A BENEFIT FOR AMERICAN ARAB
A documentary in progress

Thursday, August 5th, 6-9pm
The Stan Mansion
2408 North Kedzie, Chicago, Illinois 60647

Enjoy an evening of Music by Black Bear Combo, Middle Eastern Food,
Cash Bar*, Raffle, Belly Dancing, Henna Tattoos, and the World Premiere
of clips from the upcoming film American Arab.

Proceeds will support production of the film.
(Click here for information)

Usama Alshaibi’s Award-Winning Doc “Nice Bombs” Coming to DVD with Free Screening OCTOBER 16 at Portage Theater, 4050 North Milwuakee Ave, Chicago

Showtimes are at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Seating is on a first-come, first-served

To celebrate the release of “Nice Bombs” on DVD, filmmaker Usama Alshaibi and distributor Cinema Obscura are presenting two free screenings of the film at the historic Portage Theater on Friday, October 16, 2009.

In “Nice Bombs,” Alshaibi returns to Baghdad to reunite with his family after nearly 24 years. This documentary navigates through his unique relationship to an Iraq that is much different than the country of his childhood. Through a wide range of opinions and experiences he provides a broad panorama of voices long neglected under Saddam’s regime. With humor and resilience, “Nice Bombs” explores Usama’s dual role as both Iraqi and American.

Michael Philips, film critic at “The Chicago Tribune” and co-host of “At the Movies,” says “Nice Bombs” is “..a surprisingly warm first-person video diary….the footage has been edited with grace and tact.”

Aside from winning Best Documentary at the Chicago Underground Film Festival, “Nice Bombs” aired on the Sundance Channel and was produced by Benzfilm Inc. and Kristie Alshaibi.

The DVD of “Nice Bombs” will be available in stores and on-line October, 27, 2009. Pre-orders are currently accepted now at amazon.com and at cinemaobscuradvd.com.

Usama Alshaibi was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1969 and spent his formative years living between the United States and the Middle East. His work in film and video has been screened at numerous film festivals and venues across the globe. He is the recipient of a generous 2005 grant from the Creative Capital Foundation for the Arts and a Playboy Foundation Award, as well as the winner of the Creative Promise Award at Tribeca All Access in New York City.

Friday, 20th of March, 2009 at Extrapool in Nijmegen, Netherlands: New Solar Anus Cinema and a few surprises. Click for details: www.extrapool.nl

Tuesday, 24th of March at Ruinte-x in Tilburg, Netherlands: Iraqi shorts and a sneak preview of Usama’s new project. Click for details: www.ruimte-x.nl/

We will visiting Amsterdam as well, so if you’d like to have us screen our movies, just send us an email: artvamp@artvamp.com

DVD Includes: Traumata, Organ Molly, Self-​Contained,​ Slaughtered Pigtails, Convulsion Expulsion, Runaway, Gash, Patient, Spoiled & The Amateurs (81 Minutes.)

“…his films frequently examine themes of sexuality, desire,
‘perversion’, race, and gender. His work is characterized by
a combination of dark humour and a gleeful celebration of what
deemed by mainstream culture to be deviant behavior…”
-Jack Sargeant (from Deathtripping the Extreme Underground)

Sunday November 23 at 5PM

Monday November 24 at 1:30PM

Sundance Channel

Anthology Film Archive
32 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003
on Wed Sept 10th @ 8:45 pm

He will be doing a short video for The Dollar Store.

Spread the word!

CHICAGO
The Printers’ Ball
Friday, August 22, 5pm
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
FREE

Can’t see the video above? Watch the Sundance Channel’s ad for the Nice Bombs Premiere by clicking here.

Don’t miss the Artvamp/Benzfilm Production NICE BOMBS premiering on the Sundance Channel this Wednesday at 6:30PM EST/PST (5:30PM CST)!

Artvamp is proud to announce the broadcast premiere of “NICE BOMBS.”

NICE BOMBS follows director Usama Alshaibi on a journey back to his home town of Baghdad, Iraq.

“thoroughly engaging . . .offers a uniquely time-layered vision of the war.“-Ronnie Scheib, Variety

“Loaded with candid conversations and opinions about the hot-button issues of war, terrorism, and Islamic extremism,’Nice Bombs’ offers many different Iraqi and American points of view and portrays a time and place of nightmarish complexity.“- Bruce Bennett, NEW YORK SUN

“Chicago filmmaker Usama Alshaibi grew up in Iraq and the U.S., and although he recently became an American citizen, his personal video documentary has plenty to say about the day-to-day existence of his Baghdad relatives, whom he visited in 2004. Distance tends to simplify our view of anything, and this video humanizes the situation on the ground mostly by complicating it: in a voice-over Alshaibi says he’s often asked what “”the Iraqis” think, but by the end this question has become as meaningless as asking what “the Americans” think. Much of his previous work has been experimental, but this becomes formally adventurous only near the end, as he converses by phone with a cousin who tells him how much worse the situation has grown this year.” 92 min.-Jonathan Rosenbaum, Critics Choice, Chicago Reader.

“In early 2004 Chicago filmmaker Usama Alshaibi returned to his native Iraq with his wife, producer Kristie Alshaibi, and his camera. He had been away for nearly a quarter-century. The result is a surprisingly warm first-person video diary, blending a series of reunions with Alshaibi’s vast array of relatives and footage of the bazaars, streets, homes and everyday perils of life in post-Saddam, mid-occupation and mid-chaos Iraq.“-Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune