The view from GFF

Walking into the hotel room and seeing this view is a good way to start the 2011 Gulf Film Festival!

Burj Khalifa reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile High Illinois, which I keep a drawing of at home for inspiration. It's the great idea that never was. A reminder to keep fighting the challenges of creation. One can stand here and imagine what the Chicago skyline might have looked like had Wright's masterpiece been built.

Looking forward to the opening ceremony tonight, and the screening of Child of Iraq. To Rest in Peace screens April 15th at 6:15 P.M. and 17th at 3:15 P.M. Check out the schedule for details.

Gulf Film Festival

To Rest in Peace will be in competition at the Gulf Film Festival in Dubai, April 14-20. We are amongst ten Kuwaiti films selected, which will join other filmmakers from around the world.

Our screening dates are April 15th at 6 P.M., and 17th at 3 P.M. Check out their website for more details.

The Gulf Film Festival is run by the same team who put together the Dubai International Film Festival, where we had our official premier in December. It will be great to go back and see everyone again!

Goldilocks

One of the fun projects I've had recently is editing the web series Goldilocks, which is shot and distributed on the iPhone. The story is a Bourne Ultimatum or Alias sort of thriller, about a former spy, now mom, whose espionage life comes back to threaten her son.

This episode was cut on the flight over to Dubai for the festival. I had a little LaCie Rugged hard drive, and Avid Media Composer on my laptop. Put the tray table down, put the head phones on, and suddenly the Emirates A380 becomes an editing suite. One of the things I love about making films in the digital age.

The series is up for YouTube's Telly Awards. If you enjoyed watching it, you can help us win by voting here.

You can also check out the producers and directors of Goldilocks, Michael Koerbel and Anna Elizabeth James of Majek Pictures, in the New York Times, and at MacWorld Expo.

Front Page of Gulf News

The December 19, 2010 issue of Gulf News featured a front page article by Rania Moussly about To Rest in Peace.

Rania called me for a phone interview, and we had a good chat, but I thought it was for a small article about student filmmakers. A few days went by without print, and I thought they had dropped the story altogether. Then I got a congrats text from my cousin Haider Al-Mosawi, the first of many. It was a wonderful surprise. I had no idea it would end up on the front page!

You can find the article online at Gulf News, and the front page text on Zawya.

Siobhan Live – Radio Interview in English

This is a fun interview we did with Siobhan Live (Dubai Eye 103.8) during the Dubai Film Festival.

The interview was in english, so Josh got to join in. It was a first for both of us being live on radio, but Siobhan was lovely and quickly made it feel like a dinner conversation. The recording is two segments stitched together, before and after the news break.

Still to come, a newspaper article and some pictures from the festival!

Al Arabiya - Live interview in Arabic

The day after we arrived in Dubai, I got a call early in the morning asking if I could do a live interview in half an hour. Of course, the answer is always 'yes'. Which then leads to the question 'what about breakfast?' Fortunately, we managed to get ready and out the door in time and well fed.

The interview was for Al Arabiya's morning show. My arabic was a little rusty, having lived in Toronto, Los Angeles and London since I was eight years old. But the hosts were lovely, and I managed to get through it without much Arabish (Arabic-English hybrids).

We enjoyed a good deal of press during the Dubai Film Festival. They had a dedicated publicist, Sarah Ahmed, who put us in touch with various media outlets for interviews. There's a radio show, and a newspaper article coming soon to the blog.

Many thanks to Sarah, and to Mohammed Al Azzam and Layal Assaf, who made Dubai the perfect premier festival for To Rest in Peace!

World Premier at the Dubai International Film Festival

Hello all!

To Rest in Peace has officially had it's world premier at the 7th annual Dubai International Film Festival. It was a huge success and we were honoured to be a part of this year's festival. Thanks so much to the festival staff who made our experience so memorable! It was also a great pleasure to have Merik Tadros join us, and as a side note, we are really excited by the reception his graphic novel River Jordan has been getting. Lastly, we did some great press while we were there: print interviews, TV appearances and a radio interview, which we'll make available on the blog — so stay tuned for that!

J

Dubai Film Festival

It's official!

To Rest in Peace will be at the Dubai International Film Festival as part of the Gulf Voices screening, which promises "stories of honour and responsibility, war, comedy, family drama, and romance."

(And our picture made it onto their press release!)

The festival is held December 12th-19th. It will be the official world premier of our film, and the beginning of the festival circuit.

Several of the cast and crew will be there. We look forward to updating you from Dubai!