Being Osama

Being Osama is a documentary produced in 2004 by Tim Schwab and Mahmoud Kaabour. Director Kaabour is the founder and managing director of Veritas Films, now based in the United Arab Emirates.[1][2] Co-director Schwab is an associate professor of film at Montreal's Concordia University.[3]

Being Osama
Five Montreal men who happened to have the name "Osama"
Directed byMahmoud Kaabour
Tim Schwab
Produced byDiversus [ca]
Written byMahmoud Kaabour
StarringOsama (Sam) Shalabi
Ossama al-Sarraf
Ossama el-Naggar
Osama el-Demerdash
Oussama al-Jundi
Osama Dorias
Music byOsama (Sam) Shalabi
Release date
November 2004
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

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 organising a Muslim basketball league in a Montreal suburb.

They all recount their experiences in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.[5]

Reception and distribution

The film has been recognised as a contribution to the intellectual and artistic debate about the Arab diaspora.[6]

Kaabour 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.[7][8]

Awards

Being Osama has won international awards including:

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.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  4. Sam Shalabi on IMDb
  5. Doyle, John (28 February 2005). "Documentary examines the perils of being Osama". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  6. 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
  7. Being Osama on IMDb
  8. "Being Osama". Archived from the original on 2007-11-02. Retrieved 2009-09-21.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link) " 'Being Osama', directed by Dubai-based filmmaker Mahmoud Kaabour" (2007) The Dubai Journal.
  9. Review – "At a Glance" (April 21, 2005) Concordia's Thursday Report Vol.29 No.14
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