AFMI Webinar: Independent Filmmaking 101

Join us for the first of our online webinars by and for Arab filmmakers! RSVP here.

On August 26th, we will talk to filmmakers Yasmeen Turayhi and Rami Alayan about getting your film done, from pre production all the way to distribution, with time for you to ask questions.

Please Note: this is a virtual event – you will receive an email with the details to join us on Zoom after you register

Hollywood might still take the biggest slice of the box office pie, but more and more content is now available to movie lovers looking for more diverse and authentic voices. As the film industry is going through what could be a revolutionary time of change because of Covid, now is the time to be bold and resourceful. If you have a story to tell, how can you make your movie even while busy making a living or socially distancing?

Rami Alayan and Yasmeen Turayhi will share some of their best tips on working with constraints big and small to realize your vision. You don’t have to let Hollywood choose whose voice is heard: learn how to tap into our own power and community to tell your story.

About the Panelists:

YASMEEN TURAYHI is a Product Marketing Executive in Silicon Valley working with a variety of early stage to later stage companies, author of “Product Marketing Debunked”, a Filmmaker / Screenwriter. She is the writer and executive producer of A Star in the Desert which follows a 7 year old boy’s perspective at the start of the first Gulf War, as he retreats in the world of fantasy to cope with growing up during a time of war premiers this year. The film received the Audience Award for Best Child Actor at this year’s Beirut International Women and Children’s Festival.

Yasmeen is also the screenwriter of “The Day Everything Changed” which is currently in pre-production. Yasmeen is also on the Board of Directors of a non-profit called TechWadi and travels to the Middle East extensively.

RAMI ALAYAN is a Palestinian film producer, screenwriter and user experience designer based in Oakland, California. He was awarded the Special Jury Award for exceptional artistic achievement for his screenplay of Muayad Alayan’s film The Reports on Sarah and Saleem at the Hivos Tiger Competition of International Film Festival Rotterdam 2018. Rami was also the producer-writer on the feature film Love, Theft and Other Entanglements which premiered at the Berlinale Panorama and won the best film award at the Arab Film Festival in California in 2015. His short film Private Sun, 2012, was selected to over 70 film festivals worldwide and won 9 awards including 5 for Best Short Film.

Moderator:

FERAS MOUSILLI is the founding partner of Lloyd & Mousilli and Chairman of the Board of the Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI). He regularly advises business clients on a range of intellectual property and technology law issues having served as Senior Counsel to Apple and Dell. He specializes in helping inventors and creatives register, protect, and commercialize their innovations.

Mr. Mousilli is a Fulbright Scholar and served as ACC Austin Chapter President-Elect, Guest Lecturer at the University of Texas School of Law and U.C. Berkeley School of Law. He is the proud recipient of the Judge Covington Pro Bono Award and was named a Texas Rising Star among Texas Super Lawyers.