''Being Osama'' is a 2004

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about how the lives of men named "Osama" changed in the aftermath of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. It was produced by Tim Schwab and Mahmoud Kaabour. Director Kaabour is the founder and managing director of Veritas Films, now based in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. Co-director Schwab is an associate professor of film at Montreal's

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

Synopsis

The documentary details the lives of six

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

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

-based instrumental band,

Shalabi Effect Shalabi Effect is a mostly instrumental band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band was originally formed in 1996 as a duo composed of Anthony Seck and Sam Shalabi. Shalabi is an Egyptian-Canadian musician who is also the founder of Swamp Circu ...

. He composed the soundtrack for ''Being Osama''. * Ossama al-Sarraf (better known as

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

), a

Palestinian Christian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

(specifically Gazan)

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

DJ who wears dreadlocks. He is one half of the DJ duo, Sultan & 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 Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

's regime while he was still a young child. His father has recently returned to Iraq and portrayed as a university graduate and a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

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 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Hijackers in the September 11 attacks#Hijackers, Nineteen terrorists hijacked four com ...

Reception and distribution

The film has been recognised as a contribution to the intellectual and artistic debate about the

Arab diaspora Arab diaspora is a term that refers to descendants of the Arab emigrants who, voluntarily or forcibly, migrated from their native lands to non-Arab countries, primarily in the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia, and West Africa. Immigrants from ...

. Kaabour presented it in a two-hour special on the Zaven Kouyoumdjian pan Arab talk show "Seereh w Enfatahit" (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

سيرة وانفتحت) on the Lebanese Future Television channel.

Awards

''Being Osama'' has won 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 Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

*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.Review – "At a Glance" (April 21, 2005) ''Concordia's Thursday Report'' Vol.29 No.14
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References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0448890
Veritas Films

Canadian documentary films Documentary films about racism in Canada Documentary films about the September 11 attacks 2004 films 2004 documentary films Arab-Canadian culture Documentary films about words and language Documentary films about Montreal Anti-Arabism in Canada Stereotypes of Arab people 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films English-language documentary films

Synopsis

Reception and distribution

Awards

See also

References

External links