About me
Name::Ahmed Arshi
From::Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
A new filmmaker rising from the edge of the horizon.
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Recent Posts
Sensibility
Wake up!
Denys Johnson-Davies
There Will Be Blood
No Country For Old Men
When the time is Right..
Chill Out!
The Kite Runner
The Pharaohs are kings again!
Cloverfield
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Short Films
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
SURPRISE!!I arrived home late last night, I was hanging out with my producer most of the day discussing the new script we came up with, and of course changing this line and adding a new character and all that stuff, it took us around 7 hours and were are still not done.
I walked back to my place and something didn't smell right, there was this awkward silence in my apartment. Although I lived alone, and it is always silent when I enter my apartment, but this silence was different, a silence that tells you it was going to get loud soon. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, no one broke in, the living room is as messy as I left it....
I walked to the bedroom and as I switched the light on, I hear a huge loud scream, SURPRISE!! There were at least 20 people in my bedroom!! With balloons, and signs saying happy birthday!! Kisses and hugs!! I was really surprised, it was a good surprise and a good suspense!! I cut the cake and we played music and had an amazing time. I was having such an amazing moment!!! I was laughing my head off!!!
It was time for me to give a speech, surrounded by clapping and cheering, I stood up, ready to give a speech...
"I am really overwhelmed and happy to have such amazing friends! Thank you so much for this incredible party. Amazing decorations and a big mess that will take me a week to clean it up"
Everybody laughs and cheer some more for the fact that I will have to clean, but some of them offer to help out!!
"I regret to say to everybody that it is NOT my birthday today!"
Silence!!! And then laughter for the nice joke I just said...
"No, I am serious, It is not my birthday!! My birthday is on January 21st!!"
Silence!!!
"Can I still keep those presents?"
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
SleeperCell Poster
Coming soon in November! Can you tell which one am I in the poster?! :)
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Short ReunionTwo days ago I got an email from Kurt saying that he is stopping by UAE from Pakistan on his way to Poland for IC. I was so excited to see him again, in another country again!! So Sunday comes and Kurt calls me after midnight, happy to announce that he had arrived to this hot humid country. However, he arrived at Dubai and I am in Abu Dhabi. That didn't stop from taking the bus all the way to Abu Dhabi which is actually not a big deal, it only takes you an hour and half.
It was fun to catch up again with stories of AIESEC Canada when we both were LCPs in 04/05, and hearing his stories of Pakistan, and of course DAMU. I took him to my favorite sheesha place in Abu Dhabi where I hang out there every day with bunch friends that were really in shock when they saw Kurt.....what the hell is a white boy doing here? One of my friends freaked out when he saw me sitting next to Kurt!!! hahahahah
The funniest moment of Kurt being here was, him being happy to see girls singing and dancing on TV and girls wearing summer clothes (You know what I mean!) walking around the streets of Abu Dhabi. He told me that has not seen this for a while since Pakistan is very conservative!!
We parted again, although our reunion was for few hours, it brought back years of great and happy memories.
Have fun in Poland man :)
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Commercial
Friday, August 18, 2006
RefreshAfter finishing up the film project I gave myself a week vacation and went to the east coast of UAE, to a place called Khorfakan. I checked in this amazing hotel by the beach for an entire week, all by myself!!
Scuba diving, snorkling, reading a new book "A Million Little Pieces", going around the old city of Khorfakan and meeting some locals and having great conversations with them, finding this amazing old Arabic style sheesha place in the heart of Khorfakan, and of course room service at the hotel!!!
Now that I am back to Abu Dhabi, fully refreshed and stress-free, I am ready to take on a new project, and of course work on promoting this film that I just finished.
Bring it on!!
Friday, August 11, 2006
Job's doneFinally the film project is done! We finished the shooting around a week ago and just finished the editing and the production an hour ago!!! It was awesome watching our work in full screen with all the music and effects!!
I play the villain of this story by the way!!! I was impressed of how evil I was!! hahahah
Now it is time for promotion. We were promised that this film will be shown in the next Dubai's international film festival. I have a meeting with the board on Saturday to screen it to them and discuss the promotional campaign....we'll see if their promise is still on the table!!
The film's title is (SleeperCell) It is about some friends in UAE who get brainwashed to perform suicidal missions. The story talks about the ways that those extremists use to brainwash the youth to perform those acts for them under a false banner of peace.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Undeserved Fate
I said to myself I won't design the cover tonight so I could sleep. But I was too excited and worked all night on those two designs. As usual I am willing to take your advice :)
Oh shit it is 5:30am, gotta go to the studio!!
Two weeks ago I went with a friend to watch this film (The Road to Guantanamo), such an amazing film and directing. After we have seen the film it was 1am and what we should do is go home to sleep but the film made me think a lot, same with my friend. So we decided to go to a 24 hour cafe and chill there for a bit, we both didn't feel like going home.
We enter the cafe and there was only three guys having coffee at the far corner beside the Television. What was on TV, a program about Guantanamo. Is this just a coincidence? So I told my friend to sit beside those guys to watch this program for the film is still stuck in my head.
Hearing what those innocent guys had to go through in this inhuman atmosphere made me really emotional. On TV, this guy is being interviewed, talking about how he was tortured and such just to confess that he is from Al Qaeda. I look at the three guys beside us, and my eyes went wide!! One of them is the guy on TV who is being interviewed.....And then the next guy being interviewed is the other guy in that group and the third one as well!!
They try not to stare at us, because I was only staring at them!!! I stood up and asked them if I can have a conversation with us, they were hesitate in the beginning but since the entire cafe was empty except for us they accepted. I introduced myself and my friend to them and we sat talking about the movie we just saw about Guantanamo and they told us that they just came from watching the film as well and that the story of those three Pakistanis was true and they were in the same lock up with them and they are in constant touch with them via emailing and phones.
I couldn't hold my excitement any longer, I asked them if I can write a book about them. About their lives before this whole thing happened and their struggle in Guantanamo and how this whole experience changed their lives now. Again they were hesitate at first but then accepted and I swore for complete secrecy of the process and their real names. That is why I didn't post any of this the last two weeks.
Today was my last session with them, for the past two weeks I have been practically living with them, seeing the way they live their lives now. Them telling me stories about their lives before heading to the States to study and how they ended up in Guantanamo and how there were times that they thought they will die and such, very intense!!
I don't know if I will be able to publish a book like this, but I am handing it tomorrow to my editor and see what he thinks of it before releasing it to my literary agent to get it published. This was my fastest book ever, two weeks writing and done!!