Mahmoud Kaabour

Mahmoud Kaabour
محمود قعبور
Born Mahmoud Kaabour
(1979-03-11) March 11, 1979
Beirut, Lebanon
Occupation Managing director & filmmaker

Mahmoud Kaabour (in Arabic محمود قعبور) (born March 11, 1979) is a multi award-winning filmmaker, writer, and public speaker[1] from Beirut.

Education and occupation

Kaabour graduated with distinction from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal, after which he pursued a documentary focus at the National Film Board of Canada and the newsroom at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

He is the founder and managing director of Veritas Films, a UAE based company that specializes in the creation and production of non-fiction content. In 2015, he was named as one of the 100 Most Powerful Arabs under 40.[2]

His commercial work includes directing tailor-made documentaries, including multiple films for The Ministry of Presidential Affairs and The Executive Affairs Authority in Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, Dubai Holding and Dubai Investments subsidiaries.

Film career

Mahmoud Kaabour's first film Being Osama, the documentary on the lives and times of six men sharing Osama bin Laden's first name in the post 9/11 world, received four international awards to date and was aired on twelve international channels. It also made him the youngest commissioned filmmaker in the history of Canadian television.

Kaabour's second feature-length film, Teta, Alf Marra, won him a New York Times "Critics' Pick" and a special jury mention for Best Arab Filmmaker at its world premiere at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.[3] [4] [5] The film has garnered an additional 5 major Audience Awards and Best Film awards and achieved several 'firsts' for the regional filmmaking industry.[6] It was the first locally-produced documentary to show in cinemas in the UAE and secure regional distribution. It was also the first documentary produced in the GCC to qualify for Academy Awards qualification, with theatrical runs in Los Angeles and New York City. [3] [7][8]

His third feature-length film, Champ of the Camp is a documentary filmed in the controversial labor camps of the United Arab Emirates. The film follows a massive Bollywood singing and trivia competition that searches across more than 70 camps throughout the country to find and crown the champ of all camps. The film alternates between the x-factor style suspense of the competition and the gritty reality of the labor environment, while weaving in intimate access scenes of their daily routines and emotional reflections on their life as laborers in Dubai. Narrated (and sung) entirely in the voices of the laborers, it paints a complete portrait of this vast and isolated population of men who come to build the dream cities of the Arab world while supporting their societies and economies back home in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The film premiered at the 10th Dubai International Film Festival on Dec 7th, 2013 in an historic outdoor screening at Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower. It attracted +1000 viewers. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Awards

Mahmoud Kaabour

Champ of the Camp:

Teta, Alf Marra:

Being Osama:

Filmography

Directing

References

  1. ↑ http://www.5-sterne-redner.de/en/speakers/mahmoud-kaabour/
  2. ↑ http://m.arabianbusiness.com/100-most-powerful-arabs-under-40-589646.html?itemid=589339
  3. 1 2 New York Times Movie Review: Grandma, A Thousand Times
  4. ↑ Gulf News: Doha Tribeca Film Festival winners for 2010
  5. ↑ The National: Family movie wins Doha Tribeca prize
  6. ↑ Digital Production ME: Travelling man
  7. ↑ Variety: Grandma, a Thousand Times
  8. ↑ Slant magazine: Grandma, A Thousand Times
  9. ↑ The Hollywood Reporter: Review
  10. ↑ The National: Film moves audience to tears at world premiere
  11. ↑ 7 Days: Bollywood star praises film
  12. ↑ The Guardian: Champ of the Camp X Factor in Dubai's labour camps
  13. ↑ http://m.arabianbusiness.com/100-most-powerful-arabs-under-40-589646.html?itemid=589339
  14. ↑ http://www.esquireme.com/esquire-man-best-award-winners-2015/
  15. ↑ http://www.digitalproductionme.com/article-7201-digital-studio-awards-the-winners/
  16. ↑ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/13th-mumbai-film-festival-crowns-251866
  17. ↑ Concordia's Thursday Report: Review


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