5 Questions with Shirin Ghareeb

Arabian Sights Film Festival Director Shirin Ghareeb

The Arabian Sights Film Festival (October 18-28) opened last week, with a screening of Yasir Al-Yasiri's On Borrowed Time (UAE) and an Opening Night reception at AMC Mazza Gallerie. This is the 23rd anniversary of Arabian Sights, which showcases the very best in Arab cinema to the nation's capital. We had a chance to ask the festival's founder & director Shirin Ghareeb 5 Questions about film selection, raising money, and the state of Arab film in the United States. Here's what she had to say...

5 Questions with Ryan Murdock

Director Ryan Murdock

Filmmaker Ryan Murdock is ready to make a big splash at the AFI Docs Film Festival with his documentary feature debut Bronx Obama. Garnering interest in a movie about a Presidential impersonator isn't as easy as it sounds; yet alone registering enough pre-screening buzz to trump almost every other film in the festival. Murdock is a documentary maven, having worked on numerous projects for his Saving Daylights Productions company before hopping behind the camera. He was kind enough to answer our 5 Questions...

5 Questions with Johanna Hamilton

Director/Producer Johanna Hamilton

Johanna Hamilton isn't your typical first-time feature director. Armed with degrees from the University of London and NYU (MA in Broadcast Journalism) the British-born filmmaker already has a Tribeca Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary on her resume, as co-producer of 2008's Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Her credits don't end there either: Hamilton has produced shows for A&E, Discovery Channel, The History Channel and PBS; in addition to her time as an investigative reporter for Carte Blanche, the South African version of 60 Minutes. Hamilton tackles one of the most important break-ins in US History not named Watergate in 1971, part of this year's AFI Docs. She was kind enough to answer our 5 Questions...

5 Questions with Ken Decker of Composite Effects, LLC

Boris the Creature, sans the 2x Oscar winner

This past weekend, Universal's 2 Guns opened as the #1 movie in America. During the film's pivotal bank robbery scene, the audience is introduced to Pickles and Boris... the masked aliases of stars Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington. One look, and I had to write myself the following note, "Get one of those masks!" Lucky for me, I was able to get in touch with Ken Decker, co-owner and manager of CFX Composite Effects, the company responsible for Pickles the Clown, Boris the Creature and dozens of other amazing characters. He was kind enough to answer our 5 Questions...