Captains of Za’atari

Captains of Za’atari is a film shot over six years following two teenaged friends; Mahmoud and Fawzi who have fled from Syria to the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. Like many young boys in the camp, they dream of becoming professional soccer players and explore better opportunities for them and their families, while facing the difficult reality of their lives. When a world-renowned sports academy visits the camp, both have a chance to make this dream come true.

LENGTH

Feature

GENRE

Documentary

PRODUCED IN

EGYPT / JORDAN

STATUS

Completed

WITH THE HELP OF

Good Pitch

impact
campaign

Put the spotlight on the individual struggles of young refugees trying to find opportunities to fulfill their dreams. Contribute to the conversation about the legal status of the refugees in their hosting countries. Encourage sports and talent oriented activities in refugee camps. Inspire the younger generation of refugees to invest in their dreams.

meet the director

Since 2010, Ali Elarabi has produced and directed documentaries across the Middle East and North Africa for Egypt’s Dream TV, Germany’s ZDF, Stern TV, as well as for the National Geographic. In 2015, he established his company Ambient Light Films where he focused mainly on projects for the Arab League and films about refugee displacement, as well as investigative pieces about Women and Children’s rights in the Middle East. Elarabi holds a bachelor’s degree in Integrated Marketing and Communications from Mansoura University in Egypt. “Captains of Za’atari” is his first feature documentary film.

meet the producer

A film producer who served as the Cultural Specialist at the US Embassy in Cairo where she designed and implemented the film program for the past 7 years. Aya worked on Sheikh Jackson, Dir Amr Salama, 2017 on marketing consulting and foreign connection and Gun Shot, Dir Karim Shenawy, 2018 on film foreign connection. Previously, Dowara worked as a Program Assistant in the UNDP‘s Media and Civil Society sector on the Human Rights Capacity Building Project in Egypt. She also worked as a Journalist in Sharm Time Business Magazine and Youm ElSabea Newspaper. Dowara holds a master’s in Euro Mediterranean studies and a bachelor’s in Political Science from Cairo University.

meet the producer

meet the impact producer

Sheren Abououf was born in Egypt and grew up between Egypt and UAE, were she was exposed to multicultural environment that reflects to her vision and work. With the support and encouragement of her environment she trained in different places like Sky news T.V. and, ART T.V. She wrote and directed several films which include a documentary film, “Ice Flower”, that won Best Short Documentary at the Abu Dhabi film festival 2014 and the Jury Award in Sharjah Children Film festival in 2015. Without even knowing she was empowering women with her documentary, “Ice Flower”, it put the spotlight on the first female figure skater in the UAE as well as the first female in the world to skate wearing a Hijab.

related news

Please note that the information presented from our programs is taken directly from the official publication from each edition. While this information is limited, it is the information given to us by the main project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications, and is meant only as a historical record of the film or project at the time of its involvement with Aflamuna.