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Filmmaker from Saudi Arabia Featured in Central Michigan International Film Festival

Central Michigan International Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday and it featured many Michigan made films. One Central Michigan University Filmmaker is making his film available across the globe.

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He says he met the subject of his documentary by coincidence. They were neighbors in Mount Pleasant but both from Saudi Arabia. Filmmaker, Feras Jafar, says “We’re from the same country and we are in the US, and he was my neighbor so that’s why i decided to make this film.”

Katie Higley is the assistant festival director and says for many of these filmmakers “this is their first time having their film premiere at a festival and they’ve all been sitting their watching their film with a group of people and it’s been really rewarding.” But for Jafar, he is back home in Saudi Arabia but is still feeling the support from all those seeing his film here in Michigan.

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He made this film while getting his graduate degree at Central Michigan University. He tells us he “started basically as a filmmaker” and “just want to practice more, just wanted to try to make something longer, that was the main goal.” But after working on his film he says he found a new goal, “to submit it into film festivals.”

And even though this film was made here in Michigan, it still has ties to home for this filmmaker. The documentary follows an athlete’s journey who’s also from Saudi Arabia and has influenced the film greatly. Jafar tells us “the protagonist, Ali, we did the interview in Arabic and it has english subtitles. With his coach, we did the interview in english and it has arabic subtitles.” With the film being mixed with two different languages, he says he is “aiming to share this film here in Saudi Arabia and definitely in the states.”

He’s learned a lot about filmmaking through CMU’s graduate program but is truly grateful for the support from classmates and professors, as well as his crew who helped make this film alongside him. Jafar says “without them, I wouldn’t have made this film.”

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