This comes from Christopher Smalley, 617-529-5323
Festival is a qualifier for Oscar consideration.
Framingham, MA – RA Vision Productions and award-winning director Raouf Zaki of Framingham are pleased to announce that their film, “Santa Claus in Baghdad,” has been accepted into the 25th Annual Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF). Out of more than 7,000 film festivals worldwide, RIIFF is one of only 61 qualifying Festivals with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—the Oscars—and the only Festival in New England with that distinction. Three Providence-based actresses, Miriam Habib, Samantha Harik, and Ana Cruz, have feature roles in the film.
Santa Claus in Baghdad is a short narrative film aimed at English-speaking teenagers between 12 and 14 years of age. The aim of this film, through a gentle story of Amal, a sixteen-year-old girl, is to foster improved communications between Arab and Western cultures through mutual respect and understanding. Zaki adapted the story from author Elsa Marston’s book: Figs and Fate—Stories about growing up in the Arab world. The second edition was recently released and renamed “Santa Claus in Baghdad” recognizing the film version of the story. Ms. Marston’s grand-daughter, Samantha Harik of Providence, is a featured extra in the movie.
“This film represents a positive media tool for the often misrepresented Iraqi and Arabic people and speaks to universal issues for teenagers, who are everywhere coming to terms with body image and issues of popularity at school, within the context of Baghdad during the time of United Nations’ sanctions in 2000,” says Zaki. “This modern Gift of the Magi dispels negative stereotypes of Iraqis and promotes a better understanding of their rich culture that has given much to the world over the centuries”.
Using an all Arab-American cast and a multi-cultural crew, Santa Claus in Baghdad was filmed in Framingham, Mass. over a 10-day period last June. An Iraqi Production Designer replicated interior and exterior locations to double as a backdrop for Baghdad in 2000, including a famous Baghdad book market (attached production stills).
Santa Claus in Baghdad is Zaki’s second film to tackle the challenges of being an Arab in a post-9/11 world. His first film, “Just Your Average Arab,” produced with production partner Chris Smalley, screened at the 2006 Plymouth Independent Film Festival and won Best Film at the 2006 Boston Comedy and Film Festival. Additionally, Just Your Average Arab continues to be widely-embraced by colleges and universities throughout the United States and Europe.
Zaki and Smalley are currently in development on their next feature film—the story about the world’s first monk, St. Anthony, and the establishment of the first monastery in the world built in Egypt on the site of St. Anthony’s tomb. Zaki and Smalley plan to film the feature film in Massachusetts using technology to recreate the Egyptian desert in Massachusetts.
Here's a link to an article in the Boston Sunday Globe Sun August 3rd.
Boston Globe - United States
"Santa Claus in Baghdad," a 38-minute film by Massachusetts-based Raouf Zaki, was filmed nearly entirely in Massachusetts last year, with locales doubling ...
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http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2008/08/03/a_big_festival_in_little_rhodie
To reach the filmmaker call him at 508 788-0221 or email him at filmmaker@rcn.com
(This is not an RIFC Production)