Being Osama

Being Osama
Five Montreal men who happened to have the name "Osama"
Directed by Mahmoud Kaabour
Tim Schwab
Produced by Diversus [ca]
Written by Mahmoud Kaabour
Starring Osama (Sam) Shalabi
Ossama al-Sarraf
Ossama el-Naggar
Osama el-Demerdash
Oussama al-Jundi
Osama Dorias
Music by Osama (Sam) Shalabi
Release date
 November 2004
Country Canada
Language English

Being Osama is an award winning documentary produced in 2004 by Tim Schwab and Mahmoud Kaabour. Director Mahmoud Kaabour is the founder and managing director of Veritas Films, now based in the United Arab Emirates.[1][2] Co director Tim Schwab is an Associate Professor of film at Concordia University.[3]

Synopsis

The documentary details the lives of six Montreal Arab men, all with the first name "Osama":

  • Osama (Sam) Shalabi, of Egyptian origin, a music composer who grew up in Atlantic Canada. He is a leading member of the Montreal based instrumental band, Shalabi Effect. He composed the soundtrack for Being Osama.[4]
  • Ossama al-Sarraf (better known as Sultan), a Christian Palestinian-Canadian DJ who wears dreadlocks. He is one half of the DJ duo Sultan + Ned Shepard.
  • Ossama el-Naggar, an Egyptian-Canadian musical expert and importer of opera and classical music CDs living in Canada for over twenty years
  • Osama el-Demerdash, an Egyptian, who is very politically active regarding issues surrounding immigrant rights and deportation of refugees
  • Oussama al-Jundi, a Lebanese-Canadian who runs a Muslim school in Montreal
  • Osama Dorias, an Iraqi Canadian and devout Muslim whose family fled Saddam Hussein's regime while he will still a young child. His father has recently returned to Iraq and portrayed as a university graduate and a basketball player, involved in organizing a Muslim basketball league in a Montreal suburb.

They all recount their experiences in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Reception and distribution

The film has been recognized as a contribution to the intellectual and artistic debate about the Arab diaspora.[5] It has appeared on many international television, documentary and news channels.

Mahmoud Kaabour also presented it in a two hour special on the Zaven Kouyoumdjian pan Arab talk show "Seereh w Enfatahit" (Arabic,سيرة وانفتحت) on the Lebanese Future Television channel.[6][7]

Awards

Being Osama has won a number of international awards, including:

  • Best Documentary at the University Film and Video Conference
  • Best Documentary award at the Big Muddy Film Festival at Southern Illinois University
  • An Aurora Award (for Best Documentary) at the Canadian National Youth Film Festival
  • Certificate of Merit for fighting racism from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mahmoud Kaabour on IMDb
  2. ↑ Veritas Films
  3. ↑ "Tim Schwab". Archived from the original on 2010-07-28. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  4. ↑ Sam Shalabi on IMDb
  5. ↑ The Personal is Geopolitical: Horror and grace at the Third Annual Arab Film Festival Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine. at CityPages.com; by Caroline Palmer; published November 9, 2005; retrieved September 1, 2013
  6. ↑ Being Osama on IMDb
  7. ↑ "Being Osama". Archived from the original on 2007-11-02. Retrieved 2009-09-21. " 'Being Osama', directed by Dubai-based filmmaker Mahmoud Kaabour" (2007) The Dubai Journal.
  8. ↑ Review – "At a Glance" (April 21, 2005) Concordia's Thursday Report Vol.29 No.14
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