"Historic Jeddah" Documentary Film Trailer

"Historic Jeddah" is a documentary film produced and directed by Jameelah Rose del Prado Liness, a Filipino filmmaker and film instructor who was born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  Her documentary is the only film from Saudi Arabia chosen as an official selection in the upcoming International Film Festival Manhattan from October 22 through 25 in New York City.

Her film is up for two awards: The Best Documentary Film and The Best Documentary (Short) Film. Another category she is hoping to win is the Most Popular Film in IFFM.

In order for her film to win in the Most Popular Film category at the film festival, you can help by watching her trailer.  The more times you watch it, the more votes her film will get.  If you do watch it more than once, please Refresh your Page each time first instead of just hitting Replay.

As you can imagine, film-making in Saudi Arabia is not an easy undertaking.  There are strict privacy laws which, if violated, can quickly land one in prison, not to mention governmental bureaucracy and red tape.  And just being a female in Saudi Arabia adds yet another layer of complicated cultural issues.  Throw into the mix the fact that there are no public movie theaters in Saudi Arabia (although the latest movies can be watched on pirated DVDs bought off the street) and one can see that there are many obstacles to overcome if someone wishes to produce a film within Saudi Arabia.

Here is what Jameelah had to say about her experiences with film-making in KSA -

When I was doing my thesis film, I chose to do a documentary. I flew to Jeddah to shoot my film. I had nobody to help me. I had no crew. It was just me and my mom. It was very challenging and rewarding, but at the same time uncomfortable. I remember that I had to pause/stop recording every time people came into the frame, especially if it was a woman. I was uncomfortable because I always had to look and check if it was okay for me to shoot or not. My mom would tell me if somebody was coming, and I would have to stop recording. My mom also carried some of my equipment while I filmed.

It was particularly very tough shooting outdoors. I am always concerned about whether someone might take my camera from me and confiscate it, or worse, smash it. This resulted in my outdoor footage becoming unsteady and very short. I had a difficult time editing it. I have already made 3 documentaries about Saudi Arabia.

The first time I ever watched in a movie theater was when I first went to the US in June 2011. The first movie I ever watched in a movie theater was Harry Potter the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I was 18 at that time. The second time I watched inside a movie theater was a year after that. I'm not really used to going to the movies and somehow, growing up in Saudi Arabia, I prefer to watch movies on my laptop or on TV.  I have only been to a movie theater twice in my life at the moment. It is quite ironic since I make films and yet I don't really go to the movies frequently.

Jameelah is a graduate of the New York Film Academy in New York City.  At the moment, she is a freelance filmmaker doing production works in Jeddah and she also teaches film-making privately.  She offers a 4 week or 8 week film-making program.  If you have any inquiries regarding her classes, you can email her at :   jameelah.lineses@nyfa.edu 

American Bedu: The True Story of an American Spy

My friend Carol Fleming (American Bedu) is the subject of a documentary film. Her story is one that needs to be told - she was an American spy for the CIA when she met and fell in love with a Saudi diplomat. They were only married for 7 short years when he succumbed to cancer while at the same time, she herself was battling breast cancer - a fight she continues to this day.

They are in need of funding for this project. Can you help?

To make a donation, CLICK HERE.

HOME: The Aramco Brats Story

Home: The Aramco Brats Story is a 90 minute documentary film made by three young American men who were born and raised in Saudi Arabia. Their goal in making the film was to set the record straight about the country they grew up in and lovingly still call home, even though they no longer reside in Saudi Arabia. They were inspired after 9/11 happened to let the world know the real truth about the country of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi people and their religion. They wanted to dispel the assumptions and misconceptions that many people around the world were all too willing to believe.

A showing of this very special film is being offered at the Jeddah Cultural Exchange Center next Wednesday, April 4th at 7pm for expats in Jeddah. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Refreshments will be provided. I am proud and excited to be one of the presenters of this event, along with the Jeddah Cultural Exchange Center, Jeddah's Heart, Arabian Jewel, and Nomad Arabia.

If you are an expat in Jeddah and are interested in attending this event, email me at: susieofarabia@gmail.com and I will send you an invitation with information about how you can reserve your seat.

If you are not in Jeddah, you can still see the movie by ordering your own copy. Click here for more information.

Reel Bad Arabs

Hollywood has contributed for decades to promoting the images of negative and demeaning stereotypes of Blacks, Native American Indians, Asians, and other ethnic groups, including Arabs. While taking aim at many of these groups may have become politically incorrect in today's society, the assault on the representation of Arabs in movies continues. Even Disney's Aladdin, which targets a younger audience, contains sordid and biased images, songs and dialogue that can effectively taint children's attitudes towards Arabs. The opening song of the movie Aladdin, sung by an Arab bad guy, includes these lyrics: "I come from a land, from a faraway place where the caravan camels roam, where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face - it's barbaric, but hey, it's home." What's a child to assume when hearing this?

In the early days of Hollywood, as far back as the 1920s, Arabs have been portrayed as "thieves, charlatans, murderers, and brutes." Many movies often just throw in unseemly Arab characters or negative references to Arabs, despite the movies' plots or themes having anything at all to do with Arabs or the Middle East, such as 1985's film Back to the Future and 1995's Father of the Bride 2. Arabs are often depicted as heartless savages to fill the antagonists' roles when the plotline calls for bad guys.

"I think whenever we see anyone being villified on a regular basis, we have to speak up whether we are image makers or not. We have to take a stand and say this is morally and ethically wrong to demonize a people," says Dr. Jack Shaheen, author of Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People.

Dr. Shaheen appears in the video below in this short synopsis of the film documentary based on his book.

If you are interested in seeing the full length documentary in its entirety, it has been broken down into several parts, each about 10 minutes long. Here are the links:

Part 1 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary
Part 2 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary
Part 3 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary
Part 4 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary
Part 5 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary

Hollywood and Washington are forever linked in the movies. It's natural for Hollywood to produce movies about certain historical events. But what about movies that are just for pure entertainment? Is there a correlation between the large percentage of Hollywood power players being Jewish and the consistently negative portrayals of Arabs in the movies? (Joel Stein wrote this interesting op-ed piece about this topic.) Have we just become so conditioned to seeing this type of thing in the movies that it has made us insensitive to the harm that these stereotypes can do? Is Hollywood being irresponsible with its continuous negative depictions of Arabs in the movies?

Reel Bad Arabs website.

Arabia 3-D Movie

In February 2010, a new film called Arabia 3-D was released and is being shown on a limited basis in some IMAX Theaters. This is the first film ever that was totally shot within Saudi Arabia. From the depths of the Red Sea to its ancient ruins to covering the largest human assemblage on earth, Arabia 3-D offers a rare glimpse into the mysterious desert land of Saudi Arabia. It is narrated by British actress Helen Mirren. Rich in culture and steeped in history, religion, and tradition, this film is a must-see for those wanting to know more about one of the most misunderstood and secretive places on earth. Arabia 3-D is a visually spectacular masterpiece which can hopefully dispel some of the negative images that many Western people have about Saudi Arabia.

Arabia 3-D was the brainchild of a young Saudi filmmaker, Hamzah Jamjoon, a graduate of DePaul University's Fine Arts program in Chicago. From start to finish, the film took three years to make. There were some unique problems. Since Saudi Arabia has no film industry at all to speak of, government rules and regulations had to be invented along the way to provide for the making of the film, as well as bringing in professionals from 17 different countries around the world to produce the film. The extreme heat also had to be taken into consideration and special refrigerated trucks were employed to cool down the crews and the cameras themselves.

Although there are no movie theaters in Saudi Arabia, Jamjoon hopes to erect some temporary theaters to be able to show his film in his homeland to his fellow countrymen (and women too, I hope!). Here is a review of the film and below is a short movie trailer.