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Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age
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 Date: Friday, February 13, 2009
Synopsis: Stand Up explores the emergence of Muslim and Arab-American comedians in the U.S. in the wake of 9/11, showing how they use humor to empower and defeat stereotypes about their religion and their politics. The film highlights five unique performers, their comedy, and the way everyday tribulations shape their art. At a time when people of Middle Eastern origin were advised to lie low, they chose to stand up ... and crack jokes.
**Special Performance by Dean Obeidallah Following the Documentary**
Born in New Jersey, Dean's comedy comes in large part from his unique background of being the son of a Palestinian father and a Sicilian mother. Dean, an award winning comedian who was at one time a practicing attorney, has appeared on ABC's "The View," Comedy Central's "Axis of Evil" Comedy special and is the co-creator and co-producer of Comedy Central.com's critically acclaimed Internet series "The Watch List," featuring a cast of all Middle Eastern-American comedians performing stand up and sketch comedy.He is also one of five comedians profiled in the upcoming one-hour documentary airing nationally on PBS in 2008 entitled: "Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age."
About the Filmmakers:
Glenn Baker (director/producer) is a writer-producer with more than 40 documentariesbroadcast on PBS exploring global security issues. Most recently he was Senior Producer for Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria, a weekly international affairs program on PBS co-produced by Azimuth Media and Oregon Public Broadcasting. His productions on the military and the media, arms marketing, Cuba, conflict prevention, and firearms violence have been recognized with more than a dozen national awards. Baker grew up in Asia and the Middle East in a foreign service family, and lived in Muslim cultures for seven years (Turkey, Pakistan, and Tunisia). He is the president of Potomac Media Works Inc.
Omar Naim (co-director) wrote and directed the feature film The Final Cut, starring Academy Award winner Robin Williams, Academy Award winner Mira Sirvino, and Jim Caviezel. The film was an official selection at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004 and won the screenwriting award at the Deauville Film Festival. His thesis documentary, "Grand Theater: A Tale of Beirut," portrays the theater as a metaphor for the country's tragic civil war. Naim was born in Jordan to Lebanese parents, and raised in Jordan, Cyprus and Lebanon. He earned a BFA in filmmaking from Emerson College in Boston, and lives in Los Angeles and Eugene, Oregon.
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