Captain Abu Raed

Captain Abu Raed (Arabic: كابتن أبو رائد) is a 2007 Jordanian Film directed and written by Amin Matalqa. It is the first feature film produced in Jordan in more than 50 years. The Royal Film Commission of Jordan endorsed Captain Abu Raed to be submitted to the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, the first ever submitted by Jordan. The film won awards at numerous film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, and the Dubai International Film Festival. It was screened at the Jerusalem International Film Festival in 2008.

Plot

Abu Raed is an airport janitor at the Queen Alia International Airport in Amman. After finding a Royal Jordanian captain's hat in the trash, the neighborhood children mistake him for an airline pilot and beg him to tell them stories of his adventures. At first refusing, he later concedes and tells them about his fictional travels to England, France, and New York, earning the name "Captain Abu Raed"

An older child, Murad, knows who Abu Raed really is and sets out to prove this to the other children wrong, repeating the phrase "People like us don't grow up to be pilots." With some dinars he found, Murad takes the other children on a taxi ride to the airport to show them the truth about Abu Raed. The children are heartbroken at seeing their idol on his hands and knees, scrubbing the floor.

Captain

Captain and Chief officer are overlapping terms, formal or informal, for the commander of a military unit, the commander of a ship, airplane, spacecraft, or other vessel, or the commander of a port, fire department or police department, election precinct, etc. Captain is a military rank in armies, navies, coast guards, etc., typically at the level of an officer commanding a company of infantry, a ship, or a battery of artillery, or similar distinct unit. Chief officer may be used interchangeably with captain in some situations, as when a Captain-ranked Navy officer is serving as the commander of a ship. The terms also may be used as an informal or honorary title for persons in similar commanding roles. In mining (esp. Cornish), it is an honorific given the superintendent or manager of a mine.

The term "captain" derives from katepánō (Greek: κατεπάνω, lit. "[the one] placed at the top", or " the topmost") which was used as title for a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as capetanus/catepan, and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the Italian "capitaneus" (which derives from the Latin word "caput", meaning head). This hybridized term gave rise to the English language term captain and its equivalents in other languages (Capitan, Kapitan, Kapitän, El Capitan, Il Capitano, Kapudan Pasha etc.)

The United

The United (Arabic: المتحدين) is a 2012 film produced by Touchstone Pictures. It was conceived as Disney's first ever Arabic-language film, intended primarily for Middle Eastern audiences. Produced by Rachel Gandin, The United was directed by Amin Matalqa, written by Nizar Wattad, and features performances from Farouk Al-Fishawy, Waleed Zuaiter, Bosaina, and Amir Scandar. It was shot in and around Amman, Jordan in January 2011 by veteran cinematographer Ray Peschke, and edited by Debbie Berman. In addition to an original score by composer, Omar Fadel, the United also features a vocal collaboration between three of the Arab world's best known rappers, Omar Offendum, Deeb, and Salah Edin.

Synopsis

The film tells the story of a down-and-out Egyptian soccer coach, his former superstar player, and his determined granddaughter as they gather a team of the best youth soccer players from around the Arab world.

Release

As of October 2012, the release date of The United remained uncertain, due to ongoing instability in the Middle Eastern region.

Austin Wintory

Austin Wintory (born 1984 in Denver, Colorado) is an American composer who composes scores for films and video games. He is particularly known for composing the scores to the acclaimed video game titles flOw and Journey, the latter of which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (the first ever for a video game). His film efforts include the scores to the 2009 Sundance hit Grace, as well as the 2008 Sundance Audience Award winner Captain Abu Raed. Wintory has composed 300 scores since 2003.

Beginning of game composing career and flOw

Wintory originally met Jenova Chen (who would later co-found Thatgamecompany) while both attended the University of Southern California. After networking with an interactive media student at USC and scoring a small game project, his name was passed along to Chen, who asked Wintory to score his thesis project, flOw (later re-released on PlayStation Network). Wintory, Chen and Nick Clarke developed the first version of flOw as a three-man team, with Wintory remarking that Chen had an incredible way of processing information, seeing far beyond code and reaching into the emotional implications of things.