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"Over seven thousand years ago, before it was called Iraq, before it was called Persia, before the writing of the Old Testament, before the age of the Pharaohs, ..Assyria was that land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; home to the hated King Gilgamesh. Thru thousands of years, GILGAMESH has endured as the oldest and most revolutionary work of literature known to mankind. This first-ever epic follows the warrior-king from his divine rise to power to his victories and struggles with the Assyrian Gods; risking life and love on his tumultuous quest to find the answers to happiness and immortality. What he found was much less mysterious than he ever expected.. and it was always there, right at his finger tips". This is from a log line for a brand new movie called "Gilgamesh", produced by successful Assyrian Hollywood producer, Beni Atoori.

The epic tale of the legendary king will star Omar Sharif, Michael Madsen, and Billy Zane. Set in Assyria before the time of the pharaohs, warrior king Gilgamesh fights for power and searches for the answers to happiness and immortality. Roger Christian will direct with Beni Atoori producing for Stonelock Pictures.

The movie is in Production as of July 2003 and is going to be released by Stonlock Pictures. Gilgamesh's stock currently is being traded at HSX.

We'll have an interview with Beni Atoori in our upcoming issues, so bookmark this page or check back with us, soon.

ASSYRIAN FILM PRODUCER AT OMAN FILM FESTIVAL
Courtesy of Times of Oman (23 January);
based on article by Sharifa Al Kindy

Assyrian-American film producer Beni Atoori joined Director Roger Christian (Battlefield Earth, Nostradamus, Monty Python's Life of Brian) and Scriptwriter Mitchell Cohen (The Toxic Avenger) at the Sultanate of Oman’s Muscat Film Festival 2003 to promote their upcoming film “Gilgamesh”, scheduled to be released early next year.

Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry had invited the U.S. Embassy to participate in the 3-year old film festival. The US State Department has nominated this the team led by Beni Atoori to introduce the U.S. film industry and Hollywood to the Arab film world. The Muscat Film Festival was held between 18 and 25 January.

International filmmakers representing 15 countries took part in the two-hour long workshop where Director Christian, Mr. Atoori, and Script Writer Mitchell Cohen discussed independent filmmaking in America.

Mr. Atoori tells the Times of Oman: “It’s a great opportunity for us to be associated with the festival and to see the differences between American and Arabic films in terms of freedom of expression, story telling, women’s issues, etc. It offered us a forum to share our views.’ Mr. Atoori’s films “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing” & “The Jimmy Show” produced by his southern California company – Stonelock Pictures – were featured at the Muscat Film Festival.

"The Jimmy Show" is about an inventor who tries and fails at comedy, then struggles to keep his family together. Frank Whaley stars and directs the film. The film was released theatrically in December 2002.

A Dennis Hopper film, "The Spreading Ground," was shown on Showtime in December. The movie depicts the pursuit of a serial killer of little girls.

“Thirteen Conversations About One Thing” in which Matthew McConaughey, Alan Arkin, John Turturro and Amy Irving appeared, received excellent reviews. The Chicago Tribune called it "a film about ideas, about human frailty and, ultimately, a film about spirituality."

“Our movies arc basically related to the state or human condition,’ says Cohen, the writer of Gilgamesh. Mr. Christian is directing “Gilgamesh” shot on location in Morocco and India. Beni has been working in India since November.

Roger Christian will direct and Michael Madsen (“Die Another Day”, "Reservoir Dogs) will play the title role. Robert Davi ("Profiler" and "Columbus") also co-stars. Omar Sharif (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago), Egyptian actor with international renown, will appear in the film Gilgamesh also.

The Epic of Gilgamesh was written some 4,000 years ago on clay tablets found in the second hald of the 19th century. The tablets describe the story of a Mesopotamian god-king who rules over the people of the city of Uruk, from which the name “Iraq” is derived. Gilgamesh begins a search for immortality with the help of his friend, Enkidu, and along the way meets a monster in the Cedar Forest, Goddess Ishtar, and Utnapishtim (Mesopotamian Noah). The Epic of Gilgamesh is world’s oldest written story, and a deeply philosophical journey through human mind searching for the meaning of life and that which makes a living being- human.

A former resident of Modesto, California, Beni has two children, a son Aiden, 3, and a daughter Nikki, 7