This is Nabil.

Last week, my thirteen year-old sister’s Middle School received a bomb threat. Thankfully, it was just a prank. During my tenure at Loganville High School, we also received bomb threats.  However, my experiences and my sister’s experiences were totally different.  My school got threatened BEFORE 9/11/2001.  My sister’s school got threatened right after the Fort Hood Shootings.  Bomb threats are nothing new to public schools in America.  They’re very serious, but most of the time they’re just pranks to get out of taking tests or what-have-you.  And that’s exactly how I remember them: nonthreatening.  My sister, on the other hand, felt very different about them.

My thirteen-year-old sister was harassed and made-fun-of by many of the other students at her school.  Their first response to the bomb threat? It must have been my sister because she is Arab and Muslim.  A couple of students even approached her directly, calling her a “Muslim Terrorist” and a “Bitch”.  Okay, so maybe the second name is just something kids do – but the first one is very troubling. My sister came home that night, crying her eyes out, because the negative perceptions of Islam have gotten so mainstream and universally accepted that even school children are spreading them. I really wished my sister hadn’t experienced that ridicule, but it’s something that many American Muslims are experiencing.

Colin Ferri recently handed our feature screenplay to one of the head readers at Dreamworks Pictures (nice score, Colin!).  And out of the goodness of his heart, he read our screenplay and gave us his notes.  First thing’s first.  He thought the screenplay was, “a hoot”.  Awesome.  Having our screenplay come off as “funny” and “hilarious” was one of our main goals, and according to the reader, we succeeded. Yay!

The problem? The reader was very concerned that our screenplay wasn’t relevant anymore.  His argument: The United States of America has elected an African-American president with the name, Barack Hussein Obama.  Because the plot of Arab in America relies heavily on Osama changing his name to Samuel – the reader was wondering if having a name like Osama would still be a roadblock. He thought America was becoming more accepting of Arabs and Muslims and that our screenplay addresses a non-issue.

And then I got to thinking…  If things are getting better, then why is my sister being harassed by all the kids in her school when some punk calls in a bomb threat?  Why is my father still running a Middle Eastern Restaurant with his 22 years of Engineering experience?  And why in the hell am I seeing Time Magazine running a cover like this?

Reminds of A Teaser Trailer...

Back in 2006, Colin and I shot the first half of our short film, Arab in America.  There was a scene that was cut from the movie that we used for a Teaser Trailer.  Most of our friends and family who saw the Teaser Trailer, complained that it was too “outlandish and ridiculous” and “Time Magazine would never have a cover like that.”  I’ve included the Teaser Trailer below…

We think Arab in America is still relevant.  Arabs and Muslims are still having a hard time in this country and many are treated like second-class citizens.  And because some people might think that the topic is fading in the background and “getting better” that only emboldens us even more to get this thing made.

Keep checking back for some new updates, including – your very own copy of The Arab in America Pitch Packet! – AND – DVD News! – AND – Even More Arab News!

-Nabil

More Blogs

Kabobfest
ArabDetroit
Racialicious
Tab All
US4Arabs
Huasipungo
Taggnation

If anyone sees anymore out there, just comment on the post and let us know!

-Nabil

Thomas (Tommy-Tom) Verrette’s feature film, I Am The Bluebird, is premiering tonight in Atlanta, hosted by the Atlanta Film Festival!  If you guys don’t know who Tom is, he’s a co-writer of the Arab in America feature screenplay!  So if you’re in Atlanta or in St. Petersburg, FL – you can watch I Am The Bluebird!  Colin and I have been watching cuts of this film since 2007, and I can be completely honest with you when I say that it’s really fantastic.  Check out the Atlanta Film Festival & the Sunscreen Film Festival’s websites for ticketing info and directions.  Also, don’t forget to check out iamthebluebird.com!

I AM THE BLUEBIRD – ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL
Friday, April 17th – 7:30pm
Tuesday, April 22nd – 1:00pm

I AM THE BLUEBIRD – SUNSCREEN FILM FESTIVAL
Thursday, April 30th – 9:00pm

-Nabil

(P.S. – Look for Colin Ferri & Nabil Abou-Harb in the “Special Thanks” section of the credits!)

So check out the links below!  Follow us on Twitter and fan us on Facebook!

We like to Tweet!

Your face is an open book.

Saphir News: Arab in America - Front Page, Baby

We’ve got some exciting news today!  Arab in America has now been featured on The Huffington Post, Saphir News, and The Athens Banner-Herald!  Not to mention countless and countless internet blogs!  So, for those of you who like to keep count, we’re going to link you to all the stories below!

PRESS

USA Today
The Huffington Post
NPR Atlanta-PBA
The Providence Journal
Saphir News (french translation)
Air America’s State of Belief
The Athens Banner-Herald

BLOGS

Beliefnet
Yahoo Movies News
Filmstew.com
Progressive Islam
Illume Magazine
Alt Muslim
One Nation For All
Minareti (french translation)
Faisal Kutty
Muxlim.com
Queer Isn’t It?
South Florida Drifters
Beauty and the East
Political Peon
Jannah.org
Arabesque (french translation)
Meefedia
Milk and Cookies
Muslim Women
Infocus News.net

And the most humbling thing out of all this coverage is Wake Forest University’s new course MLS 833, Re-imaging Islam in the West, where Arab in America will be discussed, critiqued, and debated alongside my hero’s essay/book/documentary: Jack Shaheen’s Reel Bad Arabs.  Check out the link below to go see more information on WFU’s new course.

Wake Forest University | Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

Also, NPR-Atlanta interviewed Colin Ferri and I last week, so expect that interview to be coming soon, too!  If there are other links that I’ve missed, please – let me know by sending me an email!  nabouharb(a)fiveonfifty.com.  Thanks a bunch and keep checking back for more info!

-Nabil

Muxlim.com - They Know Good Work

Yay!

For those of you who don’t know, Muxlim.com is an internet Muslim lifestyle community that tries to bring Muslims from all around the world together in a positive setting promoting Muslim values… The web network, much like a Facebook/Myspace media sharing hub for Muslims, has become one of the fastest social networks on the internet. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend that you do! And while you’re there, leave a comment on the Arab in America Trailer!

-Nabil

Among the films in competition, Arab In America tells the story of Osama Ahmed Abou-Bakr who became Samuel Adams Baker, vegetarian and former alcoholic to work up to their skills and integrate into American society.

It’s just a little tid-bit, but every little thing helps!  To read the entire article (Google Translated From French) click the link below.

http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.saphirnews.com%2FL-islam-et-les-musulmans-americains-en-video-sur-le-web-_a9792.html&sl=fr&tl=en

-Nabil

But we really need you guys to send this link to your friends and get them to vote, too!  There’s about 100 films in this competition and some of them have tons more votes than ours…  So please, if you can sparte the time, send the below link to five friends and get them to VOTE!

http://www.linktv.org/onenation/films/view/419

Thanks!

-Nabil

AIA at the One Nation Film Competition!

Hey guys!  A five minute edit of the Arab in America short has just been added to the One Nation Many Voices Film Competition hosted by Link TV! However, before I give you guys the direct link, I have to make a plea.

The only way to get into the semi-finals of this competition is to get a ton votes and comments. So, if you would all please, after seeing the film, vote AND comment on the film, that’d mean the world to us!

Okay, so without further ado, the 5 minute cut of the Arab in America short Film!

http://www.linktv.org/onenation/films/view/419 – Tell Your Friends!

(there are some jokes and scenes that didn’t make this 5 minute cut…  don’t get sad if you don’t see your favorite part of the trailer in this edit…  the dvd is in the works and you’ll be able to get the film in its entirety, soon…  please be patient! -thanks)

-Nabil

For the holidays, we’re giving everyone on the interweb the chance to watch the Arab in America short on the Internet!!!!  Well, sort of…  We’ve submitted a 5 minute cut of the Arab in America short to the One Nation Many Voices Film Contest hosted by Link TV!!!

Basically the good people at One Nation and Link TV invited everyone in the United States to make films about Muslim life in the United States, Women and Islam, and Muslim Youth…  It’s an absolutely swell contest and we’ve submitted a 5 minute cut of our film to be included with all the other fine films of this year’s contest.

While the film is still “Pending Review”, we’ll let you guys know the second that it goes up…  The 5 minute cut moves VERY fast, but most of the jokes are still there and the film’s heart remains intact.  We can’t wait till it’s up and viewable…

In the mean time, head on over to the One Nation Many Voices Film Contest and watch many of the other fantastic films submitted!  Check back soon for the direct link to the Arab in America submission and with directions on how to vote!  Happy New Year!

-Nabil

This is Tom.

Hello World.

Tom here. I am one of the writers of Arab In America. Not the short one, the long one. Or the one that’s too long. Whatever. Most of you probably don’t know of me as my involvement with the short was very limited, but I like to think I had some helpful pointers here and there. I suppose that lead me to writing here — on the ‘Making Arab In America‘ blog.

YESTERDAY, Nabil told me he had this idea to do this blog, and so here I am. This is my first blog ever. I have never once thought about starting, writing, participating, reading, loving, hating, obsessing, fantasizing, dreaming, or smearing a blog, so if it is a bit uneven, sue me. (Seriously don’t really, I’m a broke filmmaker too!) Okay! So far, so good. I feel like I can say whatever I want, and it doesn’t matter. So a blog is for venting then? A perfect place for the guys behind Arab In America!

Except for one thing. Where to start?

I am honestly not bitter about any of our close calls, potential buys, and even a few name actors who enjoyed our story but didn’t want to bite. Seriously, who gets that lucky immediately after graduating film school?! It has been one of the most rewarding and informative journeys I have endured in my young twenty-three years. It was fun, and above all, was the kind of thing I want to be doing. That being said, none of us have any intention of giving up. We may move on to other things, and Arab may never get made, but giving up is for losers, getting smart is for us.

I think we’re smart guys. Nabil and Colin were smart enough to know they had a good idea on their hands. They asked for my help, so naturally that’s another check on the smart list. My credibility I suppose lied with my own limited (but existent) feature film knowledge (called I Am The Bluebird for anyone listening). Anyway, so I helped. And we worked together hard and long for many many months — I’m going to skip a year of that process and go right to the ‘Oh-Shit-Houston-We-Have-A-Problem!’ moment — the political climate keeps changing!

It took us smart guys a long time to realize that right!? Now before you tell yourselves, “No shit Sherlock! My dead parakeet’s rotten corpse fifteen inches under the rock in my backyard could’ve called that!?”, it gets a bit more complicated.

See, everyone knows someone with a great movie idea. We were those people to a lot of others. And haven’t you noticed that those movie ideas are almost always films perfectly acclimated for a studio? Doesn’t Arab In America sound like that? It’s the perfect edgy tent-pole comedy! Maybe that’s where we made our mistake. If Akiva Goldsman wrote it, it would’ve been shot before any studio exec green-lit the thing. I’ll sum it up by saying that for unknowns like ourselves with a politically satirical script relevant to TODAY, it proved a lot harder for anyone who had the power to say yes. Don’t worry, I haven’t gotten to the complicated part yet. We got this script (and idea) into many people’s hands who had the power to say yes, believe me. Turns out, when you have a good idea, that wasn’t so hard. It was the time it took to get the thing into those people’s hands that became the stinker.

You get the idea...

A stinker you say!? Imagine a 12 once rib eye cooked to perfection. But somehow it gets misplaced in the middle of the desert and sits in the scorching heat for days. Vultures one by one peck at what was once the divine steak. Their nasty bald heads throw bacteria around like a wet dog. And to top it off, they’ve been enjoying themselves for so long that by the time they leave, there is nothing left but a pile of vulture dung. Yes, that kind of stinker.

I think normally, most aspiring filmmakers would not be so crushed by the amount of time between submitting a script, and it actually getting read. “What’s the problem!? It’s getting read!?” Well, if you have a script about killer monkeys in the jungle and some half-cyborg gorilla who speaks fluent English, lets just say you have a different kind of script. Nabil, Colin, and I spent a great deal of time writing about the current misconceptions and interpretations of the world — from the preposterous and obnoxious to the revealing and inspiring — all while putting our genuine humorous twist on it all for a full blown Arab “comedy of racial proportions!”

Turns out, by the time the guy read it. It was YESTERDAY’S news.

So, here we have the ‘Making Arab In America’ blog. My goals for this thing, while obviously hoping to provide some sort of perspective on the whole affair, is to keep moving forward. We have all decided, not only as the owners of this idea but as members of the next generation, that we all had something that we believed in. As screenwriters, we have the power to say something, to change something, and perhaps one day, make something. Whether its Arab In America or something else, I have no doubt we will get there. TOMORROW is a new day, and no one knows what will happen. Maybe somebody reads this and says, “Fuck it. Here’s four million dollars.”

That’s doubtful, but you never know.

-Tom

They Love Obama

The Huffington Post has an interesting article by Ilan Goldenberg analyzing what the latest Al Qaeda message means and why it was released.  If you haven’t had a chance to read or watch the latest Al Qaeda broadcast, let me tell you, it’s a doozie… (to give you an idea, Ayman al-Zawahri calls Obama a “House Negro” and then goes on to invoke Malcom X.  I don’t know if anyone happened to forward al-Zawahri the memo, but using terms like “House Negro” usually incites backlash…  especially if you’re not black, yourself).

Anyway, the article pretty much makes the argument that Al Qaeda is releasing this particular message out of fear that an Obama presidency has already started to change global perception of the United States and that the shift will no longer fuel the flames of Al Qaeda’s war against the West.

The article is a pretty decent read (if you have the time) but the quote from Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old at a Bangkok Starbucks immediately got my attention…

What an inspiration. He is the first truly global US president the world has ever had. He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president.

Barack Hussien Obama has already started to shape the world scene in a positive direction (how he falls on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has still yet to be seen).  Does a film like Arab in America still work in Barack’s United States of America?  Or does his election deem the film unnecessary?  These are questions that I don’t have the answers for.  What do you guys think?

I don’t know, there’s still 48% of the country that voted for the other guy, terrorism is still a global concern, and Sarah Palin just got a $7 million-dollar book deal….  Maybe it is still pertinent after all.

-Nabil

This is Nabil.

Hello interwebs,

My name is Nabil Abou-Harb, and I’m the creator/co-writer/director/producer of the short comedy film, Arab in America. We shot Arab in America in late 2006 and early 2007 and since completion of the film, its played at many film festivals around the world including: The Cannes International Film Festival, The Memphis International Film Festival, and the Washington D.C. International Film Festival (where it also took home the Audience Award for Best Short).

We’ve been painstakingly trying to get the film picked up as a full-fledged feature film for almost two years.  Trying to get your movie made is not easy…  There’s an entire world of Agents, Producers, Executives, Investors, and Assistants that all successfully set up a firewall.  If you can break the firewall, you’re in.  Breaking that firewall, is an entirely different story.  Over the course of two years, we’ve chipped away at the wall…  However, if we continue at the current pace, it’ll take 20 years…  We kind of feel like Andy Dufrane in Shawshank…

So we decided to do this…  With some 5,000 unique hits a week to this site, why not start a blog?!?  Not just any blog…  The Ultimate Blog!  A blog designed to show the world how hard it is to get your movie made.  A blog that chronicles the entire history of an awesome, thought-provoking film (I’m a little biased).  A blog that lets our fans and passerby to have a say in the process.

We hope you join us on our journey to change the hearts of the world through our film…

Throughout the next few weeks, we’re all going to be chronicling all the past stories and encounters that brought our project to this juncture.  All these posts will be tagged with the “history of arab” tag.  For more basic information on the film, don’t forget to click the “About The Film” link at the top of the page for a current synopsis and movie trailer.  Also, please feel free to comment on anything.  This blog won’t work all that well without you participating.  To leave a comment on a post, click the icon right underneath the date of the post.  That will open up the comments area.  From there you can comment to your heart’s desire.

If you’re looking for the old Arab website, it can be accessed at any time by going to http://www.fiveonfifty.com/arabinamerica whenever you’d like.  I’d beware, however…  The site looks like it was made in 1994 and hasn’t been updated in over a year (sorry about that).

Thanks everybody, and now…  let the blogging begin!

-Nabil