ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

CHERIEN DABIS (Director/Writer/Executive Producer)

Named one of Variety’s “Ten Directors to Watch” in 2009, award-winning independent filmmaker Cherien Dabis makes her feature writing and directorial debut with Amreeka, which premiered to both audience and critical acclaim in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.  The film went on to open the Museum of Modern Art and Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual New Director’s/New Films series in New York and will have its international premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight in May.

Dabis’s original script was selected to participate in the 2005 Sundance Middle East Screenwriter’s Lab, IFP/LA Director’s Lab, Los Angeles Film Festival’s Fast Track program and 2007 Berlinale Co-Production Market.  At Tribeca All Access in 2007, Dabis was honored with the first ever L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Vision Award, and last year she won the Renew Media/Tribeca Film Institute’s Media Artist Fellowship, founded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Also a television writer and co-producer, Dabis worked on Showtime Network’s ground-breaking, original hit series The L Word for three seasons.

A graduate of Columbia University’s Masters of Fine Arts film program, she has written, directed and produced several short films, which have screened at some of the world’s top film festivals.  Make A Wish (2006) premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival where it won the Prix de la Presse and Mention Spéciale du Jury.  The film went on to win top awards in Dubai, Rotterdam, Cairo, Chicago and Aspen.  Dabis received several generous grants in support of the film, including the National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project Seed Grant, the Jerome Foundation’s New York City Media Arts Grant and the New York State Council on the Art’s Electronic Media and Film Distribution Grant.  She is the recipient of an Artist Fellowship in Playwriting/Screenwriting from New York Foundation for the Arts.

As a graduate film student, Dabis was granted several distinguished awards, including the Zaki Gordon Award for Excellence in Screenwriting, the Institute for Humane Studies Film and Fiction Scholarship and the New York Women in Film and Television Scholarship.

The first of her family born in the U.S., Dabis was raised in Ohio and Jordan and currently resides in New York City.

CHRISTINA PIOVESAN (Producer)

Christina Piovesan founded First Generation Films in 2007.  Committed to producing quality film and television projects, FGF recently completed the feature film Amreeka.  Written and directed by Cherien Dabis, Amreeka premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, was selected as the opening night film for New Directors/New Films and will screen at the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes.

Piovesan’s other projects include The Whistleblower, a true-life drama set up at HBO Films; an adaptation of Robert Hough’s acclaimed novel The Stowaway; and a teenage drama titled White & Rice, which recently won an honorable mention for Best Screenplay at the Tribeca Film Festival.  

Prior to starting her own company, Piovesan worked for Telefilm Canada, where she oversaw production on the 2006 TIFF comedy Young People F@#king and Bruce McDonald’s experimental film Tracey Fragments starringEllen Page, as well as dozens of projects in development. 

Piovesan earned a master’s degree from the University of Southern California, where she won a student Emmy Award for her work on the short film Miracle Mile.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Science and IFP New York.

PAUL BARKIN (Producer)

A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre and champion of director driven films, Paul Barkin has produced for some of Canada’s most talented directors through his company Alcina Pictures. Selected credits include Night of the Living by Andrew Currie (Fido); Apartment Hunting by Bill Robertson; Kardia by Su Rynard, recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Film Prize at the 2005 Hamptons International Film Festival; and the critically acclaimed, award-winning The Tracey Fragments by Bruce McDonald and starring Oscar® nominee Ellen Page.  

In addition to Amreeka, which is co-produced with Buffalo Gal Pictures and written/directed by New York-based Palestinian filmmaker Cherien Dabis, Barkin’s upcoming projects include the comedy The Con Artist, directed by Risa Bramon Garcia (200 Cigarettes), and The Colony, a sci-fi horror directed by Jeff Renfroe (Civic Duty, One Point 0).

LIZ JARVIS (Co-Producer)

Liz Jarvis joined Buffalo Gal Pictures in 1995.  As producer, production executive and assistant director, she has been instrumental in building alliances with national and international producers to create a wide range of award-winning feature films, documentaries and short dramas.

Jarvis developed and produced her first feature film, Seven Times Lucky, with writer/director Gary Yates in 2004.  Subsequent feature film credits include The Stone Angel, an adaptation of the acclaimed Margaret Laurence novel, produced with writer/director Kari Skogland and starring Ellen Burstyn and Christine Horne; and High Life, co-produced with Triptych Media and director Gary Yates, and starring Timothy Olyphant, Steve McIntyre, Joe Anderson and Rossif Sutherland.

AL-ZAIN AL-SABAH (Co-Producer)

Al-Zain Al-Sabah founded Eagle Vision Media Group in 2007.  Serving as chairman and managing director of the Group, she has produced a wide range of award-winning documentaries, short films, commercials and TV shows.  Today, EVMG is a fully integrated production company, specializing in the development of quality media projects for film and television.  The company supports culturally relevant projects and, as such, provides a creative and financial haven for regional filmmakers.
 
Al-Sabah holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University.

TOBIAS DATUM (Director of Photography)

Tobias Datum was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and lives in Los Angeles.  After attending film school in Berlin and AFI, he started shooting numerous films including How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer that competed at Sundance in 2005 and was released by Maya Releasing; and Drama/Mex, which premiered at Cannes in 2006, Semaine de la Critique, and Toronto Film Festivals, and was distributed by IFC.  Datum shot the pilot and three seasons for South of Nowhere, a single camera show on The N Network.  Mommas Man, which he shot in 2007, premiered in American Spectrum at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Kino International.  Another film shot in 2007, Voy a Explotar, premiered in Venice in 2008 and received its North American premiere in Toronto.

AIDAN LEROUX (Production Designer)

Aidan Leroux was born in London, England, and later moved to Toronto where he received a B.A. in philosophy and literature, and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Toronto.  Other degrees include a Graduate Design Diploma from the Architectural Association in London and a Master of Science from Columbia University.  His first feature-length project as a production designer, Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen, won a Gemini Award for Best Production Design. In 2006 Leroux was nominated for two DGC Awards for Shaftesbury Film’s Booky Makes Her Mark.  Recent projects include the Lee Daniels feature Tennessee.

KEITH REAMER (Editor)

Born in southern New Jersey, Keith Reamer fell in love with the movies at an early age, making Super 8mm horror films in his parent's backyard before deciding, at age 14, to become a film editor.  In 1982, Keith graduated from the University of Bridgeport's late, storied film program and soon went to work as a New York-based film editor.

Among his credits are Maggie Greenwald’s revisionist western, The Ballad of Little Jo, Mary Haron’s feature debut, I Shot Andy Warhol, and Tony Bui’s Three Seasons, the first American dramatic feature to shoot in Vietnam.  Other credits include Maggie Greenwald’s Songcatcher, Eric Bross’s Restaurant, John Gray’s Martin and Lewis for CBS, and Hilary Brougher’s Stephanie Daley.  Reamer recently finished editing his first feature documentary, a portrait of the notorious NY sex club Platos Retreat, American Swing, directed by Jon Hart and Mathew Kaufman.  The film premiered at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Amreeka is Reamer’s 35th feature film.

KAREEM ROUSTOM (Composer)

Kareem Roustom is an award-winning composer who has composed music for film, television, the concert hall and album projects.  Steeped in the musical traditions of the Arab Near East and trained in Western music, Roustom is a musically bilingual composer who has collaborated with a wide variety of artists ranging from the Philadelphia Orchestra to Shakira.  An active composer of film music, Roustom has scored a number of short and feature-length films, and his score for the award-winning documentary Encounter Point earned him the Best Musical Score Award at the 2006 Bend International Film Festival. 

As a concert composer, Roustom has been commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Intercultural Journeys, the Boston Children’s Chorus, the Damascus Festival Chamber Ensemble and others.  Roustom’s concert music arrangements have also been performed by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Sinfonia, members of the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra and others.

His work in pop music includes the string arrangement for the Shakira and Beyonce duet “Beautiful Liar.” The song became the fastest rising single in Billboard history and was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award and has since gone platinum.  Roustom also wrote a string arrangement for Shakira’s duet performance of “Hips Don't Lie” with Wyclef Jean at the 2007 Grammy Awards as well as recent arrangements for Shakira’s forthcoming album.  An active performer on the Oud (Arabic lute), Roustom has performed classical Arabic music in the U.S., Canada and Europe in such venues as the Kennedy Center, Royce Hall, the United Nations, Place Des Arts in Montreal and a live performance on Radio France with the renowned early music group The Boston Camerata.

Roustom has recorded and or produced for Epic Records, Warner Brothers Classics, Fuller Street Music, Xauen Music and others.  His awards include the Pete Carpenter Fellowship from the BMI Foundation and grants from the American Composers Forum.

DOUG BERNHEIM (Music Supervisor)

Based in New York City, Doug Bernheim has music supervised over 30 feature films, including the 2007 Academy Award-nominated film Half Nelson (starring Ryan Gosling), the 2006 Academy Award-nominated film Transamerica (starring Felicity Huffman) and the 2008 Golden Globe-nominated film Grace is Gone (starring John Cusack). Bernheim also co-created and co-produced the popular music compilation series “Christmas Remixed”, featuring modern electronic remixes of vintage holiday recordings by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and other legendary artists.  In addition to his music work, Bernheim has been a producer on several feature films including Winter Solstice (starring Anthony LaPaglia, Allison Janney, Michelle Monaghan and Ron Livingston), The Assassination of Richard Nixon (starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle), Live Free or Die (starring Aaron Stanford, Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschanel), and Pretty Bird (starring Billy Crudup and Paul Giamatti).

LEVANTINE ENTERTAINMENT (Executive Producer)

Levantine Entertainment was formed in 2008 by Crest Investments to develop and produce character-driven films that explore multicultural experiences between the U.S. and the Middle East.

ALICIA SAMS (Executive Producer)

Alicia Sams has extensive experience in both documentary and feature films.  Her most recent film as director is BY THE PEOPLE: The Election of Barack Obama, which chronicles the journey of Barack Obama from before the announcement of his Presidential campaign to the White House, and will be released by HBO  in Fall 2009.   In 2006, she produced two feature-length documentaries:  WANDERLUST, a film about road movies for IFC; and the theatrical release TOOTS,  about legendary NY saloonkeeper Toots Shor.  Prior to that, she produced the Sony Pictures Classics release GRATEFUL DAWG,  independent documentary OFF THE MENU: The Last Days of Chasen’s (released by Northern Arts), the AMC television special HELLO HE LIED, And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches, the Sundance Channel series KEEPING TIME:  New Music from America’s Roots, among others.  She was post-production supervisor for CHOCOLAT, THE SHIPPING NEWS, and THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY and co-produced Nelson Hume’s debut feature SUNBURN.   She began her career working on documentaries for Bill Moyers Public Affairs Television and the PBS series’ AMERICAN MASTERS and GREAT PERFORMANCES.

GREGORY KEEVER (Executive Producer)

Gregory Keever is a senior executive with a private investment group with media interests, including Levantine Entertainment. He also is visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects, serves on the advisory board for the Center for Asia Pacific Policy of the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, and is a member the board of directors of the Los Angeles Opera.  Previously, Keever was in-house counsel to Golden West Broadcasters; was in private practice with the Anglo-French law firm of Coudert Brothers where he gained extensive international experience, including business transactions in China, Taiwan and Asia; and served as general counsel, secretary, and executive vice president of ICN Pharmaceuticals.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ENTERTAINMENT (Distributor)

National Geographic Entertainment includes National Geographic Films (which co-presented the 2005 Academy Award-winning March of the Penguins and the 2004 Oscar-nominated film The Story of the Weeping Camel) and National Geographic Cinema Ventures (NGCV), which released both domestically and internationally the 3-D concert film U2 3D in 2008 to critical acclaim.  NGCV set giant-screen box-office records with Mysteries of Egypt, and recently with Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.

Adam Leipzig is president of National Geographic Films, Lisa Truitt is president of NGCV, and Mark Katz is president of distribution NGCV.

"Arabian Sea"
Written by David Hilker, John Costello
Performed by John Costello
Published by BIGBUZZ Music (BMI) /
Music Whirled Publishing (BMI)
Courtesy of Wild Whirled Music

"My Beloved”
Written by Harvey Summers
Performed by Harvey Summers
Published by Music Expressions (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

"I Want You”
Written by Christopher A. Burton
Performed by Chris Jacome
Published by Astonishing Music (BMI)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

"Am Yes'alouni Aleyk El Nas"
Composed by Nour Mallah
Lyrics by Maroun Karam
Performed by Magida El Roumi
Published by Voix de L'Orient Series
Courtesy of Magida El Roumi 

“Hot Hot Hot”
Written by Sam Conjerti, Jr.,
Bradley K. Young, Dow S. Brain
Performed by Danielle Calato
Published by Music Expressions (ASCAP) /
Astonishing Music (BMI)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

"Facing East”
Written by Christopher A. Burton
Performed by Chris Jacome
Published by Astonishing Music (BMI)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

“Needed More”
Written by Manuela Hofer, Simen Eiksrud
Performed by Manuela Hofer
Published by Published by Music Expressions (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

"He Hesitated"
Written by Natacha Atlas, Harvey Brough,
Marc Eagleton
Performed by Natacha AtlasPublished by Annie
Reed Publishing (PRS) / Harvey Brough (PRS)
Courtesy of RedOz Music Ltd & World Village

"Desert Roots"
Traditional
Performed by Ali Mrateh Fadh
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

“Birds of the Galilee"
Composed by Marcel Khalife
Lyrics by Mahmoud Darwish
Performed by Marcel Khalife
Published by Nagam  Records, Inc.(SACEM)
Courtesy of Nagam Cultural Project /
Nagam Records, Inc.

“DWMR'”
Written by N.Musser, N.Wattad
Performed by Ragtop & DJ Cole Minor
Published by N.Wattad
Courtesy of The Philistines

“Charm Bracelet”
Written by Kelly Richmond
Performed by Kelly Richmond
Published by Westar Music Publishing (SOCAN)
Courtesy of Westar Music

“Check One, Two”
Written by Marc Ferrari, Eric Peter Goldman,
Zedrick Kelley, Josh Kessler, Phillip Brandon Martin
Performed by Bishop Lamont
Published by Red Engine Music (ASCAP)
Courtesy of MasterSource Music Catalog

“Beguiling”
Written by Rick Rhodes, Chieli Minucci, Steve Skinner
Performed by Rick Rhodes, Chieli Minucci, Steve Skinner
Published by Westar Two Publishing (BMI) / Westar Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Westar Music

“Backward Glance”
Written by Brian Beshears
Performed by Brian Beshears
Published by Westar Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Westar Music

“Breathe Life In the Game”
Written by Terrell T. Anthony, Martell Ross
Performed by TellTA and The Team
Published by Published by Music Expressions (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

“My Pain”
Written by David Hilker, John Costello, Jeffrey A. Freundlich
Performed by Goldie
Published by Music Whirled Publishing (BMI)
Courtesy of Wild Whirled Music

“No Victim”
Written by Hogan Todd, Gary J. Romero, Jeffrey A. Freundlich
Performed by Kaige & The Pubes
Published by Music Whirled Publishing (BMI)
Courtesy of Wild Whirled Music

“Back To The Future”
Written by Marc Ferrari, Josh Kessler, Jaime McPherson, Jesse Shatkin
Performed by Karniege
Published by Angeles Crest Music (SESAC) / Red Engine Music (ASCAP)
Courtesy of MasterSource Music Catalog

"The Exchange"
Written by Y.Alsalman, N.Wattad, O.Chakaki
Performed by Ragtop, The Narcicyst and Omar Offendum
Published by Paranoid Arab Boy Music / N.Wattad / Cosher Ink, LLC
Produced by the Narcicyst
Taken from The Arab Summits' "Fear of An ArabPlanet"

“Te Rompo”
Written by Jose Francisco Gutierrez Ramirez, Raulin Encarnacion
Performed by Max One
Published by Astonishing Music (BMI) / Murder Riddims Publishing (BMI)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

“Am I Worthy”
Written by David Hilker, John Costello, Marcus Scott
Performed by Goldie
Published by Mount Pilot Music Publishing (BMI)
Courtesy of Wild Whirled Music

“Frothy”
Written by Brian Beshears, Joe Hargrave
Performed by Brian Beshears, Joe Hargrave
Published by Westar Two Publishing (BMI) / Westar Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Westar Music

“Better Times Ahead”
Written by Rick Rhodes, Chieli Minucci, Steve Skinner
Performed by Rick Rhodes, Chieli Minucci, Steve Skinner
Published by Westar Two Publishing (BMI) / Westar Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Westar Music

 “Die Zauberflöte (Magic Flute) K. 620 - Overture”
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arranged by Jim Long (ASCAP)
Published by Just Classics (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

“Concerto Grosso No. 1 in G minor Op. 3: Allegro”
Composed by Francesco Geminiani, arranged by Jim Long (ASCAP) 
Published by Just Classics (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Crucial Music Corporation

“My Heart is Yours”
Written by Brian Beshears
Performed by Brian Beshears
Published by Westar Music Publishing (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Westar Music

“My Old Flame”
Written by Kelly Richmond
Performed by Kelly Richmond
Published by Westar Music Publishing (SOCAN)
Courtesy of Westar Music

“Flowers in a Field”
Written by Daniel Davies
Performed by Daniel Davies
Published by Westar Music Publishing (SOCAN)
Courtesy of Westar Music

“Akhasmak Ah”
Written by Mohammed Saad, Fawzi Ibrahim
Performed by Nancy Ajram
Published by EMI Music Publishing
Courtesy of EMI Music Arabia

"Passport"
Composed by Marcel Khalife
Lyrics by Mahmoud Darwish
Performed by Marcel KhalifePublished by Nagam Records, Inc.(SACEM)