Ghazi’s Arab American ‘Fordson’ doc to DVD release

From “Fordson the Movie”

FORDSON THE MOVIE, Rashid Ghazi’s Ruth Leitman-scripted documentary about an Arab American football team in Dearborn, Michigan fasting for Ramadan as they train to play their wealthier cross-town rivals during the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, will be released on DVD the week of Aug. 20.

“Fordson documents not only the players’ outer struggle to overcome the hunger and thirst of fasting as they prepare for the big game, but also their inner struggle to reconcile their Arab heritage with their American birthright,” Ghazi says.

Fordson won a special jury prize at Slamdance and ran in AMC theaters across the country last year.

Ghazi is a partner at Paragon Marketing Group in Deerfield. He won a Cannes Lion in 2010 for his Gatorade “Replay” spot. He produced through his North Shore Films with Ash-har and Basma Babar-Quraishi of Quraishi productions.

WBEZ’ Alison CuddyTHE CHICAGO FILM ARCHIVES combines footage from their vaults with the work of contemporary filmmakers and live musical accompaniment at their first annual Media Mixer Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. at the Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia Ave.

Cave accompanies Kent Lambert’s work, Tim Kinsella accompanies film by Jessica Bardsley, and Josh Abrams performs to work by Ellen Castleberry and Andy Resek. WBEZ arts reporter Alison Cuddy hosts. $15 admission benefits CFA’s film preservation and community programming.

THE INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL, produced in association with Northbrook-based International Children’s Media Center and curated by that organization’s executive director Nicole Dreiske, runs Aug. 17-18 at the University of Chicago’s Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts,
915 E. 60th St.

The festival includes separate programs for kids ages 2-5, 5-8, and 8-10, with the young audience voting for award winners. Selections include One Shoe Blues, featuring music by B.B. King; an adaptation of Mo Williams’s book Naked Mole Rate Gets Dressed; and All the World, narrated by Joanne Woodward.

MARK HARRIS of 1555 Filmworks takes submissions through Aug. 24 for the second annual Englewood Film Festival, to be held this October in the South Side neighborhood where Harris grew up and continues to live.  He says he aims for the festival “to shine light on the heart of a community plagued with negative publicity.”

SILK ROAD RISING presents a special screening of Prashant Bhargava’s family drama Patang, shot during the annual kite festival in Ahmedabad, India. The screening is Aug. 26 at 5 p.m. at Facets Multimedia, 1515 W. Fullerton.

Silk Road artistic director Jamil Khoury hosts a post-screening Q&A with Bhargava. Patang runs Aug. 24-30 at Facets.

AFTER A THREE-YEAR RUN on the Documentary Channel, Bruce Janu is releasing his documentary Crayons and Paper for digital download on Distrify on a pay-what-you-will sliding scale of $.99 to $4.99. The doc highlights drawings made by children in war zones, collected by Dr. Jerry Ehrlich of Doctors Without Borders.

DAVID BRIGHT of Pound Of Flesh Productions is shooting a teaser for the in-development feature film Buttonman. He’s producing with Zohra Hasta.

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