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        <h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>We sat down with CAI contest 1st Place winner Karim Zouak to discuss “Three Arabs Walk Into a Bar”</b></h2>
        <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Three Arabs Walk into a Bar” by Karim Zouak is an ambitious script that incorporates elements of traditional stories along with relevant political commentary. While it is an enjoyable script on its own merits, closer examination reveals that it bears far greater significance than one might expect. Through&nbsp; a script that combines familiar stories with well placed satire, “Three Arabs Walk Into a Bar” challenges stereotypes of Arabs characters in cinema.&nbsp;</span></p>
        <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When asked about his inspiration for his script,&nbsp; Zouak described wanting to place the setting of the story, in an environment that would allow him to explore the theme of Arabian characters on the big screen.&nbsp;</span></p>
        <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I thought about Hollywood arabian tropes that have been around for decades, such as the slimy jerk like Jafar in Aladdin or the thief or the noble prince…I thought what’s an environment I could explore these themes, then it came to me: 3 Arabs walk into a bar.”&nbsp;</span></p>
        <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In an act that seems to challenge these cinematic standards, Zouak places his main characters who are appropriately named, Prince and Jafar, in the bar setting where they share a conversation that speaks to these issues in a comedic fashion. In a subtle way, Zouak script helps screenwriters see these characters from an entirely new perspective.&nbsp;</span></p>
        <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Throughout his 20 years in the film industry Karim Zouak has worked on numerous projects in both Canada and the United Kingdom. His dynamic skill set has enabled him to take on a number of roles including writer, director, executive/supervising producer, editor and visual effects artist. Some of his most notable works include </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Crime Lessons: The Muggening </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(2019), and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">King Kaboom</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (2008).&nbsp;</span></p>
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CAI contest 1st Place winner Karim Zouak - “Three Arabs Walk Into a Bar”

Hanan Abu Thuraya

Eman Abu Thuraya

Khaled Sabawi

Sami Sabawi

Melissa Morgan

Jason Bash

Ibrahim Muhaisen

Yasmeen Mahmoud

Akram Abu Khousa

Alaa Khattab

Ahmad Abu Abdou

Fady Alwazir

<p>Sandy Climan is a Golden Globe and British Academy Award winning producer of Martin Scorsese&rsquo;s The Aviator. He previously served as part of the senior management at CAA for 12 years, representing talent including Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Danny DeVito, and director Michael Mann. He also founded CAA&rsquo;s corporate practice, working with global companies including Sony Corporation on its acquisition of Columbia Pictures, Matsushita Electric on its acquisition of MCA/Universal, Credit Lyonnais on its restructuring of MGM, Coca-Cola, NYNEX, Bell Atlantic and other Fortune 500 Companies.</p>
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Sandy Climan - Strategic Advisor

<p>Mr. Reed co-founded and serves as the publisher of&nbsp;<strong>Brick Moon Fiction</strong>, a media company that produces original science fiction short stories and audio dramas by working with writers from diverse backgrounds to explore the impact of technology and trends on human society.&nbsp; Building on his experiences at The Walt Disney Company and Brick Moon Fiction, Mr. Reed is in the process of launching a new company,&nbsp;<strong>KidPod Theater</strong>, that focuses on bringing high-quality family entertainment to podcasting.</p>
<p>Mr. Reed received degrees in Philosophy and Cinema-Television Production from the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children</p>

Jason Reed

<p>Nancy Peterson is the Founder &amp; CEO of HomeStars, a company she founded in 2006. Today, HomeStars is Canada&rsquo;s #1 home improvement marketplace that connects millions of homeowners and home service professionals each year. In 2017 HomeStars was acquired by ANGI Homeservices. Nancy has been recognized on two prestigious lists for Canadian business over the past five consecutive years: The Profit 500 list of Canada&rsquo;s fastest growing companies and the W100 list of Canada&rsquo;s top female entrepreneurs.</p>
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Nancy Peterson

<p>Richard Kletter taught screenwriting to grad students at USC&rsquo;s School of Cinematic Arts for a decade.&nbsp; After graduate school in Communications Policy at Stanford and consulting work for major foundations, NGOs and corporations, he turned to Hollywood and has written, directed and/or produced nearly twenty films and TV movies, including &ldquo;Never Cry Wolf,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Odd Girl Out.&rdquo;&nbsp; He&rsquo;s worked for nearly every major studio and network.&nbsp; His work has been nominated for a Golden Globe and his short film, &ldquo;Teach 109,&rdquo; based on an idea by Isaac Asimov, won a Cine Golden Eagle and was chosen to represent the U.S. in festivals and cultural exchanges around the world.&nbsp; He has run web content and mobile software companies and co-holds two mobile software patents.&nbsp; He consults on&nbsp;story&nbsp;and character development both internationally and domestically for game and software companies, and for writers, directors and producers.&nbsp;</p>
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Richard Kletter

<p>Maysoon Zayid is an actress, comedian, writer, and disability advocate. She is a graduate of and a Guest Comedian in Residence at Arizona State University. Maysoon is the co-founder/co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. She was a full-time On Air Contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann and is a guest writer for Vice. She has most recently appeared on CNN&rsquo;s New Day, 60 Minutes, and ABC News. Maysoon had the most viewed TED Talk of 2014 and was named 1 of 100 Women of 2015 by BBC. As a professional comedian, she has performed in top New York clubs and has toured extensively at home and abroad. Maysoon was a headliner on the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour and The Muslims Are Coming Tour. She appeared alongside Adam Sandler in You Don&rsquo;t Mess with the Zohan and is a recurring character on General Hospital. Maysoon limped in New York Fashion Week and is the host of the web series, Advice You Don&rsquo;t Want to Hear. She is the author of the bestselling memoir, &ldquo;Find Another Dream&rdquo; and is the creator of the &ldquo;Book of Bay Ann&rdquo; children&rsquo;s graphic novel series.</p>
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Maysoon Zayid

Andy Wolk

<p>Julia Bacha is a Peabody award-winning filmmaker, Guggenheim Fellow, and the Creative Director at Just Vision. She started her filmmaking career in Cairo, where she wrote and edited Control Room (2004), for which she was nominated to the Writer&rsquo;s Guild of America Award. Subsequently she directed Encounter Point (2006), Budrus (2009), My Neighbourhood (2012) and Naila and the Uprising (2017). Her work has been exhibited at the Sundance, Berlin and Tribeca Film Festivals, broadcast on the BBC, HBO and Al Jazeera, and profiled in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist.</p>

Julia Bacha

<p>Mark V. Vlasic is an Executive Producer on&nbsp;<a href="http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/cbs-blood-and-treasure-1202627098/" target="_blank">a major network action-adventure scripted summer series</a>&nbsp;in pre-production. With experience that spans multiple industries connecting high-level stakeholders around the world, Mark&rsquo;s extensive background speaks for itself: an international lawyer, advisor, professor, prosecutor and diplomat, Mark has worked for the White House, the Pentagon, the World Bank, the United Nations, and a large international law firm.</p>
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Sir Mark V. Vlasic, KHS

Luis Saffie

<p>Dave Hanley founded Banyan Branch, a leading social media marketing agency, which was acquired by Deloitte Digital. Prior to Banyan Branch, Dave was VP of Marketing at Shelfari, the social network for book readers, which he helped grow to more than 2 million members in 18 months, before it was acquired by Amazon. He also served as Director of Product Management at RealNetworks, where he oversaw the launches of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rhapsody.com/" target="_blank">Rhapsody.com</a>&nbsp;and Rhapsody&rsquo;s Web services program.</p>
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M Film Lab’s Spring 2024 program

Remix the Script

Dystopia

Adventure Short

Action Short

Horror Short

TV Series II Pilot (60 min)

Ticking Clock Short

Write for your favorite actor

Animated kids series Pilot

Drama Short II

TV Pilot Contest - 30 min

Feature Film II Contest

Scripted Audio Series

3rd Open Topic Short Film

Short Film Science Fiction

Short Film Fantasy

Write for Humaniti!

Every student has a story

Short Film Romantic Comedy

Tik Tok Short

Short Film True Stories

Short Film Thriller

Blue Dragon Story Concept Contest

Short Film Drama

Short Film Comedy

Write for Human Rights

Time Hoppers

Animated Children's Web Series

Collaborative Feature Film

Local Heroes of Virginia

TV Pilot Open Topic

2nd Open Topic Short Film

One Room Challenge

Banking in a Digital World (the “Contest”) In Partnership with RBC

Canadian Arab Institute

Impact of Technology on Love & Dating

Public Short Film Contest

1st Feature Film Contest

Layla Mental Health Short Film Contest

The World After COVID-19

Climate Change Short Film Contest

1st Short Film Contest