Tourist With A Typewriter Ltd. is an independent, award-winning documentary production company dedicated to creative human rights and social justice documentaries.
Tourist With A Typewriter Ltd. was founded in 2004 by Saeed Taji Farouky and Gareth Keogh in order to tell the stories that mainstream news media and film studios were not telling. Their documentaries look behind the obvious sensationalism of daily news asking how individual lives fit into the bigger picture, and what happens to ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
***LATEST NEWS***
**SEPT 2010** //awards and grants for the runner// The Runner is awarded Best Project at the StoryDoc programme, Corfu. Our prize is an all-expenses paid trip and a guest pitching spot at the excellent DokLeipzig festival at the end of October. Let us know if you'll be at the festival, we'd love to meet you.
The Ameil & Melburn Trust awards The Runner a grant of £5000 for the film's development. We're extremely grateful to the trust for their generous support, which will be used to fund a development trip to continue filming with Salah in France.
//i see the stars at noon finds new distributor..//
Our first documentary, I See The Stars At Noon, is now on sale on the Zenith Foundations online shop for only £12. Buy it now...
**JUNE 2010** //the runner fundraiser gig...// Greetings everyone. We have a fundraiser gig on July 9th, featuring the band Kasiuss- just invited to play the Leeds/Reading Festival, and now very generously doing a gig for us. For more details, and to order tickets, visit our Runner Latest News page.
**MAY 2010** //the runner at Edinburgh Pitch / DocWeek...//
More good news for The Runner- the film was accepted into the DocWeek Festival's Edinburgh Pitch.
This means, on June 17, we'll be standing in front of commissioining editors from ARTE, ZDF, POV and Storyville, amongst other, hoping to get someone on board with the film. It's an excellent opportunity, and much thanks to Virginie Meunier and Edward Gubbins from éo Productions, and our own Elhum Shakerifar for all their help on the application.
//the runner...sunny side of the doc...eddie izzard//
And THEN, Ned and Virginie (of éO Productions) announced they wanted to take The Runner to the Sunny Side of the Doc festival, one of the world's leading documentary co-production markets. Thanks Virginie and Ned! For those who don't yet know, éo Productions are the team behind (No) Laughing Matter, one of the most original and insightful documentaries about Palestine for years. It's about comedy in Palestine! Genius! You might also be interested in my 2006 article for OpenDemocracy about comedy in Palestinian films.
Director Saeed Taji Farouky also met briefly with Eddie Izzard, who you may know completed an incredible feat of endurance in the summer of 2009 when he ran 43 marathons in a row around Britain in aid of Sports Relief. Eddie told Saeed he found the run "liberating", which seemed like a perfect lead-in to discuss The Runner...
**MARCH 2010**
Director Saeed Taji Farouky, Sound Recordist Brendan Butler, Photographer/Additional Camera Jo Metson Scott and Camera Hikaru Toda returned from an excellent shoot in the Sahrawi refugee camps of southwestern Algeria for The Runner. Afshin Dekhordi wasn't issued a visa. (Sorry Afshin, look away now...) See Jo's photos from the first two days of the shoot here and please watch the trailer, and follow our progress through our blog...
A new trailer is in the works, and will be online soon...
And remember, as a supporter of the film, you have access to exclusive previews and video content from the production.
**FEBRUARY 2010** Saeed, along with a brilliant crew of Brendan Butler, Afshin Dekhordi, Jo Metson Scott and Hikaru Toda, fly to the Polisario refugee camps in Algeria to film more of their latest long-form documentary The Runner. We'll be out of touch until our return on February 27, but please watch the trailer, and follow our progress through our blog...
**JANUARY 2010** After Guantanamo, a short film about what happens to Guantanamo Bay detainees when they return home, screens on the VJM website and is featured on the Rattansi & Ridley show. Click on the image below to watch it:
**NOVEMBER 2009** TOURIST WINS AFF "BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY" PRIZE Tourist's 2007 film Tunnel Trade, produced for Al-Jazeera's People & Power strand, was awarded the Noor Award for Best Short Documentary at the San Francisco Arab Film Festival, the largest Arab film festival in the US. Congratulations to everyone who worked on the film, and thanks to everyone who continues to support us!
Wanna see the award?
**OCTOBER 2009** Tourist's 2008 film Masaraat, an oral history of Moroccan migrants in Britain produced for the MRCF, was screened in Morocco's Cinematheque de Tanger as part of the city's Tanger Sans Frontieres festival on Friday, October 2. Director Saeed Taji Farouky was invited to the city to take part in a Q&A following the screening, and a round table discussion the following day about artistic representations of the city, specifically Tourist's 2004 documentry I See The Stars At Noon.
**SEPTEMBER 2009** A new 5-minute version of Newlyn Harbour - an experimental documentary on the UK's largest fishing village and its struggle to survive - is now available to view online. You can stream it below or click here to view it in another window.
**JUNE 2009**
//newlyn harbour in virgin media shorts competition// A very short version of Saeed's experimental documentary about Newlyn Harbour has been entered into the Virgin Media short film competition. Please watch it, tell all your friends about it, rate it, comment on it, link to it, etc...
//demotix photography// Saeed's photographs of the demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in London were selected for the front page of Demotix, the photography website. Or see his other profolios. //hard time killing floor// In May, Saeed was selected as part of the Angle Theatre's New Writers season at the Hackney Empire. His script - Hard Time Killing Floor, about a Turkish/British man returning to London after awaiting execution for 12 years in a Turkish prison - will be read on Sunday, June 7th. more...
**MAY 2009** //i still see the stars at noon// The first film Tourist ever made, I See The Stars At Noon, is being screened on May 13, 2009, at Goldsmiths College in London, followed by a Q&A with director Saeed Taji Farouky. Entry is free, screenings begin at 5pm. The screening is part of an excellent installation by artists Roberto Cavallini and Daniele Rugo called Leaving Room which has already toured to Venice, Istanbul and Tangier.
The film, shot in 2004, follows a Moroccan man on a desparate journey to cross illegally into Spain.
//gaza again// With three weeks free in May before my play is performed (more about that later...) I'm going to try for Gaza again, this time reporting for Reuters Alertnet. I'm going through Erez, Israel, this time rarther than banking on the impossiblity of Rafah.
**APRIL 2009** //not gaza...// You may have heard, Laila El-Haddad (co-Director of Tunnel Trade) who was supposed to join me in Gaza was detained, along with her two young children, for 36 hours in Cairo airport. You can read about it on her blog or see this summary of her twitter page (courtesy of Hootsbuddy) which she managed to keep updated during the entire ordeal. BBC online wrote about her, as well as several other news outlets.
**MARCH 2009** //gaza...// The Tourist Team are on their way back to Gaza in April where Saeed will be working with Laila El-Haddad (co-Director of Tunnel Trade) again on a human rights video project (can't give out all the details about it just yet, but more to come...)
We'll also be working on a series of short films in Gaza , so any ideas or contacts please let us know...
//twitter//
In case you couldn't get enough of Tourist With A Typewriter, follow us on Tourist Twitter! twitter.com/touristfilms
//blog//
Our blog is finally online again. Follow our exploits, adventures, ideas and fears on Tourist With A Blogwriter
//vbs//
Saeed was recently interviewed by the people at VBS (Vice Magazine's online tv channel) about his experiences making Tunnel Trade. Watch the film here.
//empire//
Gareth and Saeed were in Cairo for a mere three days filming a piece for Al-Jazeera's news programme Empire...more news on that coming soon (when we finish the film)
//imdb//
Tourist was invited to add a page on IMDB for their 2007 film, Tunnel Trade.
**DECEMBER 2008** The Tourist Team hopes you all have some relaxing Christmas plans! (Because we're planning to work).
We have one film to shoot before the end of this year, and next year looks to be another busy and exciting schedule.
We're trying to concentrate more on our primary interest: investigative human rights documentaries.
If anyone's planning to be in Western Sahara
in February, Bosnia in May, Poland in June, the US in July, let us know...let's meet for a coffee...
The Path of Most Resistance will receive its North American premier at Minneapolis' Mizna Festival, followed by a special Q&A with Wes Davey, President of the Minnesota chapter of Iraq Veterans Against The War.
**SEPTEMBER 2008** Tourist's film about de-mining in Burundi, Landmine-Free Burundi, was broadcast on Current TV for their Peace One Day special. Watch the film here on Current TVs website.
**JULY 2008** Tourist's latest documentary, The Path of Most Resistance, will premier at London's prestigeous Frontline Club on August 8th. Click here for more details of the screening and how to get tickets, and read more about the film here.
Tourist Co-Director Saeed Taji Farouky has been awarded a bursary to study at the Centre for Investigative Journalism in their 2008 Summer School, featuring celebrated journalists like John Pilger and Nick Davies as tutors. Read more about the programme here.
Two of Saeed Taji Farouky's photographs from his work in the West Bank have been selected for the prestigeous Foto8 Summer Show at London's Host Gallery, alongside such established names as Zed Nelson, Adam Hinton and Karim Ben Khelifa. The images are short-listed for the Best in Show award, and may be published in the October edition of 8 magazine, the UK's premier photojournalism and documentary photography magazine.
The images are for sale at the exhibition opening, so click here for details of how to attend.
**JUNE 2008** Gaza Playground, a short film for Al-Jazeera English's Everywoman programme about an ambitious project to build the first playground in Rafah, will broadcast at the following times:
Monday, June 9, 1000 and 1930 GMT
Tuesday, June 10, 0530 and 1430 GMT
Wednesday, June 11, 0230 and 0730 GMT
Thursday, June 12, 1030 GMT
Al-Jazeera English will also soon air The Path of Most Resistance on their flagship Witness programme. Visit again soon for details of broadcasts and screenings.
**MAY 2008** Post-production is complete on a short film with the Swiss demining charity FSD about their programme to declare Burundi the world's first 100% landmine free country.
Saeed Taji Farouky now begins editing a version for Current TV. Read the film's production journals here.
Tourist has completed the first cut of their latest television documentary The Path of Most Resistance - which tells the stories of conscientious objectors from the military - for Al-Jazeera English's Witness strand. Read more about the film here, and visit again soon for more updates.
**MARCH 2008** Saeed Taji Farouky is currently in Burundi, shooting a film with the Swiss demining charity FSD. The film documents FSD's programme to declare Burundi the world's first 100% landmine free country. Read Saeed's production journals here.
