BEING OSAMA is a one-hour television documentary which opens a window into the lives of six Montréalers named Osama. The film connects the personal experiences of Arab-Canadians to those of their own larger cultural communities and to Canadian society as a whole in the post-9/11 world. Shot against the cultural backdrop of Montreal, the film follows the participants beginning with the launch of the American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 to the anti-WTO demonstrations in late July of the same year, then again fourteen months later during the hostage crisis in Iraq. It offers an intimate look at the evolving lives of each participant, including:
• Palestinian-Canadian Osama Sarraf, a successful DJ and aspiring rock star, pursues a chance at his big break.
• Egyptian-Canadian Ossama Naggar, an opera expert and major importer of classical CD’s, celebrates his birthday and finally makes peace with his identity as a Quebecer.
• Lebanese-Canadian Osama Al Jundi, who runs a Muslim school with dedication, experiences the sudden loss of his father. He also appears as trying to remain connected to his roots.
• Politically-active Egyptian-Canadian Osama Demerdash wrestles with his own future as he battles injustice in the streets and courts of Canada.
• Iraqi-Canadian Osama Dorias is a political science student who embraces ‘Canadian life’ and dreams of becoming a diplomat while pondering the proper way to be a ‘cool Muslim.’
• Egyptian-Canadian Osama Shalabi, a composer and musician, provides music and commentary throughout the journey.
Touching on subjects as diverse as Arab names, rock and roll, religion, Middle East politics, weddings, funerals, and the meanings of identity, BEING OSAMA is a sensitive and thoughtful portrait of six unique individuals and of the new Canada they inhabit. BEING OSAMA was produced by Ari A. Cohen and Evan Beloff for Diversus Productions and was directed by Mahmoud Kaabour and Tim Schwab.
Produced by: Tim Schwab
Tim Schwab is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University. He worked for many years as a producer, director and editor of documentary films and videos in the United States and Canada. His work has been broadcast by CBC, RDI, PBS, Discovery, Al Jazeera, Al Aribiya and ABC Australia among others, and have won a number of awards, including the Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association for the 1997 film THE BURNING BARREL, co-directed with Christina Craton. Shwab’s 2004 documentary BEING OSAMA, made with Mahmoud Kaabour for Diversus Productions documents the lives of Arab-Canadians living in post-9/11 Montréal. It has been televised around the world and was nominated as a “Best Practice in Combating Racism” by the Canadian Council on Race Relations. His work focuses on minority and diasporic communities, human rights and on the relationship between culture and the landscape and environment. He is currently working on a project interviewing Palestinian filmmakers living in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and is a co-investigator on the SSHRC – CURA funded oral history project “Life Stories of Montréalers displaced by war, genocide and other human rights abuses”.
