Video Recording: Ramzi Salti in Conversation with Director Fadi Haddad (July 2020)

Watch video at https://youtu.be/ZojLibSdLac

Here is the link to my July 22 conversation with Fadi Haddad, Director of the iconic Jordanian film "When Monaliza Smiled لما ضحكت موناليزا."  This screening + discussion were part of this year's SGS Summer Film Festival, brought to you by the Abbasi Program and Stanford Global Studies.

Watch the discussion below or at https://youtu.be/ZojLibSdLac

Details: Stanford Lecturer Dr. Ramzi Salti converses with Fadi Haddad, Director of the iconic film "When Monaliza Smiled" لما ضحكت موناليزا following an online screening of the film. Recorded by Zoom on July 22, 2020 at 08:30 PM in Pacific Time.   This film + discussion were part of the SGS Summer Film Festival; Sponsored by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies and Stanford Global Studies. 

Film Description: "When Monaliza Smiled" is a Jordanian romantic comedy from director Fadi Haddad that follows an office romance between Monaliza, a young Jordanian woman who doesn't see the point in smiling, and Hamdi, an Egyptian immigrant who offers Monaliza a new perspective on life.

Watch the discussion below or at https://youtu.be/ZojLibSdLac

Film Discussion + Free Screening of "When Monaliza Smiled" on July 22, 2020 (Stanford by Zoom)

Join us on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 8:30 pm (PST) for an online conversation between Stanford Lecturer Dr. Ramzi Salti and Jordanian Director Fadi Haddad--whose iconic film When Monaliza Smiled can be streamed for free from now thru the day of the event.  

This film screening + talk are part of the SGS Summer Film Festival; with thanks to the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies + Stanford Global Studies Division

Film Description:

When Monaliza Smiled is a Jordanian romantic comedy from director Fadi Haddad that follows an office romance between Monaliza, a young Jordanian woman who doesn't see the point in smiling, and Hamdi, an Egyptian immigrant who offers Monaliza a new perspective on life.

Film Trailer: https://youtu.be/G-L8mQI1xVg

To watch Dr. Ramzi's interview with Director Fadi Haddad, please see below or go to https://youtu.be/ZojLibSdLac

Arabology 10.4 Podcast Spotlights Jordanian Musicians + Filmmakers

soundcloud.com/arabology/arabology104

Arabology 10.4 featured an amazing array of indie music from Jordan, along with exclusive interviews (mostly in English) with Jordanian musicians and Jordan-based filmmakers.
This episode was recorded in Amman, Jordan in July 2016 and aired in California on Thursday August 11, 2016.


Listen below or at soundcloud.com/arabology/arabology104

Playlist for Arabology 10.4 Thursday, 11 August 2016 11am - 2pm DJ: Dr. Ramzi Salti

1. Tareq Al Nasser (RUM Band)/ Ya Rouh/ Urdun
2. Natalie Saman/ Habbaytik Ana Amman/ Habbaytak Ya Urdun
3. Jadal/ Itha Ihna Rohna/ Malyoun
4. Interview with Muhammad Abdullah of El Morabba3/ Part 1
5. El Morabba3/ Ilham/ Taraf El Khait/ Universal
6. Interview with Muhammad Abdullah of El Morabba3/ Part 2
7. El Morabba3/ Shiber Maii Taraf El Khait/ Universal
8. Interview with Yarub Smarait/ Part 1
9. Yarub Smarait/ Balad Al Mahboub/ Ya Salam
10. Interview with Yarub Smarait/ Part 2
11. Yarub Smarait/ Before Sunday/ Single
12. Interview with Rami Rais/ Part 1
13. Fawda (ft Rami Rais)/ 3ayadat/ Single
14. Interview with Rami Rais/ Part 2
15. Interview with Linda Hejazi (In Arabic)
16. Linda Hejazi 3ala Hatet Eidak Single
17. Interview with Mohammad Tahboub
18. Mohammad Tahboub/ Saga/ Single
19. Interview with Hana Malhas
20. Hana Malhas/ Just a Dream/ Hana Malhas & the Overthinkers
21. Interview with Zeina Barhoum
22. Zeina Barhoum/ Lamma Bada Yatathanna/ El Cantara
23. Interview with Anas Khalf, Director of Driving to Zigzig Land and The Translator
24. Interview with Zain Duraie, Director of Horizon
25. Interview with Muhammad Khairy, Director of #Hashtag (View film here)
26. Ayloul/ Yawm/ Ayloul
27. Interview with Bassil Ghandour, Co-Writer/Producer of Oscar Nominated Film Theeb/Part 1
28. Jerry Lane/ Theeb's Theme/ Theeb Movie Soundtrack
29. Interview with Bassil Ghandour, Co-Writer/Producer of Oscar Nominated Film Theeb/Part 2
30. Jerry Lane/ Chase/ Theeb Movie Soundtrack
31. Interview with Faisal Attrache + Deema Dabis, Directors of From the Mountain
32. Interview with Deema Dabis, Director of The Sri Lankan and Shake
33. Interview with Natalie Seman
34. Natalie Saman/ Habbaytak Ya Urdun/ Habbaytak Ya Urdun

Groundbreaking Filmmakers in Jordan Interviewed

https://soundcloud.com/arabology/arabology104

The August 11, 2016 Arabology Podcast featured my interviews with talented filmmakers in Jordan whose films are truly worthy of your attention.

Listen to these interviews via https://soundcloud.com/arabology/arabology104 (start at 1:43:46)

Here is a list of the filmmakers that were interviewed during the show:

1.  Anas Khalaf, Director of Driving to ZigZigland, Searching for the Translator (short) and currently filming a feature titled The Translator in Jordan.

Anas Khalaf (left) with Dr. Ramzi Salti

Born in Syria, but raised in France, Anas moved to Los Angeles in order to work with Frederic Golchan Productions. Whilst in LA, he co-produced the feature Prospect and also served as First AD on The Adventures Of Frank Dern.

With BintFilm, Anas served as Executive Producer on Driving To Zigzigland (Winner Best Film, Amal Festival) and developed Sleeping On Stones (Middle East Screenwriter’s Lab and MFCB, Cannes).

His short Syrian film Deaf Day has toured international festivals. His current projects in development include The Sytuation, which will be produced by John Molloy of Mushroom Pictures, Australia and the short film Ham to be shot in Chicago.

Anas holds an MBA from the Normandy Graduate School of Business in France.

This link will take you directly to Anas Khalaf's segment in the podcast

2.  Zain Duraie, Director of Horizon

Interviewing Zain Duraie (right) in Jordan

Short film by Zain Duraie

Zain Duraie is an independent writer/ director who has worked on several local and international productions in many different positions. She graduated with a film degree from the Toronto Film School were she wrote & directed 2 shorts as a part of her graduation project. Zain has been training her way up for the past two years at Philistine Films with acclaimed director Annemarie Jacir and producer Ossama Bawardi were she worked from pre-production to postproduction on their latest film When I Saw You.  Duraie also just finished her first short film Horizon produced by Philistine Films. She also just co-starred in Rami Yasin's short Film Inovertime is currently writing her first feature length film broaching the topic of mental illness in the Middle East. (Source: IMDb)

This link will take you directly to Zain Duraie's segment in the podcast

3.  Muhammad El-Khairy, Director of #Hashtag - #هاشتاغ

Conversation with Muhammad El-Khairy (right) in Jordan

Muhammad El-Khairy is a Freelance Director/Producer who has collected experiences in a number of capacities, most notably as director, producer, promotions producer, and editor on a variety of projects including television programs, feature films, documentary programs, web content, television promotion, short films, corporate films and corporate videos.

His mockumentary film #Hashtag was produced as web content and is available, with English subtitles, on YouTube and Vimeo.  View below or at https://youtu.be/Sh8GnWPPHjQ

This link will take you directly to Muhammad El Khairy's segment in the podcast

4.  Bassel Ghandour, Co-Writer/Producer of Oscar nominated film Theeb:

Interviewing Bassel Ghandour (right) in Jordan

Bassel Ghandour is a Jordanian writer and producer, known for Theeb (2014), Glass Half Full: The Jon Hovac Story (2010) and The Hurt Locker (2008).  Theeb (Arabic: ذيب‎‎, "wolf") is a 2014 Jordanian Arabic-language Oscar-nominated drama thriller film which focuses on a young Bedouin boy.

Here is the trailer for Theeb (film now available on Netflix): https://youtu.be/US3NKlGzkwg

This link will take you directly to Bassel Ghandour's segment in the podcast

4.  Interview with Faisal Attrache and Deema Dabis, Producers of From the Mountain من الجبل

With Faisal Attrache (left) and Deema Dabis (right)

From the Mountain is a Historical Drama/Biography that is being filmed in Jordan.  It is set in 1922 Syria, under French colonial occupation where Sultan Basha Al Atrash rises up to regain his dignity, freedom and sovereignty when his guest is arrested. Interview with Producers Faisal Attrache and Deema Dabis was recorded in Jordan (July 2016)

Watch Faisal Attrache speak about the film below or at https://youtu.be/wn9_VNE_7As"

With Faisal Attrache (left)

Faisal Attrache is a Syrian American Director/Producer known for his work on Growing Home (2014), Documenters (2014) and Larry's Most Excellent Hypothesis (2012). His latest project, From the Mountain, tells the story of his great grandfather Sultan Basha Al-Atrash and will begin filming in Jordan in 2017.

Interviewing Deema Dabis, 2016

Deema Dabis holds a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Cinema from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. She is currently working on a number of projects, including finishing her first short film, The Sri Lankan, and developing two other film projects, Swimming Over Jordan, and Shake, a narrative short that is a scene from a longer fiction film that she is developing.  Dabis is also co-Director of the documentary shorts, Behind the Music: 47 SOUL 2013, and The Path to Ayla (2012).

She is Co-Producer of the film Behind the Mountain.

This link takes you directly to interview segment with Faisal and Deema in the Podcast

You can listen to the entire Arabology 10.4 Podcast below or at https://soundcloud.com/arabology/arabology104

Arabology 10.4 Podcast Spotlights Jordanian Musicians + Filmmakers

soundcloud.com/arabology/arabology104

Arabology 10.4 featured an amazing array of indie music from Jordan, along with exclusive interviews (mostly in English) with Jordanian musicians and Jordan-based filmmakers.
This episode was recorded in Amman, Jordan in July 2016 and aired in California on Thursday August 11, 2016.


Listen below or at soundcloud.com/arabology/arabology104

Playlist for Arabology 10.4 Thursday, 11 August 2016 11am - 2pm DJ: Dr. Ramzi Salti

1. Tareq Al Nasser (RUM Band)/ Ya Rouh/ Urdun
2. Natalie Saman/ Habbaytik Ana Amman/ Habbaytak Ya Urdun
3. Jadal/ Itha Ihna Rohna/ Malyoun
4. Interview with Muhammad Abdullah of El Morabba3/ Part 1
5. El Morabba3/ Ilham/ Taraf El Khait/ Universal
6. Interview with Muhammad Abdullah of El Morabba3/ Part 2
7. El Morabba3/ Shiber Maii Taraf El Khait/ Universal
8. Interview with Yarub Smarait/ Part 1
9. Yarub Smarait/ Balad Al Mahboub/ Ya Salam
10. Interview with Yarub Smarait/ Part 2
11. Yarub Smarait/ Before Sunday/ Single
12. Interview with Rami Rais/ Part 1
13. Fawda (ft Rami Rais)/ 3ayadat/ Single
14. Interview with Rami Rais/ Part 2
15. Interview with Linda Hejazi (In Arabic)
16. Linda Hejazi/ 3ala Hatet Eidak/ Single
17. Interview with Mohammad Tahboub
18. Mohammad Tahboub/ Saga/ Single
19. Interview with Hana Malhas
20. Hana Malhas/ Just a Dream/ Hana Malhas & the Overthinkers
21. Interview with Zeina Barhoum
22. Zeina Barhoum/ Lamma Bada Yatathanna/ El Cantara
23. Interview with Anas Khalf, Director of Driving to Zigzig Land and The Translator
24. Interview with Zain Duraie, Director of Horizon
25. Interview with Muhammad El-Khairy, Director of #Hashtag (View film here)
26. Ayloul/ Yawm/ Ayloul
27. Interview with Bassil Ghandour, Co-Writer/Producer of Oscar Nominated Film Theeb/Part 1
28. Jerry Lane/ Theeb's Theme/ Theeb Movie Soundtrack
29. Interview with Bassil Ghandour, Co-Writer/Producer of Oscar Nominated Film Theeb/Part 2
30. Jerry Lane/ Chase/ Theeb Movie Soundtrack
31. Interview with Faisal Attrache + Deema Dabis, Directors of From the Mountain
32. Interview with Deema Dabis, Director of The Sri Lankan and Shake
33. Interview with Natalie Seman
34. Natalie Saman/ Habbaytak Ya Urdun/ Habbaytak Ya Urdun

When Monaliza Smiled: A New Film by Fadi Haddad

The Jordanian film When Monaliza Smiled - لما ضحكت موناليزا   will be released soon, according to the film's Facebook page.  WHEN MONALIZA SMILED is a romantic comedy about a love story between Jordanian Monaliza, and Egyptian Hamdi, set in present day Amman among a community of nosy stereotypes and quirky characters.



Starring Tahani Salim, Shady Khalaf, Haifa Al Agha, Nadera Omran, Fuad Shomali, Suha Najjar, Haidar Kfouf.

Written and directed by Fadi G. Haddad
Produced by Nadia Eliewat
Executive Producer Nadine Toukan

http://www.facebook.com/WhenMonalizaSmiled
http://twitter.com/MonalizaSmiled

Music from the film's soundtrack, composed by Dr. Najati Suloh, with Maestro Aziz Maraka
Director of Photography Samer Nimri
Production Designer Amjad Al Rasheed
Art Director Rand AbdelNoor
Sound Supervisor Falah Hannoun
Produced through the support of the education feature film program of the Royal Film Commission-Jordan
Filmed on location in Amman, Jordan