Grandma, a Thousand Times (2010/2011)

"Teta, Alf Marra" is a poetic documentary that puts a feisty Beiruti grandmother at the center of brave film exercises concocted by her grandson to commemorate her many worlds before they are erased by the passage of time and her eventual death.

Teta Kaabour is an 83-year old family matriarch and sharp-witted queen bee of an old Beiruti quarter. She's been gripped as of late by the silence of her once-buzzing household where she raised children and grandchildren. Resigned to Argileh smoking and day-long coffee drinking on a now-empty balcony, Teta now invokes the deepest memories of her violinist husband who died twenty years ago. She claims a preparedness to re-unite with him.

Filmmaker Mahmoud Kaabour, Teta's favorite grandson and the bearer of his grandfather's full name, has also been pre-occupied for years with the memory of his grandfather. Prior to his death, the late violinist had audio taped heart-wrenching violin improvisations in the privacy of his room in that same flat. That music, along with the details of his long career playing with the Arab world's most famous divas, remains unpublished. The filmmaker's anguish is compounded at the thought that this personal and cultural heritage, as well as grandma's own stories, rare recipes, and naughty humor, will go with her when she parts this life.

"Teta, Alf Marra" brings together grandfather, grandmother, and grandson in a playful magic-realist documentary that aims to defy a past death and a future one. It documents with great intimacy the larger-than-life character of Teta Kaabour, her telling of the trials of her violinist husband and his Beirut, as well as her imaginings of what awaits her beyond death. All while the filmmaker constantly switches roles between the film's silent creator, Teta's grandson in front of the camera, and a re-enactor of his late grandfather. Meanwhile, the deceased violinist circles them with his seven violin improvisations that serve as the impetus of the film and its soundtrack.

Filmmaker Biographies

Mahmoud Kaabour (Director)

Mahmoud is a multi award-winning filmmaker, writer, and lecturer of Lebanese origin. He graduated with distinction from the Mel Oppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal, after which he pursued a documentary focus at the National Film Board of Canada and the newsroom at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. His film Being Osama, the documentary on the lives and times of six men sharing bin Laden's first name in the post 9/11 world, received four international awards to date and was aired on twelve international channels. It also made him the youngest commissioned filmmaker in the history of Canadian television.

Mahmoud is the founder and managing director of Veritas Films. His commercial work includes directing tailor-made documentaries for the UAE's brass, including multiple films for The Ministry of Presidential Affairs and The Executive Affairs Authority in Abu Dhabi, not to mention Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, Dubai Investments, and Dubai Holding subsidiaries.

Having grown up in the UAE, Mahmoud brings a directing style that strikes a unique balance between sophisticated documentary approaches and an understanding of this region's unique norms, sensibilities, and future aspirations. Coupled with his elaborate training in visual aesthetics and his ability to conduct interviews fluently in both tongues, Mahmoud's films are praised for their authentic regional voice that is always delivered in a sophisticated visual language.

He is frequently commended by the press for his many personal projects, which range from curating a critically- and popularlyacclaimed film series to directing his own creative documentaries within the UAE, the Levant, and Europe. Mahmoud's second featurelength film, Teta, Alf Marra, scooped up the Audience Award for Best Documentary at its world premiere at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, and also honored Mahmoud with a special jury mention for Best Arab Filmmaker. The film was also honored with the Audience Award for Best International Documentary at Dox Box in Syria. His third feature-length film, already boasting one award, is slated for production in mid-2011.

Additionally, Mahmoud provides media consultancy and curatorial services to various clients, as well as teaching master documentary classes to up-and-coming filmmakers across the GCC.

Muriel Aboulrouss (Cinematographer)

Muriel Aboulrouss, is an award-winning Lebanese cinematographer and the first female cinematographer in the Arab World. She is celebrated by the industry for creating unique visual universes on select projects with auteur filmmakers. Her numerous credits include "A New Day in old Sanaa" (winner of Best Arab film Cairo Film Festival 2005), and "Falafel" (winner of best film at Namur film festival 2006). She has also filmed award-winning documentaries like "Refugees for life" and "Lesson in History" by Hady Zaccak. She is the recipient of the coveted "Best Cinematography Award" at the Arab Screen International Awards.

The year 2010 sees Aboulrouss continuing her quest to shed light on the region's most challenging film projects and touring the festival circuit with her two most recent visual achievements: Mahmoud Kaabour's "Teta, Alf Marra" and Georges Hachem's "Stray Bullet."

Eva Sayre (Executive Producer)

Eva is the Business Director of Veritas Films since its inception in 2008. In addition to overseeing the strategic and financial affairs of the company, she is the executive producer of documentary projects such as "Teta, Alf Marra."

She has nine years of experience in corporate strategic analysis and management across North America, Europe, and the GCC. Prior to Veritas Films, she was a Senior Strategy Manager in a development and investment company within Dubai Holding, the multi-sector holding company of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and she was honored to receive two "Employee of the Year" designations during her tenure there. She formerly worked at The Parthenon Group strategic consultancy in Boston and London.

Eva is an American national holding two magna cum laude degrees from Duke University.

Production Company Profile: Veritas Films

Veritas Films is a UAE based company that specializes in the creation and production of non-fiction content including corporate films, short and feature length documentaries, TV programming, and virals. Latin for "Truth," Veritas excels in the celebration of realities, both cultural and corporate, through compelling programs of rare depth and allure.

The creation of Veritas Films came in response to the dearth of production houses in the GCC that could both supply expert knowledge of the documentary form and deliver cinematic-quality production standards. The company's founder and managing director, Mahmoud Kaabour, brought these capabilities together. With his worldclass documentary training, award-winning track record, and equal proficiency in English and Arabic language filmmaking, Veritas Films has raised the bar of non-fiction filmmaking in the region.

Veritas Films is a one-stop shop with a holistic approach to the entire production process (creative, pre-production, production, and post-production), thus enabling our clients to eliminate the need for multiple intermediaries. Veritas Films is equally the first company of its sort with its own development department, capable of researching and analyzing corporate profiles as a basis for developing content-accurate treatments of high creative value. Coupled with high production values, our films transcend the mundane commercial format to become highly effective marketing tools that empower overall marketing strategies.

Our clients include many of the most prestigious government entities and corporations in the UAE, including The Ministry of Presidential Affairs, The Executive Affairs Authority, Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, Dubai Investments, and Dubai Holding subsidiaries. We also provide media consultancy and related services to clients such as Starcom Worldwide and Al-Jazeera.

Aside from commercial pursuits, Veritas Films is actively involved in the cultural life of the UAE. Amongst our passions are the development of arts and music in the country, the preservation of heritage and cultural values, and the rich human stories of neighborhoods and communities. These passions have inspired many of our works, including our acclaimed project "Satwa Stories." We also curate the wildly popular "Mahmovies!" -- a free, bi-annual, standing-room-only series of art house film screenings and performances. Veritas Films operates from the twofour54 media free zone in Abu Dhabi.

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