Abu Dhabi

Clyde & Co has grown its Middle East practice with the hire of Trowers & Hamlins’ former Abu Dhabi head Adrian Creed. Creed, a project finance lawyer, joined the firm last month, taking the total number of partners in Clydes’ local office to five.

Norton Rose has lost another Middle East partner, with Abu Dhabi corporate finance specialist Patrick Watson-Thorp leaving the firm to take a senior in-house role at Standard Chartered. Watson-Thorp is joining the financial services company as co-head of lending and finance for wholesale banking legal across the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.

Wragge & Co has launched a branch in Dubai, marking the UK top 30 law firm’s entry into the largest legal market in the Middle East. The office opened today (6 September) under the firm’s existing joint venture with local lawyer Mohamed Al Mehairi – Wragge & Co Legal Consultants – which was set up in December last year when the firm launched in Abu Dhabi.

Trowers & Hamlins has relocated the head of its telecoms practice from Bahrain to Dubai to take up the new role of United Arab Emirates (UAE) managing partner. Abdullah Mutawi has already assumed the new role, which will see him work closely with the firm’s regional heads Nick White in Dubai and Andrew Rae in Abu Dhabi. The firm’s Bahrain base will continue to be led by Dominic O’Neil.

Linklaters has launched an office in Abu Dhabi, with New York finance partner Paul Kruger among a number of partners relocating to the new arm. The office launch, first reported by Legal Week last month, marks Linklaters’ 27th office worldwide.

Linklaters has launched an office in Abu Dhabi, with New York finance partner Paul Kruger among a number of partners relocating to the new base. The office launch, first reported by Legal Week last month, marks Linklaters’ 27th office worldwide.

Linklaters is set to open its 27th office worldwide, with the magic circle law firm in the final stages of planning a launch in Abu Dhabi. The firm is waiting for its licence to open in the Gulf state, but expects to launch the new base as soon as it is granted – which could be within the next month.

Ashurst is set to restructure in the Middle East, with the firm refocusing its Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices around energy and infrastructure. The restructuring will see corporate partner and Middle East chief Nick Williamson, who splits his time between the two offices, and Abu Dhabi real estate partner Matthew Hooton, returning to London after several years in the region.

“Amreeka” premiered in the dramatic competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It was also the opening night film at New Directors/New Films, a program of the Museum of Modern Art and Lincoln Center in New York City, and at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival it won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize. “Amreeka” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 4, 2009, with a national rollout to follow.

“‘Amreeka’ is one of the rare films that tells a story of courage and heart with a healthy dose of humor and perfectly captures the universal story of American immigrants through the lens of a brilliant Arab American filmmaker,” said Lisa Truitt, president of National Geographic Cinema Ventures. “We are proud to present this film to as many audiences as possible with the support of a large and impressive group of cultural partners, so that this story can be shared by communities everywhere.”

“Amreeka” chronicles the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with her 16-year-old son Fadi, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of small-town Illinois. Told with heartfelt humor by Dabis in her feature film debut, “Amreeka” is a universal journey into the lives of immigrant families and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new world in which they live, and the bittersweet search for a place to call home. Written and directed by Dabis and loosely based on her own family’s story, “Amreeka” stars
Nisreen Faour as Muna; Melkar Muallen plays her son. Also in the cast are Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler. “Amreeka” was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin. Alicia Sams, Dabis and Gregory Keever were executive producers; Liz Jarvis and Al-Zain Al-Sabah were co-producers.

National Geographic Entertainment presents a National Geographic/Imagenation Abu Dhabi release in association with Levantine Entertainment, a First Generation Films Production, an Alcina Pictures-Buffalo Gal Pictures/Eagle Vision Media Group Production, produced in association with Manitoba Film & Music, Rotana Studios and Showtime Arabia.

SCREENING SCHEDULE
New York City
Aug. 17
Location: Walter Reade Theater
Partners: Film at Lincoln Center; ArteEast; Sundance Institute; Alwan for the Arts; Muslim Public Affairs Council

New York City
Aug. 18
Location: Museum of Modern Art (members’ screening)

Irvine, Calif.
Aug. 19
Location: Edwards Westpark 8
Partners: Levantine Cultural Center; Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area; Muslim Public Affairs Council; Access California Services

Los Angeles
Aug. 20
Location: Writers Guild Theater
Partners: Levantine Cultural Center; Muslim Public Affairs Council; Sundance Institute; Film Independent; Progressive Jewish Alliance; ImaginAction; Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area

San Francisco
Aug. 27
Location:
Partners: Arab Film Festival; San Francisco Jewish Film Festival; San Francisco Film Society; American Friends Service Committee, Middle East Program

Dearborn, Mich.
Aug. 29
Location: Arab American National Museum
Partners: Arab American National Museum; Green Light Film Funding; National Outreach; ACLU of Michigan; Arab Detroit; Mike Mosallem

Chicago
Aug. 31
Location: Gene Siskel Film Center
Partner: Chicago Palestine Film Festival

Washington, D.C.
Sept. 2
Location: National Geographic Society Headquarters
Partners: National Geographic All Roads Film Project; Arabian Sights Film Festival; Washington Jewish Film Festival; Muslim Public Affairs Council; Embassy of Jordan; Arab American Institute; The Jerusalem Fund

Boston
Sept. 3
Location: Museum of Fine Arts
Partners: Boston Palestine Film Festival; Grassroots International; Center for Arabic Culture; American Jews for a Just Peace; Northeast Regional Office, Amnesty International USA; National Association of Arab Professionals – Boston

San Diego
Sept. 8
Location: AMC La Jolla 12 Theatres
Partner: Cinema Society of San Diego

Dallas
Sept. 10
Location: Angelika Film Center
Partner: Dallas Film Society

Houston
Sept. 12
Location: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Partners: Levantine Entertainment; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Houston Palestine Film Festival; Women in Film & Television, Houston

Boston (pending)
Sept. 24
Location: Harvard Film Archives (pending)
Partners: Middle East Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School; Harvard Society of Arab Students (pending)

Additionally, the film has the support of American-Arab Chamber of Commerce, American-Arabs Anti-Discrimination Committee – Chicago; Project Nur, American University; Arab American Cultural & Community Center; Arab American Family Services; Advisory Council on Arab Affairs, City of Chicago; Center for Contemporary Arabic Studies, Georgetown University; Golden Thread Theatre; JCC of Dallas; J-Street; Jewish Palestinian Living Room Dialogue; Jewish Voice for Peace; Middle East Forum; Middle East Institute, Columbia University; Middle East Policy Council; Midwest Federation of Syrian and Lebanese Clubs; Outreach Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University; Arab American Action Network; Near Eastern Studies Student Association, University of California Berkeley; PAWA SoCal; Ramallah Club of LA; Students for Justice in Palestine, San Diego State University; United Muslims of America; World Cultures at San Diego City College, MIT Arab Students Organization; and others.

High-resolution images are available for download:
Photography available at www.imageevent.com/amreeka
EPK/Broadcast materials available at www.epk.tv

See the trailer at www.amreeka.com.

“Amreeka” tells the adventures of Muna, an indomitable woman from the West Bank who moves to the promised land of small town Illinois with her teenage son, Fadi. In America, as her son navigates high school, Muna works hard and dreams of a new life. Nisreen Faour stars as Muna; Melkar Muallen plays her 16-year-old son. Also in the cast are Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler.

Written and directed by Dabis, “Amreeka” was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin. Alicia Sams, Cherien Dabis and Greg Keever were executive producers; Liz Jarvis and Al-Zain Al-Sabah were co-producers. This National Geographic Entertainment Presentation is a National Geographic/Imagenation Abu Dhabi Release in association with Levantine Entertainment, A First Generation Films Production, an Alcina Pictures/Buffalo Gal Pictures/Eagle Vision Media Group Production produced in association with Manitoba Film & Music, Rotana Studios and Showtime
Arabia.

Earlier in her career Dabis was a recipient of a 2007 National Geographic All Roads Film Project seed grant for her short film “Make a Wish.”

National Geographic Films President Adam Leipzig said, “‘Amreeka’ is a great culture clash comedy, and with it Cherien Dabis has announced herself as one of the great new talents in film. It is both funny and moving in its depiction of the hectic work it takes to attain the American dream. This international story is a perfect fit for National Geographic as we aspire to inspire people to care about our world. Since Cherien received one of the first National Geographic All Roads grants, working with her on ‘Amreeka’ is especially exciting.”

Dabis added, “While ‘Amreeka’ is a very personal film, it’s a universal story about family, the sacrifices we make for those we love and the often elusive search for belonging. I have no doubt that we’ve found the right home for it.”

The release schedule for “Amreeka”:

Sept. 4
New York
Los Angeles

Sept. 18
Chicago
San Francisco
Detroit
Washington, D.C.
Boston
New York and Los Angeles: Check local listings for additional theaters
Orange County, Calif.

Sept. 25
Philadelphia
Dallas
Houston
Austin
Seattle

Oct. 2
Miami
Orlando, Fla.
Jacksonville, Fla.
Portland, Ore.
Atlanta
San Diego
Albuquerque
Minneapolis

Please note, as with all films, dates are subject to change. Check local listings for theaters screening the film in each city.

For group sales info, go to amreekagroupsales@gmail.com. For more information about the film, visit www.amreeka.com, become a fan on Facebook, or receive updates from director Cherien Dabis via Twitter at http://twitter.com/cheriendabis/.

About National Geographic Entertainment
National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) includes National Geographic Films (NGF) , which co-presented the 2005 Academy Award-winning “March of the Penguins” and 2004 Oscar-nominated film “The Story of the Weeping Camel,” and National Geographic Cinema Ventures (NGCV), which released both domestically and internationally the 3-D concert film “U2 3D” in 2008 to critical acclaim. NGCV set giant-screen box office records with “Mysteries of Egypt,” and recently with “Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.” Adam Leipzig is president of NGF, Lisa Truitt is president of NGCV and Mark Katz is president of distribution of NGCV.

Jim Sturgess (“21,” “Across the Universe”), Academy Award nominee Ed Harris (“A Beautiful Mind,” “Apollo 13″), Oscar® nominee Saoirse Ronan (“Atonement,” Peter Jackson’s upcoming “Lovely Bones”) and Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell (“In Bruges,” “Miami Vice”) will star in this epic adventure, which is inspired by Slavomir Rawicz’s acclaimed novel, “The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom,” as well as from other real-life accounts.

“The Way Back” chronicles the escape of a small group of multi-national prisoners from a Siberian gulag in 1940 and their epic journey over thousands of miles across five hostile countries. Principal photography has started in Bulgaria.

Spitfire Pictures is producing for parent company Exclusive Media Group, the global film entertainment group, which is backed by the strategic investment group Cyrte Investments and combines Spitfire, London-based Hammer Films and Exclusive Film Distribution. Exclusive Film Distribution is handling worldwide sales and distribution for the film.

Edward Borgerding, CEO of Imagenation Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Media Company, said, “We couldn’t think of a better and more prestigious first project for the partnership between National Geographic and Imagenation Abu Dhabi. Peter Weir is one of the great directors working today. We are very excited about this movie with its wonderful cast and riveting story of human endurance and love for freedom.”

National Geographic Films Chairman Jake Eberts said, “Slavomir Rawicz’s book that inspired ‘The Way Back’ has long been considered an adventurer’s adventure, beloved by explorers, historians and other writers. It is one of the great escape stories of all time. Translated into 25 languages, it has the classic man-against-nature structure, but it also deals with man’s inhumanity toward one another, man’s capacity to help other men, and man’s ability to forgive but not to forget. It has thrills and excitement in epic and unusual settings, but ultimately it is about strong-willed people fighting to connect with each other while yearning for peace and home.”

Exclusive Media Group’s Co-Chairman and Co-CEO Nigel Sinclair said, “My colleague Guy East, Jake Eberts and I have a long and happy history of working on movies together, and we are proud and excited to have Tim Kelly and Adam Leipzig at National Geographic and Mohamed Khalaf Al-Mazrouei and Edward Borgerding at Imagenation Abu Dhabi as partners on Peter’s film.”

About National Geographic Entertainment

National Geographic Entertainment (NGE), which will release this year’s Sundance favorite “Amreeka” in the fall, combines into a single operating group National Geographic’s Cinema Ventures, Films, Kids Entertainment, Home Entertainment and Music & Radio. NGE is part of National Geographic Global Media, bringing together all of National Geographic’s editorial platforms in order to streamline collaboration and further support the Society’s mission. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” National Geographic works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 360 million people worldwide each month through magazines, books, digital media, and television, radio, music and film. It funds more than 250 scientific research, exploration and conservation projects each year and supports an education program combating geography illiteracy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

About Imagenation Abu Dhabi

Imagenation Abu Dhabi is a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media Company, which launched on Sept. 3, 2008. The company will develop, finance and produce full-length feature films and digital content for Arabic and global markets.

From its base in Abu Dhabi, the company has established partnerships with high-profile, internationally based producers to develop and produce content for distribution internationally, in addition to supporting Middle East filmmakers and Arab film production.

Mohamed Khalaf Al-Mazrouei is the chairman of Imagenation Abu Dhabi, and Edward Borgerding is the chief executive officer. Stefan Brunner is the company’s chief financial officer.

On Sept. 10, 2008, Imagenation Abu Dhabi and Participant Media formed a $250 million fund to finance a slate of feature films. On Oct. 11, 2008, Imagenation Abu Dhabi announced a $100 million joint venture with National Geographic Films, followed by the announcement of a $250 million partnership with Hyde Park Entertainment on Nov. 2, 2008.

For more information, visit http://www.imagenationabudhabi.com.

About Exclusive Media Group

Formed by strategic investment group Cyrte Investments in May 2008, Exclusive Media Group (EMG) is the parent company of Los Angeles-based Spitfire Pictures and the legendary British studio Hammer, which now has a combined share holder equity and bank facility in excess of $100 million. The company is run by Nigel Sinclair, Guy East and Simon Oakes, with Sinclair and Oakes serving as co-chairmen and co-CEOs (out of Los Angeles and London respectively), and East as president and chairman of the sales and distribution operation.

Under EMG, Spitfire and Hammer operate as two separate production entities. EMG aims to produce six to eight films per year and to acquire additional pictures for worldwide distribution through its London-based subsidiary Exclusive Film Distribution. The group also develops projects for television and digital platforms.

EMG has over 300 titles in the combined Hammer and Spitfire libraries and will pursue an aggressive library acquisition policy. The Hammer library is noted for its remake potential, and the company is in discussions with A-list writers and directors to revive and re-imagine some of its highly touted titles.

Cyrte Investments is part of Delta Lloyd Asset Management, one of the Netherlands major asset managers, which in turn is majority-owned by London Stock Exchange-listed Aviva plc, one of the world’s largest insurance companies.

For more information, visit http://www.exclusivemedia.com.

About Spitfire Pictures

Spitfire Pictures is a Los Angeles-based production subsidiary of Exclusive Media Group, with specialized feature film and documentary divisions. Spitfire has a very active slate of films in pre-production and development with several highly successful writers, including Bill Broyles, Stuart Beattie, Christopher McQuarrie, Justin Haythe, Craig Zahler, Max Makowski and Christopher Cleveland. Projects set up at Spitfire include the biographical picture about the life of legendary The Who drummer Keith Moon, and an adaptation of the bestseller “Moral Hazard” to be directed by Philip Noyce. Spitfire is planning a 2009 release for its latest thriller “Possession,” starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

National Geographic Entertainment, a division of National Geographic Global Media, will, in association with Imagenation Abu Dhabi, develop, produce, finance and acquire films that focus on people’s relationship to the world, their environment and each other. The films will be budgeted between $5 million and $60 million.

Mohamed Khalaf Al-Mazrouei, chairman of Imagenation Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Media Company, said, “National Geographic is a perfect partner for Imagenation Abu Dhabi. It is one of the most identifiable and respected global brands, and we are delighted to be working with this great organization as it expands its film presence. National Geographic stands for quality and is a renowned leader not just in media, but also in science, education and exploration. It has always been able to tell epic life adventures in ways that deeply move people of all cultures around the world.”

National Geographic’s Tim Kelly said, “National Geographic has many exciting and important stories to tell, and at the heart of each film will be something vital, a subject that matters. When we talk to talent, we discover that National Geographic has always been part of their lives. With this film fund, we will be able to expand our outreach into the creative community and help filmmakers produce the kinds of films they dreamed of making when they entered the industry.”

Edward Borgerding, CEO of Abu Dhabi Media Company and Imagenation , said, “This deal with National Geographic continues our strategy of building relationships with the world’s leading media companies. This partnership supports our aim to produce award-winning films that are commercially successful and appealing to diverse cultures around the globe.”

Jake Eberts, chairman of National Geographic Films, added, “National Geographic has access to a seemingly endless treasure trove of images and stories. Each one has the potential to affect our lives. I believe it is our moral obligation to use the power of film to bring people of different cultures together. Imagenation Abu Dhabi and National Geographic are ideally suited to do this.”

Other key personnel involved in the fund include David Beal, president of National Geographic Entertainment; Adam Leipzig, president, National Geographic Films; Lisa Truitt, president, National Geographic Cinema Ventures, which produces and distributes giant screen films; and Stefan Brunner, chief financial officer of Imagenation Abu Dhabi.

About National Geographic Entertainment
National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) combines into a single operating group National Geographic’s Cinema Ventures, Films, Kids Entertainment, Home Entertainment and Music & Radio. NGE is part of National Geographic Global Media (NGGM), bringing together all of National Geographic’s editorial platforms in order to streamline collaboration and further support the Society’s mission. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” National Geographic works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 325 million people worldwide each month through magazines, books, digital media, and television, radio, music and film. It funds more than 250 scientific research, exploration and conservation projects each year and supports an education program combating geography illiteracy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.