DISTANT HORIZON’S ‘AMERICAN EAST’
FOR MID-EAST FILM FESTIVALS

The first Arab-American film produced in the United States, AmericanEast, will have its Middle Eastern premieres at Cairo and Dubai.  Produced by Distant Horizon’s Anant Singh and Brian Cox, AmericanEast will be screened at the Cairo International Film Festival, which runs from November 27 to December 7, 2007, and the Dubai International Film Festival which takes place from December 9 to 16, 2007.

AmericanEast is a timely film about Arab-Americans living in post-9/11 Los Angeles.  The story examines long-held misunderstandings about Arabic/Islamic culture by mixing dramatic and comic elements to put a human face on a segment of the U.S. population most Americans know nothing about -- but who today are of particular interest to them either from curiosity or suspicion.  The story takes an ironic, and sometimes iconoclastic, view of Middle East politics, and highlights the pressures under which many Arab-Americans now live by focusing on the points-of-view of three main characters.

AmericanEast stars Tony Shalhoub, the Emmy-winning star of the hit series “Monk;” Kais Nashif, leading actor in the international hit and Oscar-nominated Palestinian film, “Paradise Now;” and Egyptian-American actor Sayed Badreya.  Badreya co-wrote the script with director Hesham Issawi.  Singh and Cox produced, along with partners Mohannad Malas and Ahmad Zahra of Tala Corp.  Tony Shalhoub is also a producer of the film.

Beginning its Middle East journey in Egypt, American East will have three screenings at the Cairo International Film, followed by a further two at the Dubai Film Festival.

American East will be screened in Cairo at the following times: 

At the Dubai Film Festival, it will be screened as follows:

Producer, Brian Cox commented, “We’re all very pleased to be showing AmericanEast, the first Arab-American film ever made to Arabic audiences in the Middle East, and we look forward the cultural dialogue we hope the movie inspires.”