Photos above L to R: Hamzah Jamjoom, Baraa Alem, Waleed Zuaiter, Houshang Touzie, Naif Aldaferi
Producer Abubakar Khan of Plot Point 1 is pleased to announce that principal photography on Hamzah Jamjoom’s (Rupture– Best Saudi Film Award, 2021 Red Sea International Film Festival), How I Got There (Best Saudi Film Award, 2022 Red Sea International Film Festival)) new feature film, the eco-thriller, Running Dry, a Saudi Arabia-US co-pro, will begin December 26, 2023.
Running Dry will star Baraa Alem (The Book of Sun, HWJN, Route 10), Waleed Zuaiter (Gangs of London, Baghdad Central, Omar), Houshang Touzie (Homeland, Argo, Madame Secretary), Naif Aldaferi (Rashash, Hwjn), and Ali Fardi (7-OD, Only Death Never Lies, Marokkaanse bruiloft).
Running Dry will be directed by Jamjoom based on a script by Gregory Collins (Before Anyone Else, A Song Still Inside) and Jamjoom, from a story by Waleed Al Sanad and produced by Abubakar Khan (Mustache, Queen of Bones).
Inspired by real events, Running Dry follows the story of a poor mechanic from rural Saudi Arabia who is lured overseas only to be held captive by a sadistic drug lord. Surfacing timely themes of water, scarcity, and international espionage, Running Dry is an action/crime thriller that refreshes its genre by integrating regional sensibilities and supernatural flair.
“This film is really about overcoming forces that use and manipulate resources in order to divide people and consolidate power. In that sense, the film speaks directly to what is happening in the region and in the world more generally. In times of struggle, borders and divisions fall away, and our shared humanity is revealed. I’m thrilled to be working with people from around the world to bring this story to life,” said director Hamzah Jamjoom.
Casting Director Nancy Nayor (The Mother, 65, Barbarian) is casting the film.
Gregory Collins is a writer and filmmaker whose work explores connections across and between cultures and people. He is the writer and producer of Before Anyone Else, from Japanese auteur Tetsuya Mariko, and Chasing the Panther, the memoir of film pioneer Carolyn Pfeiffer.
Franklin Mark Henson has been brought on as Stunt Coordinator. Henson is a second-generation stunt performer and coordinator, working as a stunt person in the industry since 1988. He was a stunt coordinator for Cocaine Bear, The Witcher, Vikings, Children of Men, and Gravity.
The highly respected AZ Celtic Films (Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune,Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Swimmers, Argo, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) will handling all aspects of local production in Turkey and then in Saudi Arabia.
Running Dry is supported by Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund and has been selected for the Saudi Film Commision’s DAW Fund.
Baraa Alem is represented by Abadi Alshatri.
Waleed Zuaiter is represented by A3 Artists Agency, Echo Lake Entertainment, The Artists Partnership, and Frederick P. Bimbler at Cowans, DeBates, Abrahams & Sheppard
Houshang Touzie is represented by Michael Eisenstadt, Amsel, Eisenstadt, Frazier & Hinojosa, Inc
Neif Aldeferi is represented by Ahmed Al Jihani.
ABOUT HAMZAH JAMJOOM (Director/Co-Writer)
Hamzah Jamjoom is a Saudi Arabian-born, American-trained filmmaker and creator of thought-provoking films with international appeal. With over 15 years of professional experience, Hamzah’s work centers around clearing misconceptions about the Middle East and bridging cultural gaps through entertainment. His meticulous directing style, compelling narratives, striking imagery, and genre-bending plot twists combined with his cultural background make him a much-needed voice in the film industry. He is the co-owner and creative director of Emmy award-winning production house Digital Hydra and boutique film studio Plot Point One, where he worked with brands including MGM Studios, HBO, 20th Century Fox, McDonald’s, Facebook, and CBS. Hamzah’s projects star Hollywood talent like Helen Mirren, Billy Zane, Ron Perlman, Common, and Dermot Mulroney. His work screened in theaters worldwide (Arabia), streamed on Amazon Prime (Wamahyaya), and dominated YouTube with over 500 million views (Ya Nabi Salam Alayka). Most recently, Hamzah received the Audience Award for Best Saudi Film at the Red Sea International Film Festival two years in a row for his films Rupture (2021) and How I Got There (2022), making him the most awarded filmmaker in the country. He is currently developing a slate of films to continue his mission of promoting cultural understanding through inspiring stories.
ABOUT ABUBAKAR KHAN (Producer)
Abubakar Khan is a producer based in Los Angeles by way of Vancouver, Canada. He recently completed production management on a feature, Mustache (Dir. Imran J. Khan), which won the audience award at SXSW 2023. He was the head of Business Affairs for the feature Queen of Bones (Dir. Robert Budreau/Produced by Appian Way). He has also produced twelve short films. In addition, he is the former vice-chair of the Canadian Media Producers Association, a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre Norman Jewison Producers’ Lab, and a resident of the Canadian Academy Executive Residency Program.
ABOUT GREGORY COLLINS (Writer & Creative Producer)
Born and raised in Kenya, East Africa, Gregory’s work explores connections across and between cultures and people. His recent collaborations include Mayday (2020), Coyote (2021), and Before Anyone Else (premiering in competition at the 2023 Chicago International Film Festival) with Japanese auteur Tetsuya Mariko, and The Ningyo (2018) with Miguel Ortega. An alum of the IFP Filmmaker Labs in New York, Gregory has written and directed two narrative features and has worked extensively as an arts administrator, having served as executive administrator of the Austin Film Society and executive director of the Independent Filmmaker Project Chicago. Gregory is the also writer of Chasing the Panther(HarperCollins 2023)—the memoir of film pioneer Carolyn Pfeiffer whose early life was shaped by her work with Claudia Cardinale, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Omar Sharif, Alain Delon, Robert Altman, and the Beatles, among others.
ABOUT WALEED AL SANADS (Story by)
After finishing his degree in Theology, Waleed Al Sanad turned to entertainment to
spread his mission of peace. He has over 18 years of professional experience producing culturally-inspired content for the Saudi Arabian government and local commercial brands. His wellness TV series aired on MBC in 2007 and has since produced over 60 award-winning commercials, documentaries, and animations. Over the years, Waleed has produced and managed productions within Saudi Arabia and around the MENA region. Most recently he has been engaged with the Ministry of Interior to hunt for local Saudi stories to turn into IPs that can be shared with the rest of the world.
TARIQ AL HAYDAR (Story Consultant (Saudi Arabia)
Tariq al Haydar is an award-winning fiction writer whose debut short story collection will be published by C&R Press in 2024. His work has been published in The Threepenny Review, North American Review, DIAGRAM, Beyond Memory: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Creative Nonfiction (University of Arkansas Press) and elsewhere. His essay “Machine Language” was listed as notable in The Best American Essays 2016. His debut television project, a comedy series, will be released on MBC (Shahid) in 2024.
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