final shoot

It feels good to have it all shot but I won't be satisfied until I'm looking at it in picture lock.

photos by Lexi Obara

Open Source: now part of democratizing film

Ever wanted to write a screenplay? Now you can do it for free with celtx, a free screenwriting software that is growing into a pre production software as well.
Put it on paper.

[Link]

Happy 1387

نوروز مبارک
This message is a few days late but better late than never. A few thoughts.
1. Praying in the airport can be one of the most awkward moments but one Salaam a'alaykum from a Dallas airport employee made my whole day.
2. My New York trip was great and the feedback I got on the rough cut makes me much closer to mentally shaping this film.
3. Shooting the breeze with Ridz in NYC was chill. He'll be doing the title sequence for Warring Factions.
4. People need to stay awake about the war that is still happening in order to prevent another from happening.
5. I finished another 2 Shariati books this week. His ideas are just as important now as they were when he was speaking. We need another Shariati in 2008. Study up.
6. Spending time with family is like therapy sometimes.
7. Wielding fear is the key to McCain campaign. Stay prepared for the scary diversion from the truth.

My welcoming committee to the US part VI

“Most of the reports I have written on people have been ok but a few have been bad. A few people ...,” he paused remembering those cases, “Let's just say they didn't go home.”

Officer T then asked me about every name that was associated with my papers asking me the ages, locations, and education levels of each in addition to whether any of them had ever been in the US or wanted to come to the US. The languages I speak eventually came up in the interview.

“Would you ever consider doing this?” he said, meaning working for Homeland Security.

“Never.” I said confidently.

“Not even if they paid you $80,000 a year.”

“They could never pay me enough to work for them.”

“You don't really like the government do you?”

“Can you tell?” After I said this an awkward silence fell in the room. “How much longer is this gonna take and where am I gonna sleep in here?”

“How long does it take to fast forward through each of those tapes?”

“Probably about 5 minutes.”

“You said there was 15 so times that by 15 minutes. I'll be back.” He stood up and left the office in the direction that he left before.

He returned in 5 minutes with a grim face. “I got some bad news for you. I know I told you that we were going to review the footage here but my supervisor is not having it. I'm sorry. He really thinks there is more to this.”

I looked at him with the attempt to express how angry I was without making sound.

“I know your pissed,” he said in consolation. “If you want to punch a hole in the wall I won't say anything.”

“Putting a hole in the wall won't help me keep my tapes. I know I should probably call a lawyer but I want to ask you that if I start making noise about wanting a lawyer will it help me keep the tapes?”

“You don't want to do that. Your case is not closed. Like I said before, your whole case can be flipped against you, easily. You might never get them back.” That statement chilled me to the bone.

“Well you may just be saying that to shut me up but it seems like your giving me sincere advice.”

“I am,” he said.

Officer T opened his desk drawer to find a plastic seizure bag with a zip top and various lines and numbers.

“This is a seizure bag. Most things that are put in these are destroyed but I'm writing here that these are being held for review. Okay?” He put the tapes into the bag and made me sign a chain of custody receipt releasing the tapes to him.

“These will stay in your hands?”

“No, but whenever the custody changes you should be notified at the number you leave on the form”

Officer T separated the receipt from it's white page and gave me the yellow carbon copy page.

I was released along with both of my passports at 10:30 pm.

Yo-Yo Ma is my homeboy

Yo-Yo Ma on blurring the lines of cultural influences


Click Listen

Raw Footage- Iran/ Zurkhune

WF at 2008 New York Arab & South Asian Film Fesitval

2008 New York Arab and South Asian Film Festival - TRAILER from jawad metni on Vimeo.


The promotional cut of the first 3 minutes of the film is playing at the NYASAFF
Special thanks to Sarah Rahbar for forwarding the DVD screener to the show curator, Swati Khurana
The Stories We Tell Curated by Swati Khurana................ Tuesday, March 11, 8pm
This video program will feature short, experimental works by South Asian and Arab artists whose work reveals the tenuous nature of story-telling. The videos will be a combination of home movies as necessary fictions, excavations of propaganda and other effective formats of lie-spreading, documentary efforts at revealing the 'real', the stories that performances and performativity can tell, and narrative films where the act of telling the story becomes the narrative.
Festival Program Link

Public Rough Cut Screenings

Rough cut time!

Tomorrow at SMU @ Dedman Life Sciences Room 132 6:30pm

Wednesday at Baylor @ Barfield Drawing Room 5:00pm

P.S.  Never set a dowry like this guy.