{"id":21865,"date":"2025-12-22T15:38:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/?p=21865"},"modified":"2025-12-22T15:38:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:38:53","slug":"aus-filmmaker-extends-international-winning-streak-with-top-awards-in-los-angeles-and-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/2025\/12\/22\/aus-filmmaker-extends-international-winning-streak-with-top-awards-in-los-angeles-and-dubai\/","title":{"rendered":"AUS Filmmaker Extends International Winning Streak With Top Awards In Los Angeles And Dubai"},"content":{"rendered":"

Building on a series of recent international wins, American University of Sharjah (AUS) Assistant Professor Mohammed Mamdouh has secured two new awards in Los Angeles and Dubai<\/a>, further cementing the global success of his films Halal Dreams<\/em> and The Keyboard<\/em>. These achievements follow several recognitions in New York, London, South Korea and beyond, marking one of the most successful periods yet for the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) filmmaker.<\/p>\n

Just weeks after earning the Best Documentary Film Award at the New York Shorts International Film Festival, Halal Dreams<\/em> has now been awarded Best International Short Narrative Film at the Culver City Film Festival in Los Angeles<\/a>. The film, which has now collected more than 10 international awards, follows an Egyptian halal cart worker in New York\u2019s Times Square as he navigates the emotional distance between himself and his daughter back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis journey has been incredibly humbling,\u201d said Mamdouh. \u201cWhat has moved me most is seeing how the story of an Egyptian father can speak so clearly to audiences across continents. It’s wonderful to see its themes of longing, family and belonging resonate everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same week, Mamdouh\u2019s earlier film The Keyboard<\/em>, already recognized at festivals in Tokyo, New York, Hollywood, Venezuela and Greece, won the Audience Award on the opening night of the inaugural HollyShorts Film Festival Dubai. This new festival marks the first time the celebrated Los Angeles-based HollyShorts brand has launched its Oscar-qualifying festival in Dubai.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharing the film with audiences in the UAE gave the Audience Award a special weight for us,\u201d said Mamdouh. \u201cIt felt like the story had come full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Written by Radi, Mamdouh\u2019s wife, who works as an executive producer at Electric Lime Films, The Keyboard<\/em><\/a> explores doubt, obsession and emotional healing. Across both faculty and student work, AUS continues to strengthen its profile as a hub for filmmaking and visual storytelling in the region. With nearly two decades of experience in film, media and production, Mamdouh teaches courses in documentary film production, narrative fiction and film history and screenwriting at CAAD, where students gain hands-on experience and exposure to international festival platforms. These combined successes reflect the strength of AUS\u2019 practice-led approach to film education and its commitment to supporting storytellers to tell authentic stories whose work resonates far beyond the university.<\/p>\n

For more information about film courses at CAAD\u2019s Department of Art and Design, visit www.aus.edu\/caad\/department-of-art-and-design<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Building on a series of recent international wins, American University of Sharjah (AUS) Assistant Professor Mohammed Mamdouh has secured two new awards in Los Angeles and Dubai, further cementing the global success of his films Halal Dreams and The Keyboard. These achievements follow several recognitions in New York, London, South Korea and beyond, marking one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21869,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21865\/revisions\/21869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleasenetwork.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}