Flicker Fest. That means with Oscar voting season upon us, I’d like to invite anyone voting on the internal platform to check out « Finding Alaa » and vote for us if you love film baby as much as we love our film baby.
Finding Alaa is a film for our times - it’s a film about the forgotten children, about seeing humanity past lines in the sand and the belief in a shared humanity which transcends all. You can watch it on BBC iplayer or on YT (link in bio). Please vote for us! 🫶✌️.
When I first met Azdyne, he didn’t even know whether Alaa was alive.
After all, the Syrian conflict has led to the death of over 300, 000 civilians
including many children. The Amimours had no birth certificate and the
last news they’d had from Alaa’s then-expectant mother was in the
immediate aftermath of the attacks, before a total blackout. As far as
they knew, she might not even have been born.
Over the course of three years, which included a global pandemic, I
followed the family
’s search for this missing child.
Alongside this search, which often felt like trying to find a needle in a
haystack, I watched Azdyne try and rebuild his life and repair as best he
could the harm Samy had caused.
With Georges Salines, the father of one of the victim’s of the Bataclan
attack, Azdyne co-wrote a book about their shared experience of losing a
child, albeit from very different sides of an event they were both trying to
understand. Through this, and through subsequent work with young
offenders, the two men have sought to challenge the binaries which
emerged after November 2015. Together with other relatives of perpetrators
and victims, they have sought to show society that another way, that of
reconciliation, is possible.
I will forever remember how Sandrine, survivor of a terrorist attack in
Belgium and a member of this group, told me:
“It was hate that destroyed me. It could never be hate that rebuilt me.”
Almost a month on the road. Leaving Mecca now for Jeddah and my blessings have most certainly been wrapped and gifted to me in the people here. What a place. And what a moment in my life. And what it has done to my head and heart. "The happiness of the drop is to die in the river" -- Al Ghazzali @surooshalvi@samzouni@ahabmullick #divisiondelajoie
I forgot to post these a year ago -- typical me. Go figure... How grateful I was to walk into this milestone with artists @gulistanmirzaei and @e.sylvia.mirzaei at the Oscars last year. They remain artists whose qualities, behind and away from the camera, continue to inspire. Humble, brave, fiercely talented and continually grateful -- ډیره مننه (dera manana) My best wishes to friends and colleagues attending tonight. In the end, like the best things in life, the reward is the company you keep.الحمد لله #oscars2022 #threesongsforbenazir
Our new non-fiction feature film, NATALIA by Oscar nominated Director @e.sylvia.mirzaei about faith, love and leaving the world behind when it most wants you premieres this Friday in sublime 4:3 black and white at my beloved, hallowed @truefalsefilmfest . Returning here is a profound honor, as this place remains the seed bed for so much good in my creative life. What good fortune to be shouldering again with @e.sylvia.mirzaei and @gulistanmirzaei at #mirzaeifilms after our Oscar run last year with #threesongsforbenazir. Dividing co-production duties with my partners @erikosterholm and @simkinsays -- cheery, indomitable and solutions based cohorts to the end. Also, deep gratitude to @thebolanddesignco and @lescarletwoman for this poster. With their backs against the wall, and little time, they made an incisive creative stroke to capture the movie in a single image -- a #dreamteam, for sure. Lastly, keep your eyes open for the film. It heralds a quiet revolution, cuts against the mainstream grain, and picks up the gauntlet from Bresson, Bergman and Tarkovsky to reach for the timeless by making a film of its time -- this movie had to be made. And it had to be made right now. Edited to the beat of Natalia's heart by Elizabeth and @mel.annan . And killer color grade by @gabe_jl_sanchez . Okay, enough rambling -- I'm packing my bag and heading to Columbia Missouri. Be there Friday 5pm. If you're there, holler at yer boy...
So 'You Resemble Me' the film for which I was a writer and cinematographer got extended another week from sold out shows at the Angelika in New York.
It premiered tonight in Los Angeles where Director @dandunaaaa and Producer @esewoodward are shepherding this tenacious and controversial film. How proud I am of them. And how proud I am to be shouldering up with them. I'm equally proud to be doing a Q&A at the screening tomorrow night on Saturday at the Angelika with dear friend and visionary NY filmmaker @zeshawnali
If you haven't seen it yet, come and check it out and join the chat. I'm coming out of hibernation. And we promise to court all the taboos we can before we break them. #youresembleme #tumeressemble
Last night at the Angelika in New York was a milestone evening. We watched our film @youresembleme on the big screen, for which I was a Writer and Cinematographer for the indomitable Director @dandunaaaa This it's US theatrical premiere here and across the country. Years in the making, often too taboo in conversation, and swinging big in formal innovation, I could not be prouder of this effort. There are Q and A's all week at the screenings and it opens on the 11th in Los Angeles, as well. Kudos to @esewoodward at @willaproductions for the bold strike run and gun distribution strategy that has put this film in front of audiences and garnered over 30 international Film awards since its Venice Biennale debut this past year. Onwards, by God's grace.
Ever since she lost her father in one of the Boeing 737 Max plane crashes, Zipporah Kuria has been a major voice in advocating for aviation safety. Learn about her story in Flight / Risk, available on @primevideo now. #FlightRiskDoc
Flight/Risk, which I co-directed is currently on Amazon. If there is any conclusion to draw then it is this: the power and hope for our Republic does not lie with politicians but with ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Accordingly, I was privileged to meet and point a camera at such people. Watch, share and be inspired by the folks and families that took this tragedy head on and keep going. Co-conspirators in gratitude... @karimamer33@squattamadras@leenkaradsheh@jia@woodstockwarrior@amazonprime #flightriskmovie
